Exploring the Gospels

Exploring the Gospels
By Gayle Suggs
Chair, Discipleship Council

In the fall of 2019, our church began a partnership with the Baugh Center for Baptist Leadership at Mercer University. They offer a program called Christian Leadership Formation in which college and seminary-level religion courses are offered to local churches as a means of developing the spiritual lives of their members. We offered our first course, An Introduction to the Old Testament that fall. We were excited to offer another course in the spring of 2020 – and then the pandemic stepped in, changing our plans and lives!

I am thrilled to announce that we have finally been able to reschedule the course we had hoped to offer two years ago. I’m inviting you to consider being a part of Exploring the Gospels, which will be taught by Dr. Peter Rhea Jones, retired Professor of New Testament from the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. Dr. Jones is no stranger to SPdL. He and his wife, Ellen, were once members of our church and still cherish many friendships here. Dr. Jones is an outstanding New Testament scholar, a gifted teacher and a caring pastor and preacher (formerly serving at First Baptist of Decatur).

Exploring the Gospels will begin on Tuesday night, September 13 and will run for six straight Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Kivette Room (limited to 12 in-person attendees). Additionally, the course will be offered over Zoom if you prefer virtual participation. The cost of the class is $100, plus any costs that may be needed for the purchase of books. The good news is that there are no papers to write or tests to take. And no grades will be given! Just come and learn from one of Baptist’s best-known professors of New Testament.

You can sign up via www.spdl.org/rsvp and scroll down to “Exploring the Gospels.” You can also sign up using your Realm account at www.onrealm.org, or contact Karen Harwell at the church office at kharwell@spdl.org or 404.591.4357. Karen can also help you with any questions you might have, including the purchase of the recommended textbooks.

If you are interested in exploring the four Gospels in a deeper way, I encourage you to consider signing up for this class. I look forward to our learning and growing together.