Christian Education
Adult Library Sunday School Class
The Adult Library Sunday School meets in the Poteat Library on Sundays at 10 am and reads and discusses a book of its choice. Everyone is invited to join the group for thought-provoking reading and discussion. Participants obtain their own copies of of the books. The class as decided that their next book to discuss will be Elaine Pagel's, The Gnostic Gospels, a provocative study of the gnostic gospels and the world of early Christianity as revealed through the Nag Hammadi texts. They hope to begin this book on Sunday, March 3rd. Please order a copy of the book soon and join them in class; it is available online from various sources and bookstores. Good used copies can be found on Amazon, as well as BetterWorldBooks.com.
The class has read, “Misquoting Jesus, the Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why,” by Bart D Ehrman (Fall 2022); Adam Nicolson, “God’s Secretaries: the Making of the King James Bible” (Spring 2023); Philip Yancey’s, “Vanishing Grace: what ever happened to the Good News?” (Summer 2023). The class is currently completing a discussion of John Shelby Spong’s book, “Born of a Woman” (Fall 2023 - Winter 2024). Anyone is welcome to attend.
Weekly Bible Study
Our weekly evening Bible study is held on Monday evenings at 6 pm in the Conference room. This study will look at the passage of scripture for the upcoming Sunday morning worship. All are welcome and please join the Pastor and other members as we take a deep dive into God’s word together!
Macie Poteat Library
A Church Library was organized in one of the classrooms between 1982 and 1990. Books and other media were donated or purchased as memorials to individuals and were cataloged and placed on the designated bookshelves for children, fiction and nonfiction. After 1990 additional items were listed on the church secretary’s computer by title, author, subject headings and were then color-coded to denote the subject area. Items were circulated using a sign-out/sign-in sheet. A total of 1500+ items were prepared in this way.
Macie’s Role
Macie Poteat was a most dedicated and faithful member of WAPC from 1939 to her death in 2003. She served as elder, trustee, Bible Study leader, Sunday School teacher, representative on various church committees and within the denomination, and compiled the 100th anniversary booklet in 1992. She was an avid reader and had an extensive personal library; thus it was no surprise to have her take an active role in the organization and cataloging of the church library materials in the 1980’s.
Gift of Poteat Books
Following her death in 2003, her son, William O. Poteat donated part of her personal library to the church. Thus, in February 2004, a Steering Committee was formed to establishing a permanent home for our complete collection and adding the Poteat Books to the holdings. Dedication service and reception following the worship service was on June 5, 2005.
The Work Continues
Among those on the Steering Committee was Jean Darling, who had worked with Macie from the beginning on this valued project with ordering new items, cataloging, organizing and inventorying the collection. Following Macie’s death, Jean continued the work and served faithfully until December 2021, when she submitted her resignation as Poteat Librarian after 40 years of service.
For many years member Jack Mooney, until his death in 2021, wrote and compiled book reviews of items in the collection that were published in the Avenue Newsletter and the e-Avenue Newsletter online highlighting new books on offer to members. He was a journalist, a professor, and an avid reader. Jack enjoyed discovering the new books in the library and loved to share them with others.
Macie Foster Poteat