[The heart] cannot be managed like a corporation. The heart does not respond to pprinciples and programs; it seeks not efficiency, but passion... For many of us, the waves of first love [of God] ebbed away in the whirlwind of Christian service and activity... Our faith began to feel more like a series of problems that needed to be solved or principles that had to be mastered... The Christian life is a love affair of the heart. It cannot be lived primarily as a set of principles or ethics. It cannot be managed with steps and programs. It cannot be lived exclusively as a moral code leading to righteousness... The truth of the Gospel is intended to free us to love God and others with our whole heart. When we ignore this heart aspect of our faith and try to live out our religion solely as correct doctrine or etics, our passion is crippled, or perverted...

- Brent Curtis, The Sacred Romance

These words burn within me as I struggle with re:birthing Monday Bible Study. I know the last thing we need - not teens, not adults, Christians, God-followers - is another Bible Study. I believe we have so entrained the brain that it has become, either on the conscious or the unconscious, the how-to and point-of in Christianity, when it is all about being in a passionate, intimate relationship with God. My friends and I burn with a desire not only to reach the lost, but to experience God on a daily basis. The experiences don't come served on a silver platter - we are in Satan's territory, and communion with God is a desert oasis. Yet we all feel God pulling us to revamp Mondays, to make it something different, something special; a vision of something not-yet seen in any size, shape or form at Springboro High School.

We have discussed and pondered and meditated on what it is that God actually wants us to do in this small corner of our High School, and we feel the Spirit pushing us to a more interactive and thematic gathering, a fellowship. We feel God softly whispering ideas into our heads, pleading, "Challenge Me, challenge Me... I love to come through... See what I can do... Challenge Me!"

Right now our sermon-style Bible Study is in the evolution of becoming more relationship-oriented. The nuts and bolts is this: play some soft music in the background, have some snacks - oatmeal creme pies, little debbie brownies, what have you - to draw people in. We spend ten-fifteen minutes just hanging out, laughing, loving, goofing off and making fools of ourselves. Then we have some kind of activity - not a game, but a spiritual activity inspiring thought and creativity - that will build upon a short message. After the message we will spend some time in prayer. We also hope to have a period of worship-by-music, with someone on guitar and someone singing. Kristen Southard seems willing enough to sing.

These ideas are building atop one another, and we contine to brainstorm - or heart-storm. Please, if you have any ideas, anything tried-and-true, if something comes from your thoughts, please tell me! Just leave it as a comment or email me at ajbarnhart@yahoo.com. Please pray that God will draw people in and we can begin to make a difference in peoples' hearts.