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

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good week and a good Labor Day weekend. And for our Volunteer students and fans, Tennessee is now 1-0 and probably should go 2-0 after playing Georgia State on Saturday. And then comes the big weekend matchup at home against a slightly weaker Florida team the following Saturday. Can you say 3-0?

The Georgia State coach is Bill Curry, a veteran coach who also coached against Tennessee while the head coach of Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky. About five years ago, he was helping Baylor School down in Chattanooga with a special leadership training program it was doing for its students, and I had an opportunity to sit in his office and interview him. He did not have a college team to worry about coaching at that time, and I found him extremely delightful and very down to earth. He was also serving as an ESPN commentator, but he did not let all of his high profile positions go to his head.

The game Saturday should probably be under hopefully nice weather. I understand the next few days after Saturday morning’s predicted rain are supposed to be very nice and fall-like. As one who enjoys jogging, I am certainly looking forward to it. For some reason, I have found myself jogging some around the UT campus lately, usually on weekends or later in the afternoons after most of the students have finished their classes. I like to jog on grassy areas, but UT is not quite as conducive to that as some campuses are.

However, I have found a nice path that includes a few laps around the edge of Circle Park and on over around the Humanities and Social Sciences Building and McClung Tower. And if I am feeling really energetic, I zig zag up the Cumberland Avenue side of “The Hill” and jog a lap or two around beautiful Ayres Hall. To try to keep my coordination at my advancing age of 53, I sometimes include in my jogging other agility drills like jogging backwards for a few yards.

Needless to say, the backward jogging usually causes a few double-takes from people.

Last Saturday afternoon, I was jogging around the campus and virtually no one was there. As a result, I ended up taking pictures of some of the areas around the stadium — including the new checkerboard bricks and power T on Peyton Manning Pass where the Vol Walk takes place. I was so inspired after seeing a quiet stadium a week before 100,000 people would be there that I ended up doing a story for chattanoogan.com — to whom I contribute regularly. A link is below in case you are interested.

We are hoping every Sunday is full of game day-like life at Church Street United Methodist Church as well, and we invite you to come this Sunday. As many of you may know, college intern Merry-Reid Sheffer is now holding Sunday school at 12:15 p.m. at Gourmet’s Market on Kingston Pike in Bearden instead of in the Sunday school class at 10, so we invite you to come after the 11 a.m. service. A good number of regulars have been coming and enjoy it. Email Merry-Reid at mrsheffer@comcast.net for more information.

Also, this Sunday night starts the kickoff of the the Monty and Elizabeth Walton-led Bible study in Room CLC 124. Elizabeth reports that an Andy Stanley study will begin this Sunday, Sept. 9, from 6 to 7 p.m. A free taco dinner in the Parish Hall below the church nave will be held at 5:15 p.m. Email Elizabeth at waltonmonty@yahoo.com if you are interested.

The Rev. Andy Ferguson will be preaching during the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services.

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

John Shearer
CollegeLife adult volunteer

link to story on visiting Neyland Stadium:
http://www.chattanoogan.com/2012/9/2/233444/John-Shearer-Visiting-Neyland-Stadium.aspx

This Sunday, Monty and Elizabeth Walton will start back with their Bible study! We will be starting off by looking at the Andy Stanley study. We will meet in the Parish Hall at 5:15 for FREE dinner an then head to the college life classroom from 6-7 for the bible study!

Email Elizabeth at waltonmonty@yahoo.com to let her know if you’re eating dinner OR call/text me if you want the dinner/need a ride! Hope to see you there!

Per usual, we will meet at Gourmet’s Market on Kingston Pike this Sunday after the second service! Neil, Hughes, John and I had a good time and a delish brunch last week, so invite your friends and come along this week! See you there!

Despite the rain, some of us still had some fun working at the children’s face painting station, eating delicious food, and tailgating to watch the fireworks!

Join Church Street CollegeLife tomorrow for our Boomsday tailgate! FREE dinner and a front row seat to the fireworks show, how can you beat that?

The church will be having a carnival extravaganza, so we’ll meet in the parking lot at 6pm to hang out and eat some food, then watch the fireworks at 9pm!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Tomorrow after the second service (around 12:15), we will meet at Gourmet’s Market (5107 Kingston Pike) for some fellowship and delicious food! Call or text me @ 865-548-7979 if you need a ride or directions!

See you there!

Dear College Friends:

I hope you have had a good summer and last four months or so since spring semester ended.

I had an eventful summer. We had to say goodbye to my mother back in June after she died at the age of 87. I am sad about the loss but comforted by her admirable life. I also know that she inspired me and others to demonstrate Christ’s love and teachings in our own lives and to enjoy the good offerings of the world and to reach our full potential.

My wife, Laura, and I also took a neat weekend trip in July to visit a couple of colleges — North Carolina/Chapel Hill and Duke — just for fun. I had a blast visiting the two schools I had always heard a lot about but never had the opportunity to visit before. I love visiting other college communities, and it gives you a sense of comparison to the college or colleges with which you may have a connection.

I am also getting to teach a class this fall at UT after not teaching any classes since the fall of 2011. As many of you know, I had combined teaching some journalism classes on an adjunct basis along with my freelance journalism work, but did not get to teach this past spring, in part due to declining enrollment in some of the journalism classes.

However, back in the summer, I decided to check with the English dept. to see if they needed any teachers for their writing classes. The woman who oversees the lecturers said they did not have any needs at the time. However, last week, I received an email from her saying one of the staff instructors would be unable to teach this semester, and she was wondering if I wanted to teach a Public Writing (Engl. 255) class. I checked back with the journalism dept., and it turned out they would not need me, saying some sections of the class I have taught in the past had to be canceled right before school started due to low numbers.

So I am tickled pink to get a chance to lead a class again, and I said my thank you prayers to God. I am not sure if any opportunities will exist beyond this semester, but I feel blessed to be back in the classroom — even though I simply want to combine teaching with writing and do not desire to teach full-time, unless somebody offered me a million dollars and a yacht.

I hope you have had or are getting ready to have some blessed opportunities in your lives as well. Actually, I just feel blessed to be able to worship God and grow in my Christian faith through my connection with Church Street United Methodist Church.

Since we last sent out this email newsletter, a big change has taken place with the college program regarding Sunday school. College program intern Merry-Reid Sheffer has decided to start having Sunday school after lunch instead of the normal 9:45 a.m. time — in part to try to boost attendance. And she and the class have been meeting since the summer at Gourmet Market on Kingston Pike in Bearden — just west of and across the street from Kroger and the new Chick-fil-A.

Merry-Reid has been leading the program and has been pleased with the attendance and the class. So plan to start meeting there every Sunday at 12:15 p.m. starting Sept. 2, unless you hear further from Merry-Reid. Her email address is mrsheffer@comcast.net, or many of you may know how to contact her on Facebook.

This Sunday, Aug. 26, however, the CollegeLife program at Church St. is having its annual back to school lunch at the church immediately following the 11 a.m. service. The meal will be catered by Salsarita’s (Yummy!), so come enjoy worship and be ready to enjoy great food and fellowship afterward! Plans for the fall activities will also be announced, including for Monty and Elizabeth Walton’s Sunday evening Bible study starting in September.

Since Merry-Reid is now coordinating Sunday school, keep in touch with her for more frequent updates. I hope to keep sending out a “Word on the Street” fairly regularly as well, if not every week as in the past.

It was neat to assist the other CollegeLIfe volunteers last Friday in helping the honors students move into Morrill Hall at UT. I was there for just a couple of hours in the early afternoon, but my 52-year-old thighs managed to get sore making a few trips up the stairs. I just enjoyed seeing all the parents and their looks of care and compassion as they were dropping their beloved children off. I also found time to enjoy a couple of hot dogs that the Church St. crew had kindly cooked to hand out.

Anyway, have a great weekend, and we hope to see you Sunday at the luncheon.

And since this is the beginning of a new school year and I know that some students or former students have moved on to other endeavors, email me if you wish to be taken off the email list.

John Shearer
CollegeLife volunteer

Hello everybody!

Hope your first couple days of classes have been awesome! I don’t know about you, but I’m still getting back in the swing of things. This Sunday is the perfect time to get back into your Church Street routine- we’re having a luncheon, with FREE Salsaritas, in the Parish Hall this Sunday, the 26th, after second service (around 12:15)!

This will be a great opportunity for those returning to Church Street AND or new people to come and see what we’re all about! Can’t wait to see you there!

ATTENTION: This luncheon will replace Sunday school at Gourmet’s Market this week! Do not show up there!

On Friday August 17th, Morrill began to be overtaken by the 900 freshmen expected to live there this year. Church Street decided to help…

500 FREE hotdogs passed out to freshmen an their families!

300 Church Street water bottles handed out!

Hundreds of boxes moved in for UT’s newest students!

Everyone made friends and got to know one another, whether it was over a tasty hotdog with lemonade or in one of those awkwardly tight elevator rides, and Church Street felt blessed to be a part of the whole day.