Baraca Radio Sunday School Class Online

Baraca is a strange-sounding word which draws amused/confused comments. Not surprising. It's a Hebrew word which means blessed or blessing. Turns out, Baraca Sunday school classes have been around since the late 1800s in churches of various denominations. It all started at a time when Sunday school was mainly for kids.

A man in Syracuse, New York, started getting serious about living closer to God through studying the Bible. He went to his pastor at First Baptist Church in Syracuse, and the two of them recruited other men. In a year's time, they had 150 men attending. Other churches started taking notice. So, in time, Baraca became a national and even international movement.

In my home church, First Baptist, Anderson, SC, I have been the teacher for the Baraca Radio Sunday School Class since 2002. In our area, the program is on WRIX-FM Sunday mornings, 9:50-10:50. It's an hour-long broadcast, with music, prayer, and even birthday and anniversary reports.

For the past year or so, the lesson portion has been online through the church website: www.andersonfbc.org.

Almost every week, we hear from new people who tell us they listen to the program. We don't ask for money. We just have hymns and gospel-quartet type music and Bible study.

I'm an ordained Baptist minister, author, retired professor from Anderson University, and I have written hundreds of study materials for use in churches across the nation.