The next Sunday, they were eager to return, and they’ve been unofficial leaders ever since, with Hillary writing the class’s weekly e-mail newsletter, The Fig Leaf.

Beginning with about five couples, the class grew slowly for the first year. “Teacher Keith Avallone stuck it out even when only one couple showed up on a Sunday morning,” Hillary recalled.

In 2004, the class began to have more visitors and thus more new members. “We can see the fruit of the initial investment that a handful of people made,” Hillary said. “A huge blessing occurred when people joined the class voluntarily and wanted to get involved.”

The class was started to bridge the gap between Beginnings (for the nearly and newly wed) and Seekers Class, whose members are generally couples married for more than five years, said Mellissa Moudy, who with her husband, Steve, has directed Genesis since the beginning. The nucleus of about 10 couples ranges in age from the early twenties to early thirties.

 “We enjoy meeting and working with young adults who are deepening their faith,” Mellissa said. As the parents of four children, the Moudys also mentor members by sharing their parenting experiences.

Last year, the class did a study of toxic faith. Currently, they’re studying Proverbs. After these two open-ended studies, the class plans to return to a more structured approach using the Smyth & Helwys curriculum.

Avallone uses the Socratic method designed to elicit discussion. A seasoned teacher, he enjoys teaching adults because of the opportunity for rational discussion.

“Keith really makes learning interesting. He turns the lesson into 3-D so you can really see what’s going on,” said Kyle Thomas, who with his wife, Haley, has been in the class about three years.

Like some others, the Thomases became part of Genesis upon “graduation” from Beginnings Class. The last week of that 13-week class is a brunch with Genesis.

Excelling at “eating events,” the class recently enjoyed a Sunday-morning brunch-off pitting guys against girls. Neither side was allowed to help the other, and winners received gift certificates. Less spectacularly, they have lunch together on the second Sunday of every month.

Occasionally the guys have a “guys’ night” and the women have a movie night, but class members decided that they wanted “to go to the next level and be vulnerable” with each other, said Hillary Campbell. “The Sunday School hour doesn’t lend itself to that.”

The solution: an overnight camping trip “to give us an opportunity to be in close quarters, cooperate and spend prolonged time together to chip away at the surface stuff,” she added. Plans are in the works for a full weekend.

Members stepped up to help when the Moudys had their fourth child, but they really bonded when Haley Thomas, who was expecting the couple’s third child, recently broke her left elbow and right foot.

 “Within 48 hours, we had a meal brought to us, and others had signed up to bring food,” Haley recalled. Class members also took care of their children and ran errands.

“It was a blessing,” she said. “We were very impressed with how the class comes together to help.”

When Kyle Thomas saw the flurry of e-mails from class members urging them to “rally the Genesis troops,” he e-mailed thank-you notes to everyone who had signed up to help out.

The class has evolved from mostly newly married couples who didn’t know each other to a close-knit group of couples who are now having children, Avallone said. “They are also growing in their ability to care for each other and conform to the image of Christ.”