Class member Mike Furney suggested the name. The verse had impressed him when he read it  after he and his wife, Nancy, lost one of their triplets and Nancy had been hospitalized with serious complications.

“We’re designed not for isolation but for companionship,” he said. “It’s what Sunday School is all about.”

Jerilynn Armstrong has been the class director for about three years, with Carol Tommey serving as associate director. Members are generally in their forties and early fifties, and the class averages 25 to 30 in attendance on Sundays.

One of Cord of Three’s distinctions is that more than half of its members are associates serving somewhere else in the church on Sunday mornings. “It’s probably the largest percentage of any Sunday School class in the church,” Armstrong said.

“People feel comfortable coming without a spouse,” she said. Some members have spouses working in other classes; others may be divorced or widowed. Those whose marital situation changes tend to remain in the class because of the friendships they’ve developed.

Nancy Furney joined the class about 16 years ago, when she was single, because of Brett Ringle, previously the teacher. “It’s a very close, caring group,” she said. “It’s like a family, and we welcome new people into the family.”

Invited by business associates, Pam Haley joined the class in 1990. “I knew that the best way to get involved in the church and make friends was to get involved in a Sunday School class,” she said.

Haley especially appreciates the interaction between teachers and members of the class, which she calls a “feedback class” because of its discussion-oriented style. “The chairs are set up horseshoe style, so that promotes and encourages discussion,” she said.

The class focuses on studies of the Bible. Teachers Tom Odeski and Gladys Kolenovsky use curriculum pieces that fit this preference, primarily the Smith & Helwys curriculum and materials from the Baptist Center for Ethics.

Because Kolenovsky heads a lay mentoring team for Wilshire’s pastoral residents, Cord of Three has been enlisted to put together welcome baskets for new residents. This relationship has turned out to be a real treat, said Armstrong, as the class gets “first dibs” on the residents for several-week studies each year.

The class offers numerous opportunities for missions projects and socializing. Members participate in Habitat builds and collect offerings of money, clothing and supplies for missions projects.

Others are involved as individuals or couples. For example, Julian and Jill Vigil participate in the Rio Grande Valley mission trip every summer, and Yvette Patton is involved in the Bill Glass prison ministry.

Because many members have children in the youth group, the class social events often are planned around youth activities. They have an annual Christmas party and are planning a June cookout.

Class members come from a variety of denominational backgrounds. Sometimes they bring ideas from their previous church experiences, and sometimes they share the reasons they left another tradition.

Gary Looper, who comes from an independent evangelical background, learned about the class from friends Tom and Susan Odeski and another couple. A member of the class since early 2003, he joined the church in January 2005. Although he is “not a natural fit” because his children are older than those of most members’, he finds the class right for him.

 “It’s a pretty honest group,” Looper noted. “People in the class have the freedom to share tragedies as well as joyful experiences.”