FBC Singles

 Just like 1970, when I met some people at Kilbourne Park and changed my life, I did so again at First Baptist Columbia, when I became a part of the Singles Ministry.  The Singles were a group of mostly young professionals who were unmarried.  We began a Sunday School class that grew large over time, and we hung out a lot together.
 One of the first places we went was Ridgecrest, NC over the Labor Day weekend.  It rained most of the weekend, but we stayed in a cabin owned by the church, and we went to an organized Baptist conference on Singles.  I met a girl there named Wanda.  She was not a member of our church and had come there as a guest of another guy in our group.  Wanda was very cool.  She was a writer and very creative.  I gravitated immediately to her.  We had long talks with long walks around the area.  She asked me what I liked to do for fun, and I told her I liked to gamble and play poker.  She told me she didn't like gambling, and that was when I gave that up.  I wanted her to like me, and if that was going to be a stumbling block, then I was willing to remove it.
 Another place we went was to Charleston for the day.  We went downtown and just walked around.  I discovered a store called Prism Records run by an albino guy named Fred (aka Billy).  He was very strange, but he had a lot of cool Beatles things.  He and I became friends over the years, and I will write more about him later.
 Another place we went during this first year in Singles was to White Oak Baptist Conference Center near Winnsboro, SC for the weekend.  One of our group brought his girlfriend for the weekend.  Her name was Donna Rice.  Years later, she got mixed up with Senator Gary Hart and caused a scandal that would cause him to have to resign from running for President of the US.  You never know who you might meet.  One side note was that little did I know that I would be working at White Oak a year or so later, but that story will be left for another time. 
 Also coming up will be the Singles' mission trips.  And the Singles' choir.  Oh, and Wanda joined our church.  I was glad.