Today’s Focus

FOCUS: Baptist Sword Drill imprints Bible verses on children’s minds

FOCUS: Baptist Sword Drill imprints Bible verses on children’s minds

By Vally Sharpe, Asheville, N.C. | I recently ran across a news clipping of me in 1971. It was a listing of the regional winners of what was called the “Bible Drill” by then, a competition held in the Southern Baptist Church for younger kids. Older youth in the church participated in a speaker’s tournament. When I first began to participate, the competition had been known as the “Sword” Drill, a name I still prefer, although the “Bible” Drill is, admittedly, a more descriptive term. Successfully competing in the Sword Drill meant one had to know the books of the Bible and the order in which they appear, from Genesis to Revelations.

The whole “sword” reference came from the fact that the “word of God” is sometimes called the “sword of the spirit.” But it didn’t stop there. The commands “Attention!” and “Draw swords!” and scripture references like “Joshua 4:14” or “Philemon 1:16” would be called out and the sound of pages rustling would commence.

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by · December 8, 2015 · Today's Focus
FOCUS: Roving photographer returns from roving around Europe

FOCUS: Roving photographer returns from roving around Europe

By Frank Sharp | An ambitious and taxing trip to Europe began with a Delta flight to New Jersey to a hotel close to the airport – a move that saved my wife and I a total of $500. We both got our flu shots before leaving and I carried a bottle of antibiotics just in case. Who knows what might happen on such a long and ambitious trip: six countries in 14 days and 2,000 miles on the ground?

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by · December 4, 2015 · Today's Focus
12/1: On family history, GOP convention, cemetery tour

12/1: On family history, GOP convention, cemetery tour

Click here to view the latest edition. Inside:
TODAY’S FOCUS: Children Do Better When They Know Their Family History
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Would a Deadlocked GOP Convention Turn To Someone Not Running?
ANOTHER VIEW: Historic Free Tour of Norcross Cemetery Scheduled on December 12
FEEDBACK: Not Happy When People Change the Name of Holidays
UPCOMING: A Christmas Carol Returns to Aurora Theatre
NOTABLE: More Young Men Performing at Gwinnett Ballet Theatre
RECOMMENDED OUTING: The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Georgia Leads the Nation in the Production of Pecans
TODAY’S QUOTE: What “Bipartisan” Really Means
MYSTERY PHOTO: Clues Galore for This Edition’s Mystery Photo

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by · December 1, 2015 · Today's Focus
Colley

FOCUS: Children do better in life when they know their family history

By Jerry J. Colley | When in the hospital recovering from surgery, I read in an old Reader’s Digest that children do better in life when they know their family history. It started me thinking about my family history and how little I know about it.

I would love to know about my great and great-great grandfathers’ experiences serving in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. And my first hero was my Great Uncle Larry Wootan, who served in the U.S. Army during World War I. His memory was gone by the time I was old enough to appreciate what he had done.

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by · December 1, 2015 · Today's Focus
FOCUS: How Norcross got what looks like Carnegie Library but isn’t

FOCUS: How Norcross got what looks like Carnegie Library but isn’t

By Geoff Hammett | It’s interesting that a Carnegie Library style building in Norcross resembles the early 1900s one-room Carnegie Library designs, but the Norcross library was built in 1921. So I investigated the possibility that the Norcross Library could be an unaccounted for Carnegie Library. Even if not funded as a Carnegie Library, the building is at least in spirit and in appearance a Carnegie Library. It eventually became the first library in Gwinnett County.

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by · November 24, 2015 · Today's Focus
FOCUS: Move Election Day to Veterans Day, for honor and bigger turnout

FOCUS: Move Election Day to Veterans Day, for honor and bigger turnout

By Tom Taft | One of the saddest statistics in America today is the low rate of voter turnout. In the 2012 presidential election, only 57.5 percent of eligible voters turned out. That number is sobering. Even worse is having to go back to 1896 to find a rate significantly higher (79 percent). The oft-repeated reason for the low rate is that potential voters don’t think their vote will matter.

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by · November 20, 2015 · Today's Focus
Long

FOCUS: Louisianan’s view from living for a short period in Gwinnett

By Bill Long, Shreveport, La. | After retiring from college teaching in July of 2014, I moved to Duluth, Georgia, to be near family. Except for two years in Washington, D.C., where I worked in the U.S. Senate pursuing a graduate degree, and a year in Cambridge, Mass., studying at the post-doctorate level, I had resided in Louisiana where I was born and raised.

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by · November 17, 2015 · Today's Focus
Wascher

FOCUS: Study shows Gwinnett majority wants public transit

By Joel Wascher | The Gr8 Exchange on Transportation, one of the largest ever transportation studies focused on public input process undertaken in a single week, showed that Gwinnett residents are ready to talk about different options when it comes to their transportation network.

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by · November 13, 2015 · Today's Focus
Goodman

FOCUS: Chairman outlines improvements in Gwinnett Public Library

By Dick Goodman | On behalf of the entire board of the Gwinnett County public library board, (myself; Betty Atkinson, Lawrenceville; Babs Wagoner, Duluth; Suzanne Skeen, Duluth and Deborah Oscarson, Lawrenceville), I’d like to report on recent developments at the Gwinnett County libraries. Many of these may appear minor, but cumulatively they represent major improvements in the level and quality of service for our patrons. Significantly, they have come about as a result of the leadership and professionalism of our library director, Charles Pace.

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by · November 10, 2015 · Today's Focus
Moore

FOCUS: Reduction in school testing necessary to expand students’ minds

By Holly Moore | Education stories, particularly public school education stories, often dominate our news. You can’t escape the latest study or data pointing to successes and far too often failures. Bureaucrats, with little to no education background, weigh in on the best way to “fix” our schools. Systems explore the next big trend in teaching

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by · November 3, 2015 · Today's Focus
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