Classes
First Pres offers many ways for adults to interact and grow in relationship with one another as they grow in their faith. Whether it’s a Sunday morning Christian education class, a midweek Bible study or a meditation class, there’s something for everyone. We hope you will dive right in and get involved.
Scroll down to see class offerings, or check out the bible studies.
Wednesday Engage & Encounter
Mahler 2, “Resurrection” Symphony
Wednesdays, April 3 – May 1
7:00 pm / Chapel / Adam Hendrickson
Gustav Mahler is one of the greatest and most prophetic composers of all time, having lived and composed during
the incredible transition from the 19th to the 20th century. Join Adam Hendrickson for an in-depth discussion and analysis of one of his most celebrated works, Symphony No. 2, the Resurrection Symphony. The symphony was written between 1888 and 1894 and was first performed in 1895. It was one of Mahler’s most popular and successful works during his lifetime. It was his first major work that established his lifelong view of the beauty of afterlife and resurrection. It was
voted the fifth-greatest symphony of all time in a survey of conductors carried out by the BBC Music Magazine. The Postlude on Easter Sunday, March 31, will feature the Finale to the Symphony scored for brass and organ. A great preview for the class!
Next Class in the Spring of 2024 / 7:00 pm / Room 102-104
This six-week class covers the most important cornerstones of your job search or career journey, including self-assessment, budgeting, resume building, marketing, networking, interview preparation, and negotiations. Whether you’re on the hunt for a new job or seeking a change in your career path, you don’t have to face these challenges alone.
To register send an email to [email protected] with your full name, email address and phone number. Once we receive your registration email, CTR will reach out with meeting information for our first session. The CTR email can also be used for any questions.
Coffee: Grounds for Discussion and Service
Sundays, April 14 – May 5
10:30 am / Room 110 / 4-week study
What’s so Amazing about Grace, (conclusion of study started in January)
*While this is the conclusion of this study, each week focuses on a different aspect of grace. Feel free to come when you are able. Participants do not need to attend every week or session.
Discover grace as you’ve never known it before: the most powerful force in the universe and our only hope for love and forgiveness.
Grace is the church’s great distinctive. It’s the one thing the world cannot duplicate, and the one thing it craves above all else – for only grace can bring hope and transformation to a jaded world.
In What’s So Amazing About Grace? award-winning author Philip Yancey explores grace at street level. If grace is God’s love for the undeserving, he asks, then what does it look like in action? And if Christians are its sole dispensers, then how are we doing at lavishing grace on a world that knows far more of cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy?
Yancey sets grace in the midst of life’s stark images, tests its mettle against horrific “ungrace”:
• Can grace survive in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust?
• Can it triumph over the brutality of the Ku Klux Klan?
• Should any grace at all be shown to the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and cannibalized seventeen young men?
Grace does not excuse sin, says Yancey, but it treasures the sinner. True grace is shocking, scandalous. It shakes our
conventions with its insistence on getting close to sinners and touching them with mercy and hope. It forgives the unfaithful spouse, the racist, the child abuser. It loves today’s AIDS-ridden addict as much as the tax collector of Jesus’ day.
In his most personal and provocative book ever, Yancey offers compelling, true portraits of grace’s life-changing
power. He searches for its presence in his own life and in the church. He asks, “How can Christians contend graciously
with moral issues that threaten all they hold dear?” And he challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately wants to know, What’s So Amazing About Grace?
Monday Morning Men’s Bible Study
Mondays / 8:00 am / Parlor
The Monday Morning Men’s Bible Study Group, which resumed its meetings earlier this year via Zoom, is now meeting both in person and on Zoom. Men of all ages are invited and encouraged to join us. We have a great group of guys who share a wonderful camaraderie and fellowship while studying, learning about, and sharing our views on the word of the Lord.
We meet every Monday morning in the Parlor. The doors are open at 7:30 am, and our meetings start at 8:00 am and run about an hour. For those who choose to meet in person, coffee and breakfast treats are served. And, for those who cannot or choose not to meet in person, we continue to utilize Zoom – and the church’s new Owl camera – which allows all participants to interact with each other, whether online or in person.
If you are interested in joining us, or would like additional information, please reach out to either Bill Dillon at [email protected] or Dave Berkow at [email protected].
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Educational Archives
We’ve held many classes through the years, some of which have been documented on video. Click the button below to look through our past classes and watch at your leisure.
