Each October, the Florida School of Preaching hosts a banquet to express appreciation to those contributing to make the school possible. Each year a particular individual, group or congregation entity is singled out for special recognition. For example, last year we honored the ladies who have served in the school office.

The extended Thornhill family members are to be honored this year.

Over the thirty-four years history of the school, members of this family have, in a number of ways, contributed to the stability and development of the Florida School of Preaching.

Paul Thornhill has served as Vice President of the Board, and Paul will receive the Thornhill Family Plaque, and make response for the family relative to the events of the evening. The school is grateful for the years of service rendered by Paul and Betty, his wife, to the Florida School of Preaching.

Kathy Strickland is the bookkeeper for the Florida School of Preaching. She has served as secretary for the school office and was a part of the group of ladies honored at this banquet last year. Kathy is of untold value to the day by day operation of the school, and her encouragement is a blessing to all.

 We are grateful to Ruth Thornhill, the wife of Charles, for her services to the school. Ruth organized the present library holdings. This enables us to better locate by title or author the resources held in our libraries.

In addition to making financial contributions to the school, a number have taken advantage of the classes offered by the school. Attending classes that I have taught are the following: Ruth Strickland, Grace Duke, Kathy Sweeney, and Kathy Strickland.

The inserted statement will appear on two plaques. One of these will be in the school as a permanent reminder of the contributions of the members of this family. The duplicate plaque will be given to Paul Thornhill, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Florida School of Preaching.

The Bible enjoins upon us to honor those deserving of honor, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10). “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood ...” (1 Peter 2:17 ), and be thankful for every blessing received (1 Tim. 2:1).

We are grateful to the extended Thornhill family, and hope that the evening of recognition given them will honor them for their years of faithful service to the Florida School of Preaching. --Director


Gene Burgett Report_____________

I am preparing this report in Jasper, Alabama, where I will be preaching in a meeting at the Liberty church of Christ. The month of August provided me several opportunities to speak in the state of Florida.

On June 24, I spoke at the North Melbourne church of Christ. Brian Kenyon has spoken there several times while their preacher recovers from an illness. The brethren in Melbourne have been very supportive of their preacher while he convalesces, and I admire that quality in them very much.

I visited the South Florida Avenue church in Lakeland, Florida on a Wednesday night, teaching in their summer series. The South Florida Avenue congregation has provided a home for the Florida School of Preaching from the school’s inception in 1969. My wife and I worshiped with them for two years while I was attending the School, and it was good to see many familiar faces.

I spoke in the morning assemblies of the church in Dunnellon, Florida, on August 17. Brother James Johnson preaches for that congregation. I remember brother Johnson as a student in the early 90's. He was but a teenager just out of high school at the time. Now, a decade later, he is married and is involved in the difficult work of preaching for a congregation while working full-time in a secular occupation. The church at Dunnellon is not large in terms of numbers, but heart and dedication simply cannot be measured in attendance figures. Paul teaches us that what a church is able to accomplish is determined by their willingness to give themselves over to God. Paul wrote the following about the churches in Macedonia “For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God” (2 Cor. 8:3-5).

Like Paul, I have noted that very often the churches that are willing to lend a hand and take part in supporting the work of training preachers do not appear outwardly to have the means of many larger churches. There used to be an old saying that it is not the size of the dog in the fight that matters so much as the fight in the dog. This quaint old saying is a close analogy to what Paul wrote about the churches in Macedonia. Their willingness and ability to support good works was a function of their willingness to first give themselves to the Lord.

The Dunnellon church has recently begun supporting the Florida School of Preaching on a monthly basis. This support comes despite the fact that they are not as large as some churches. Many congregations talk of what they will do when the contribution goes up, while others are doing as much as they can with what they have. We thank the Dunnellon brethren for their recent decision to support the Florida School of Preaching.

I hope more congregations will come to realize that you don’t have to give a lot to make a difference. I recently spoke with a man who was a missionary in South Africa. He said that most of his support came from small churches. Because larger congregations are often approached to help with a work, smaller churches may get the feeling that what they are able to do is not important. The important question is not so much how much you are doing, but are you doing what you can? As Jesus said of the woman in Bethany who anointed his head with oil prior to his crucifixion, “She has done what she could” (Mark 14:8). And, what she did was so important our Lord said, “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Any support you provide is important, and we appreciate “the gift and the fellowship” in the work of training men to preach the gospel.

New Computer

The school is a recipient of a gift of a new computer for the office. As programs become larger and more advanced, it means that the equipment to operate them must be sufficient.

The new system is pictured here. Along with the new system is upgraded software that should make the office more effective as we try to serve the school and the brotherhood to the best of our capacity.

Every gift toward our work is appreciated. Without an understanding of our needs, and without an effort to keep the office functioning with essential equipment, the work would be more difficult for all involved.

Plans are progressing toward making the Annual Lectureship in CD-ROM formats. We plan to have this year’s lessons on a CD that will be included with the lectureship bound volume. See page 3 of this issue for the details of the topics and date of the 2004 Lectureship.

In addition to this year’s lectures being on CD-ROM, we plan to make available lessons each day (audio), speaker by speaker, on CD-ROM. This will enable you to listen to these lectures as you travel, assuming you have a CD player in your means of transportation. If not, you can purchase a CD audio adapter for a minimal expense that will enable you to play CDs by using your tape cassette player. You may make tapes from the CDs if this is more convenient. We will no longer have tapes available of the daily lectures.

We are also planning to make back issues of the lectureship volumes available on a single CD.

All speakers will be broadcast live over the internet again this year. --Director