Growin' Up Gregory

Some may already know, but for those who don't, I've been teaching Sunday school for a little over a year or so I guess.  After starting out in your Young (and I use that term loosely lol) Adult class, Britt and I have started focusing more on the truly young adults - the College & Career Class with 20 and 30 somethings. I'd be lying if I said that every week was easy.  It's not.  But every week is worth it.  Some weeks, I hope the class gets the most out of the lesson.  But other weeks, I know that the lesson was for me and something I've been dealing with.  Long story short, it's hard showing up week in week out prepared to teach and hopefully inspire, but when you're seeking God's will (as Jordan pointed out this morning) it doesn't matter if it's easy - you do what you've been called to do. In this social media world, we always share our success, our cute pictures, and our wins, but what are my biggest struggles teaching? 1.  Ma...

In our College & Career Sunday school class this week, we started a series titled, "How to Pray."  I plan to try to and share the lessons each week in case anyone wants to follow along with us here...or you can come join us Sunday mornings at Tabernacle at 10 AM in room 218. Any good speaker, teacher, or presenter knows that the #1 rule of public speaking is to know your audience.  You don't want to prepare a discussion about retirement for preschoolers and a presentation themed with Disney princesses most likely wouldn't spark the interest of a group of businessmen.  In order for someone to prepare a dynamic and engaging presentation, they must know their audience, who they're preparing to talk to. The same is true in our prayer life.  The Point of this week's study is: "A right view of God fuels how we pray."  The conversations we engage in with our friends about are often focused on topics that interest them: their favorite team, favorite ...

I wasn't real sure how to recap nearly one full year of officially being a Sunday school teacher so below is my best attempt to do so in an open letter to those below... To my class, my community, and my generation: When I asked a year or so ago about starting up a College & Career Sunday School class at church I wasn't sure how to react.  I was honored to have been considered for this role (honestly a little too honored becoming somewhat prideful and overly expectant of what would happen).  I was also excited for the opportunity to reach a group of people that has become more and more scarce in church, and even a little scared of what would happen if the class failed (or more so how I would be judged if that happened while I'm being honest here).  It was truly a gamete of mixed emotions of both hope, excitement, and fear. I tried a few ideas my way through online invites and even trying to meet in a different room and area of the church to possibly seem more in...

I'm not the president.  I'm not even actually in politics.  And I'm not quite 35 years old which puts me in the generation called Millennials.  And I would like to share with you what I perceive to be the true state of our country right now on three major issues.  Yes, there are more issues but I'll start by attempting to tackle these three first. Gun Control As a young man living in this country, where do I stand on gun control?  I believe that some households need three guns.  You need a handgun/pistol for personal protection to carry or have hidden in your home, a rifle for big game hunting (i.e. deer), and you need a shotgun for small game hunting (i.e. rabbits, birds, turkey etc.).  Does any one NEED an AR-15?  Honestly, I believe that if you feel like you need, not want, an AR-15 in your closet that your life or your neighborhood is a bit too dangerous for me.  Now with that being said, can you WANT an AR-15?  Absolutely.  ...