This past week, Denise and I attended a PLACE workshop and training in Fairhope, Alabama. The training equips 'coaches' to administer a variety of profile tests -- personality, spiritual gifts, talents, etc. along with noting significant life experiences, to determine where a person is best suited to serve. So many of God's children are walking around serving in areas of their church that they're not passionate about, but just to fill a need. If servants aren't plugged into the areas they were designed by God to fill, then they're not going to feel they're fulfilling their purpose, and likely will look for another church.
We enjoyed the two-day training session immensely. Since it occured on a Thursday/Friday, Denise and I decided to make it a long weekend and enjoy the local flavor. Fairhope is a beautiful town and we took pleasure roaming its streets and shops (well, Denise enjoyed the shops) on Saturday. Sunday, we decided to return to the host church of the PLACE conference, which was First Baptist Church, Fairhope.
The church itself has been a part of the downtown Fairhope landscape for over a hundred years and has seen it's share of trials, from hurricanes to flooding to fire. At one point in the not too distant past, a terrible building fire shut down their sanctuary. They held worship services offsite, and continued to hold Sunday school and other programs in the education section of their church. As you might imagine, having to deal with the two locations took its toll, and the church struggled with growth.
Now, though, you'd never know it happened. The church is quite beautiful and they run two worship services; an early, traditional service, and a later, contemporary service, with Sunday School in between. Since we had to travel that afternoon, we opted for the earlier service. Their choir, orchestra and children's choir were all in full force that morning and the music was wonderful. The church is in the middle of a building campaign -- to build a new education building and add more parking -- and the pastor, Dr. Jerry Henry spoke that morning on passion of service and participation.
For Sunday School, we headed over to Rev. Brent Shaw's class. Brother Brent is the Minister of Education and Administration for FBC Fairhope, and was the coordinator for the PLACE Conference. I've met him several times before in connection with ABREA functions. Brother Brent's class was a fairly large couple's class, and we were greeted and welcomed in high fashion. In anticipation of using PLACE at FBC, Bro. Brent is walking his class through a spirital gifts inventory. Our time that day was spent exploring truths and dispelling myths relating to spiritual gifts. Bro. Brent is a great speaker and we enjoyed his class very much.
While FBC Baptist is not a part of our Madison Baptist Association, we know that a lot of folks from Madison County vacation on the Gulf and perhaps in Fairhope. This would be a great church to visit if you find yourself in Fairhope on a Sunday morning.
We also hope to have more on the PLACE training available to churches in our area in the very near future.
