Pepper Angelin isn’t afraid to jump into things. Just two months after coming to Saddleback, she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. Two months later, she was ready to take CLASS 101. CLASS stands for Christian Life And Service Seminars. CLASS 101 is on knowing Christ and discovering church membership.

“The church kept talking about having a relationship with Christ, but I didn’t know what it meant. When I saw the CLASS offered in the bulletin I decided to take it,” Pepper recalled.

Not only did she learn what it means to have a relationship with Christ; Pepper also learned what it means to be a part of the church and how it integrates into your life.

After CLASS 101, Pepper made two decisions. The first was to get baptized. “It was a difficult decision because I was brought up Catholic. I wondered, ‘Do I really need to do this again?’ But the CLASS helped me to understand that this was the right thing to do, to publicly announce my decision to become a Christian.”

Her second decision was to continue “around the bases” by finishing the rest of the CLASSes. A couple of months later she took CLASS 201, on growing in Christ and discovering spiritual maturity.

“It was my favorite,” she confessed. “I learned the importance of having a daily quiet time.” As a new Christian, the Bible wasn’t always making a lot of sense. “I wasn’t getting a lot out of it.  But even if I don’t feel like I am, God’s word doesn’t return empty.” Pepper also learned about the other habits of mature Christians, like tithing, prayer, and scripture memorization. She and her husband also decided to join a small group.

Because she was busy learning these new habits, Pepper didn’t take CLASS 301, on serving Christ by discovering your ministry, until the following spring. She admits that it was the toughest CLASS for her. In fact, she took it twice.

“It was hard for me to look at myself and say, ‘What am I gifted in?’ After the CLASS, I still felt a little confused. It wasn’t until I had my SHAPE interview that it all came together.”

SHAPE stands for Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. CLASS 301 discusses how these factors combine in each of us to determine how we are designed to serve God. Graduates of CLASS 301 meet with an interviewer who is trained to help them see how their unique SHAPE can be used.

Pepper went into her SHAPE interview thinking she wanted to work with high school students, but she wasn’t sure if that was her gift. She saw herself fitting into several different areas and wasn’t sure how to pull it all together. But her SHAPE interviewer helped her. “During the course of the conversation she was pointing out what my strengths were. When I told her I was thinking of going into the high school ministry, she pointed out all those things were perfect for it.” Pepper is now an area Bible study leader in the high school ministry.

Things clicked better the next time she took CLASS 301 with her husband a year later. “I understood the spiritual gifts more by that time, after participating in ministry and studying more. I knew these things I picked out were my gifts.”

Pepper rounded out the bases by taking the first CLASS 401 offered, on sharing Christ through missions. She was able to apply what she learned in the CLASS right away. “Right after 401 I went on a mission trip with the high school students to Mexicali.  I went because I had gone to 401. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. I hadn’t seriously thought about it until after 401.”

The other benefit Pepper cited from CLASS 401 was writing out her testimony and working on sharing it with others.

Pepper summed up her experience in the CLASSes this way: “The CLASSes are like a guide book on your spiritual journey. Now that I know who I am, I know what to do next.  We become Christians but if there aren’t logical steps to take we don’t grow more. The CLASSes give us the what, why, and how and action steps to go do it.”