“Mastering the Basics” – By Pastor Chris Arch

                The ministry theme for Good News Bible Church in 2011 will be “Mastering the Basics”.  Once, while Pastor Wootonn was preaching, he made reference to the practice discipline of Baseball Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith.  Nicknamed "The Wizard" for his defensive brilliance, Smith set major league records for career assists (8,375) and double plays (1,590) by a shortstop.  Smith won the NL Gold Glove Award for play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons (1980–1992).  Yet, Smith only performed to the level on the field, of what he had practiced prior. It has been said that Smith took, on an average, 2,000 ground balls a week in practice! Ozzie Smith became one of the greatest shortstops of all time because he practiced mastering the basics.

                I think this illustration has obvious application to our spiritual lives. We are only able to “perform” in our spiritual lives with any consistency, to the degree we have developed Christian disciplines. To help us as a congregation in this area, our ministry focus for the year will be, as I said previously, “Mastering the Basics”. During 2011, all of our SCL classes will have this goal in mind. The winter semester will offer classes on the books of Genesis, John, and I&II Thessalonians.  During the summer of 2011, SCL classes will cover the following basics: “How to Study the Bible”, “Prayer and Worship”, “Witnessing”, while the youth will be taking “The Abundant Life Course”.  The Fall of 2011 will see how to further integrate these disciplines, applying them to our daily lives as we offer the courses: “Experiencing God”, “Christian Ethics”, “The Holy and Devout Life”, and “Overcoming the Adversary”.  Let me take a moment to shamelessly plug our SCL classes. We offer great adult Sunday School classes, and if you aren’t taking one right now, consider making it a new year’s resolution to begin. We can make all the excuses that we want to for why we do or don’t do things in our lives, but when our reasoning is “boiled down”, we either have a different set of priorities or a lack of discipline. Would you please take the time to ask God if He would have you involved in our SCL ministry this coming year as we attempt to “Master the Basics”?