RAY Club

 

 

RAY CLUB HISTORY

 

The Ray Club at Garden Lakes Baptist church is an organization for persons who are Retired, Active, and Youthful. It has a membership of about one hundred persons, generally in the age range of sixty years and above. The membership consists of Garden Lakes Baptist Church members and other persons from the surrounding community.

The Ray Club ministry had its birth in 1977 when two Garden Lakes Church members, Sarah Thurston and Elizabeth Smith, approached a third member, then recently retired high school educator, Noble Finley, urging him to volunteer to organize a group for "senior citizens". He called together a first meeting of about thirteen persons who chose as their first president Mrs. Elizabeth Smith. They decided to operate on the unofficial premise that "whosoever will, may come". That is to say when any persons found themselves at the point where they felt like they might enjoy meeting with such a group they were welcome to join the happy band.

The RAY Club meets monthly, nine months per year (September through May), usually on the first Thursday of each month. Each meeting includes food, fellowship and an entertaining or informative program presentation. Special music is always provided by the "Live Embers", the senior adult choir of Garden Lakes Baptist Church. Typical attendance is about fifty to sixty members.

A very important adjunct to the Ray Club ministry is a program of senior adult travel. This is ably organized and planned by one of the members of the club. Day trips, overnight trips and sometimes even several-day long trips are planned for the members. Recent examples have included a "Mystery Theatre" evening trip to Chattanooga, an overnight trip to historic Jonesboro, Tennessee and surrounding area and an extended trip to the very interesting Amish region of Ohio. The trips are scheduled on large, comfortable motor coaches. Our traveling name is the Gadabouts, so come join the fun and fellowship....

 

Whosoever will, may come