Larry Walker, pastor of the Bend, Medford and Roseburg, Oregon, congregations, began a five-part Bible study series March 27.

He had recently taken a class titled "The Jewish Roots of Christianity" at a local Bible college, and he prepared this Bible study series as a follow-up. He gave flyers to the other 14 class members, mentioned the series in an article and the "Religion Briefs" column in the Bend newspaper and sent flyers to nearby GN subscribers. Two class members also sent flyers to others they know who are interested in the subject, including eight pastors of other churches.

Mr. Walker reported: "We had six new people in attendance at the first session, including two members of the class that I had been taking, the wife of one of the two and another couple that I met a few years back and recently had a three-plus hour visit with and dinner. The other new person was a man whom I have never seen before.

"Despite the few attendees, the session went very well. I felt excellent rapport with everyone and had very positive feedback from them during and after the session. All but the one man stayed long after visiting and enjoying refreshments.

"Another class member e-mailed me to let me know that he couldn't make it because of leaving for Hawaii for a long vacation. But he wants to get tapes of the sessions. Yet another class member who signed up to attend did not come."