Hello all! Bible study will be at our regular place at the regular time with our regular people.. So be there!

..so in the Parish Hall at 5:15 for FREE dinner and the Bible Study in the College Life room from 6-7!

Tomorrow morning we will go to Zaxby’s on Cumberland for lunch! This is especially awesome because when you give them your church bulletin, you get 10% off! So bring your bulletin and we’ll meet at 12:30!

See you there!

Have fun with your family, friends, or textbooks this fall break! Be safe and remember that God will be with you wherever you are.

And also- a really awesome pumpkin to brighten your fall!

We’re still meeting at 5:15 in the Parish Hall for FREE dinner, but after we will go to Evensong to see the music show! This will last from 6-7!

See you there!

Things are back to normal this Sunday! We will meet at Gourmet’s Market after the second service (around 12:30) for brunch! Bring your appetite!

Also- please let me know if you have any requests for where we should meet other than Gourmet’s Market- Cracker Barrel was great last week!

This Sunday night!

We will start off Sunday evening activities at 5:15 in the Parish Hall with FREE dinner and then move to the CollegeLife classroom or our Bible study from 6-7!

Hope to see you there!

Change of location this Sunday! We will meet the the Cracker Barrel at 9214 Park West Blvd (Cedar Bluff) after the second service- around 12:30!
Get ready for an extra delicious breakfast and excellent company! Call/text Merry-Reid at 865-548-7979 if you need a ride or want to carpool!

Join us this Sunday night for a FREE spaghetti dinner in the Parish Hall at 5:15 and Bible study from 6-7 in the CollegeLife classroom!

We will continue our Andy Stanley study, Comparisons, with Monty and Elizabeth Walton. Good times will be had by all! Hope to see you there!

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good week. I know the Tennessee-Florida game turned out to be a big disappointment for the UT students and fans. Maybe the Vols will get their act together, and I suspect they will play much better when they meet my alma mater, Georgia, next weekend.

Since we moved to Knoxville in 2005, I have never seen so much excitement among Tennessee fans before a game. Last Saturday morning, I wanted to catch some of the atmosphere of the ESPN College GameDay show from Circle Park, so I decided to include it in my daily jog. Knowing it may be hard to find a free place to park near the UT campus, I parked at the easternmost public parking spot in Sequoyah Hills and jogged up there.

Well, guess what? It ended up being much longer up to Circle Park via the Kingston PIke sidewalk than I realized, and I arrived up there with only about 15 minutes left in the show — and totally exhausted. I did get to see Lee Corso hold up a mountain man’s gun and pick Tennessee to win, and the fans went crazy. It was neat to be there catching the atmosphere among a throng of Orange — even though I was the only one sporting a totally soaked shirt from all the exercising.

After it was over, I managed to make it back to my truck — as much out of energy as I have ever been. I was definitely ready for lunch by then, so I went by Chick-fil-A and had an ice dream cup and two Cokes along with the chicken sandwich, fries and cole slaw. I usually feel guilty after such a feast, but because of all the jogging and calorie burning I had done, I did not feel guilty at all.

On Thursday, I was jogging around Circle Park again after my class and thought I might find a much more tranquil area. But this time, some tent workers from a local company were putting up massive tents for some activities in connection with the Akron game Saturday. What I found uplifting was that several of the workers pulled out their smart phones and took pictures of the tents after they had finished erecting them. I am used to thinking of only architects or owners of their own large construction companies taking pictures or having professional pictures taken of structures, so it was neat to see these rank-and-file employees so proud of their work. And I must admit, the massive tent looked pretty straight and strong.

It also reminded me of the Bible story from Matthew 7 of having a faith as solid as a house built on rock, not sand.

We invite you to come to Church Street UMC Sunday and learn more about spiritual construction in the Christian context.

A special treat will take place at 8:15 and 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, as the Tennessee Wesleyan College choir will sing for 10 minutes before each service. They will also sing during the offertory from the rear balcony. So arrive earlier than normal if you want to enjoy it.

Church Street UMC CollegeLife intern Merry-Reid Sheffer will continue to lead Sunday school at its new time — around 12:15 p.m. — at Gourmet’s Market on Kingston Pike in Bearden. Email Merry-Reid at mrsheffer@comcast.net for more information.

The Monty and Elizabeth Walton Bible study will continue at 6 p.m. in CLC 124, with a free dinner at 5:15. The menu this week includes spaghetti and meatballs. You can’t get much better than that for comfort food! Email Monty and Elizabeth and waltonmonty@yahoo.com for more information.

Have a good weekend, and we hope to see you Sunday.

John Shearer
adult volunteer

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good week and that the University of Tennessee students are getting excited about the Florida game.

I went by Circle Park on campus and saw where two or three stages had been set up for the Saturday morning ESPN College GameDay show with Lee Corso and others. A bunch of trucks were also sitting behind the stages but within the grassy area as well.

It is good to see so much excitement about UT football for the first time in several years.

Among other UT-related news, I was over at the Panera on the Strip one day this week eating. As I have stated before in this newsletter, I love eating there. I am not sure if it is the creamy tomato soup with extra croutons, the free refills of Pepsi, the chocolate chip cookies or simply the relaxing layout and atmosphere of that Panera, but I enjoy eating there. I usually take the sports page with me and sit by one of the west windows, where I can read without my glasses — which have been known to fog up when I am eating a bowl of hot creamy tomato soup.

Anyway, while I was sitting there this week, I happened to overhear unintentionally a conversation between a male and female student at a nearby table. I could not hear much of what they said, but I know they at one point were talking about how they both had apparently become turned off on the church and their Christian faith. I am not sure why they felt that way, but I did hear one of the girls say something like, “And after I quit going to Bible study, no one called me and said they missed me.”

She was connected with another church or Christian group, not Church Street, but I guess that saddened me and started me wondering what had happened to her that had turned her off on the church in general so much. And I also realized how much I need to be living out my Christian faith in a sincere and genuine Christ-like manner so that I never turn someone off on the church. At the very least, I can try to greet someone with Christian hospitality and, if someone has not been to church in awhile, tell them in a caring manner that they are missed.

So, with all that in mind, we want to invite you to Church Street United Methodist Church this Sunday, Sept. 16.

Sunday school will again be held at 12:15 (after the 11 a.m. service ends) at Gourmet’s Market on Kingston PIke in Bearden. Email college intern Merry-Reid Sheffer at mrsheffer@comcast.net for more information.

The Monty and Elizabeth Walton Bible study will be held at 6 p.m. in Room CLC 124. The study of the “Comparison Trap” will continue. A free meal of homemade pizza will be served in the Parish Hall at 5:15. Email Elizabeth at waltonmonty@yahoo.com for more information.

During the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services Sunday, the Rev. Andy Ferguson will be preaching.

Have a good weekend, and we hope to see you Sunday.

John Shearer
CollegeLIfe adult volunteer