Monday Over Coffee: "Lost and Found"
Posted September 11, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
At 10:00 in a morning in early June of 1998, Trisha McFarlane, age nine, was sitting in the backseat of her mother’s Dodge Caravan wearing her blue Boston Red Sox batting practice jersey and playing with her doll, Mona. By 10:30 she was lost in the woods. By 11:00, she was trying not to be terrified, trying not to think, “This is serious.”
Monday Over Coffee: "Scream"
Posted September 4, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
My son Charlie and I moved from room to room within the National Gallery of Art in Oslo, Norway, one bright day a few summers ago. I thought the museum was lightly attended, but it only seemed that way because most everyone had congregated in a single room. In fact, most everyone had crowded around a single painting. The Scream, though painted a century ago by Norway’s Edvard Munch, captures…
Monday Over Coffee: "Plan It Over"
Posted August 28, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
My son Hank and I met in Seattle a few years ago aiming to visit Mt. Rainier. We rented a car, got some sleep in the hotel, and the next morning I typed “Mt. Rainier National Park” into my phone’s navigation app. We chose a route and headed out. But about 60 miles into our 90-minute drive, we found ourselves on a very narrow, very icy, almost deserted road. I began to suspect that where we…
Monday Over Coffee: "Wear It"
Posted August 21, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
A few summers ago, my son, Charlie, was up at bat in a high school baseball game when the pitcher lost control of one of his pitches, and it popped Charlie right in the torso just under his arm. You could tell it hurt, but Charlie just dropped his bat and took his base like it was nothing. He was following one of the unwritten rules of baseball—never let a pitcher think he hurt you even if he…
Monday Over Coffee: "Weaving Our Way Home"
Posted August 14, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
We were in Galveston. I was eight; my brother David was nine, and my sisters, younger. Our family was on a long weekend summer trip. We were staying at Gaido’s Seaside Inn on Seawall Boulevard next to Gaido’s Restaurant. For a kid, all day in the ocean, fried shrimp at night, and falling asleep to the sound of the tide along the Gulf of Mexico was as good as it gets.
Monday Over Coffee: "Solitude"
Posted August 7, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Anders Ericsson was fifteen and loved chess. He routinely trounced his classmates in the cafeteria at school until one boy—the worst player at the school—slowly, methodically, became one of its best. Anders knew the kid was practicing a lot, but how was this happening? The question lodged in his mind so durably that later in life when Anders went into research, he devoted himself to the…
Monday Over Coffee: "Awake"
Posted July 31, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Hank was nine and Charlie was four when Kelly and I took them to Orlando. Upon arriving, we went straight to Disney World. Then, after a long day at the park, we headed to the Nickelodeon Hotel. Though it was unseasonably cold, the boys wanted to swim, which we did. Then exhausted, we tucked the boys into their bunk beds expecting a good night’s rest. Instead around 2:00 AM, the hotel’s fire…
Greg Funderburk on Sabbatical
Posted July 26, 2023 by Suzann Hermann in All Articles
South Main Baptist Church values the notion of Sabbath and, as a policy, provides time and space for periodic sabbaticals to our ministerial staff after having served the church for a period of seven years. Relevant research is persuasive about the utility and benefits of such time off to recharge and renew one's call to the work of being a minister. In light of this research and the…
Monday Over Coffee: "Day to Day"
Posted July 24, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Some have said the late baseball broadcaster Vin Scully’s sonorous tenor voice was so mesmerizing that he could read the phone book over the air and people would listen. That may be, but what folks would really be tuning in for were the compelling stories he’d inevitably tell as he went along. Between names, Vin would likely offer an interesting thumbnail sketch of someone whose name he…
Youth Peru Mission Trip
Posted July 18, 2023 by SMBC in Family Ministry, Missions
The Class of 2024 spent a week in Peru partnering with Operación San Andrés. These nine rising seniors began their capstone year in the Family Ministry with an immersive learning and service experience. We served in Collique with OSA and Iglesia de Esperanza each day and saw how God was working through them to show love and care for the community. We spent our nights in Lima eating really good…
Monday Over Coffee: "Elusive"
Posted July 17, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
If you're in my age demographic, you probably grew up quoting Monty Python. Everyone has a favorite line or two from the irreverent British comedy troupe: "It's not pining. It's passed on. It has ceased to be." (Dead Parrot sketch); "It's just a flesh wound." (The Holy Grail movie); and of course, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" (Spanish Inquisition sketch). After the group's…
WDS Club Camp
Posted July 11, 2023 by Alyssa Carter in Family Ministry
Over the week of June 19, 2023, our MainKids attended WDS Club Camp. Throughout this week, the kids had many fun activities as well as time digging in deep to the Word of God. Each morning, the kids started their day at Little Church. The whole week we learned stories that helped us remember basic truths, then throughout their day there was play time in the gym, craft time, small group time,…
Monday Over Coffee: "God is Awake"
Posted July 10, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Years ago when my kids, Hank and Charlie, were very young, and they put their elbows on the table during a meal, what followed typically went something like this:
Dad: "Boys, elbows off the table."
Hank: (as his brother, Charlie, is removing his elbows from the table) "Why?"
Dad: "Because I said so."
The Youth Mission Trip to Puerto Rico
Posted July 5, 2023 by Saige Jurek in Family Ministry, Missions
When we arrived at the airport in Puerto Rico it was smoldering hot, so hot in fact you could probably cook an egg on the sidewalk, even though it was like 10:30pm. We loaded up into the vans and eventually, after a long day, got to go to bed. I had the best roommates ever! I was with Kiran, Vivian, Jessie, Olivia, and Suzann. A definite highlight of the trip was my room because everyone knew…
Pastor Steve's Study Leave
Posted June 28, 2023 by SMBC in Pastor
As you read this, I am in Oxford for a month of study leave. Why a study leave? (I am glad you asked.) South Main has a generous sabbatical policy for all of our ministers. We believe sabbaticals are an important part of our retention strategy and an important component in ministerial health. We are not the only ones who believe that; the Lilly endowment did a deep dive into what…
The 527 Tribe Mission Trip to Oklahoma
Posted June 27, 2023 by SMBC in Family Ministry, Missions
During the first week in June, The 527 Tribe, together with some of our closest friends, loaded our bags and snacks galore and left the big city behind for the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma. We stayed in rustic A-frame cabins at Roman Nose State Park, where we enjoyed fireside hangs, volleyball in the grass, hikes to cold streams and lots of late night chats. Each day we spent…
Monday Over Coffee: "Anticipation"
Posted June 26, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
One of my favorite photographs of my son, Hank, is one in which he's about three years old and sitting on a tram running from the parking lot to the front entrance of Disneyland. Hank had been bouncing off the walls in excitement that he'd be spending the day at the famous amusement park, but now on board the tram, with the attractions just in the distance, he suddenly became incredibly…
Monday Over Coffee: "Commencing"
Posted June 19, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Our bright-eyed students have crossed the stage and flung their curiously-shaped hats high up into the air with great energy. It's now time to gather up all the sage and inspiring commencement remarks offered to these graduates and their dewy-eyed parents from all across our country and to choose the best of them.
Sodzo Update – June 2023
Posted June 13, 2023 by SMBC in Missions
Habari (Hello) from Kenya! It has been a blessing to see the growth of Sodzo's work firsthand during our trip this May/June. Here are a few brief stories and quotes to give you a hint of the way lives are being changed through your support.
Monday Over Coffee: "Play"
Posted June 12, 2023 by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I was seriously dedicated to playing when I was a little kid. Seriously dedicated. I'd play in the living room, down the hall, in my room. But what I really loved was playing outside. In the backyard. In the front yard. In the vacant lot down the street. In our driveway. On my bike. At school recess. With the dog. Even in the nearby bayou. I played with a holy fervor.
