The Agape Class:

Four Decades of Life Lived Well with Christ

In 1973 Secretariat won the triple crown, the comet Kohoutek was discovered, Henry Kissinger became Secretary of State; Federal Express began operation; the Sears Tower was completed; the Alaska Pipeline commenced; Leon Jaworski assumed the post of Special Prosecutor for Watergate; Consulates were opened between China and the United States; Richard Nixon proclaimed he was "not a crook;" Great Britain entered the "European Union;" and the "Agape" class of Tiburon Baptist Church was formed under the teaching leadership of a young medical doctor and Old Testament Professor from Golden Gate Seminary.

This October marks forty years of continuous Bible Study, fellowship and ministry for the Agape class. The class has been led under the unbroken guidance of her founding teacher, ken eakins. For forty years the Agape class has been a vibrant and flourishing part of our church that has seen lives shared, children raised, ministries undertaken, and God honored. Paul and Ann Smith were charter members and Ray and Carol Jackson joined them after only one year. Martha Saul, Lenora Kwok, and Richard and Nenita Anderson have been members of the class for over thirty years.

One of the marks of a masterpiece is endurance. The Agape class has not only endured but thrived because she has been committed to things that matter - love, learning, laughter, ministry, and building lives which honor God and give Him glory. Central to the class's identity has been an unwavering commitment to Bible Study that flows into fellowship and ministry. Trips and retreats away have knit members' lives into one another. In one class newsletter, John Eagan described how members of the Agape class have gone together to places such as Yosemite for "days of fellowship and spiritual renewal . . . surrounded by gigantic, sheer granite cliffs rising 3,000 feet above, punctuated by an incredible array of waterfalls plunging with a dull roar to the forested valley floor below." Within a few short months of the class's inception a monthly ministry to Tiburon nursing home began which has continued, unbroken, to this day. Bible Study, fellowship and ministry. Those have been the markers of the Agape class.

For forty years, members of the Agape Class have been a cornerstone of the broader life of Tiburon Baptist serving in every aspect of the church's life - choir, Sunday School, as Officers and on every committee.

Congratulations to the Agape class and to their teacher for forty years of faithful witness to Jesus Christ. They have been a community worthy of their name. For forty years they have shown and shared the love of Christ in this place. We congratulate them and rejoice with them on this anniversary of four decades of life lived well with Christ.

Pastor John Shouse

No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.