::MID WEEK PREVIEW

Check out this week's Mid Week Preview, featuring our Assistant to the Pastor and our Assistant to the Executive Pastor, Ashlyn Portero and Vonna Hall, and our Lead Pastor Dean Inserra here.  

 ::DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING 

Tallahassee Biblical Counseling Ministries will be offering a discipleship class entitled, "Self-Confrontation."  This is an in-depth discipleship training program that teaches you how to study the Scriptures for answers to all of life's problems.  Its unique approach enables you to learn biblical principles from the Bible and practically apply them to your own life.  This class will also prepare you to help others to do the same. The classes begun May 17^th and will continue for 13 weeks and will be led by Caryn Shivar and Rev. Dick Brown.  For more information, please e-mail Caryn Shivar at carynlaurel@hotmail.com.

::SERVICE: TUTORING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 

We're helping high school students prepare for final exams. Come to one or all tutoring days.
Contact Heidi Schaff for more information heidi.schaff@gmail.com or sign up on the Facebook page!

Volunteers Needed: Saturday May 28 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

::COLOMBIA CLOTHING DRIVE

We have a goal to clothe 100 families in the city of Cartagena that our group will be visiting this summer.  We're hoping to fill the trailer at the Warehouse, and donations are starting to be accepted this Sunday at every service.    

::YOUNG PROFESSIONALS NETWORK  

Thursday, May 26th, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm @ Chez Pierre where it all started!

We'll meet under the Oaks, so there should be live music and hopefully great weather!. Check out the facebook event for more information on this great way to meet new people. 

by Ashlyn Portero

I have always had a huge passion for learning. I was the kid who actually cared about the History Fair. If you ask any of my friends, they would tell you how I always say I wish I could just be a professional student for the rest of my life. Basically, I have embraced my inner nerd.

In high school, I realized what I loved the most was reading and writing. I did really well in my English classes and actually enjoyed writing critical essays. AP Language and Literature, which some people consider to be the bane of high school existence, was one of my favorite memories. When I got to orientation at FSU, I declared myself an English major and never looked back.

All this time, I had never given a thought to how my intellectual interests could have anything to do with my faith. The way I saw it, being a Christian happens in your heart and deep thinking happens in your head, and the two don't really intersect much. How incredibly naïve I was! My sophomore year in college I started wondering why I had such specific interests in literature and the humanities. As I grew spiritually, I became more convinced that God wanted me to use my love of learning to serve Him...but I had no idea how to do that. I struggled with the idea of being a professor, but how was I supposed to be taken seriously in a field where so many people have decided God doesn't exist? And even if there was room for God in scholarship, I couldn't figure out how to separate what I felt personally as a believer from what I could say professionally. It all became a big, jumbled ball of confusion in my head, and I basically gave up. I decided I could serve God in other areas of my life and leave the deep-thinking stuff out of it.

Well of course that didn't last long. God kept pursuing me in my own academic pursuits. From different conversations and my own research, I found people who were devoting their careers to studying Christianity and its relationship to literature, art, history, etc. I even learned about a center at a university whose mission is to study the effects of a person's beliefs on his or her everyday life. Knowing how many Christians have shied away from these daunting academic spheres, I was blown away by these people who were not only making stabs at higher learning, but they were known as some of the most influential figures in their respective fields.

It was then that I realized my problem: I was trying really hard to fit God into academics, rather than realizing He is the source of all knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 says "Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Later, in Proverbs 2, it says "Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver, seek them like hidden treasures.Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding (v. 3-6)." 

God has blessed me with specific gifts and interests, and He is pleased when I seek to use those for His glory. Even more basic than that, God gave me, and you, a brain, and as Galileo said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use." Side-note: If you weren't convinced of my nerdy-ness, I just quoted Galileo.

Whether you loved or hated school, remember this: God has crafted each of us by design and given us the ability to think and care deeply, especially about Him and His love for us. I hope you take seriously whatever passions God has given you, because they are not by mistake! And one thing I'm learning, is that no one can ever know the depths of His grace and love.