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T. Don Guthrie, Pastor
An overwhelming response! On Sunday, February 22, members of First Baptist Church were invited at the close of both morning worship services to respond to the 2009 Strategic Recommendations. The tally was 510 (accept) and 8 (reject). In my years as your Pastor, I don’t remember ever having as many people respond on any issue, nor with such strength. Thank you! I’ve read nearly all the comments. There were many good suggestions. I take this affirmation as a good indication of your trust (in the Lord and me), and as permission to proceed with specific plans. I am grateful for your prayers and support.
I’m committed! The Education Staff and I have been meeting weekly to shape the proposal for Venture Sunday School. I know that there are many questions (I have a few myself). So during the Sundays in March, I’ll try to meet with as many Sunday School departments as I can to let you know my heart and communicate why I believe a 2nd Sunday is both a necessary and wise “step of faith.”
The large majority of our members will not be affected by this new schedule (9:30 worship, 11 AM Venture Sunday School). We have asked the young people (grades 7-12) to play a key role. Consequently, we will include their parents in the invitation. But, we will encourage parents who prefer to stay in a “core Sunday School” rhythm (9:30 SS, 11 AM, worship) to do so. We will extend the invitation over the next few weeks to college students, young singles, young marrieds, and every adult of every age who would like to help start this new Venture Sunday School. Depending on how many people choose accept the challenge, we will design Sunday School in the Fall to meet the needs at both hours. We are hoping for 200 to 250 people who will volunteer to start this new Sunday School (about the current average attendance at 8:30 worship), so I don’t think most people will notice a huge change. If there are no volunteers or too few to make a strong start, we will have to scuttle this plan and do something else.
What I do believe is that this new strategy will help us reach new families…young and old. I believe it is poor stewardship to build new space when we can use the space we have twice. I also believe that this design is necessary for years ahead if First Baptist Church is to continue to reach people for Christ and carry our weight in the community. For the past several years, our growth in Sunday School has been essentially flat. Without steady and dynamic growth (in both quality and quantity), we will miss the “door of effective service” that God has opened up for us. So it is with a calm heart (and gratitude to those lay leaders and staff members who helped write it), that I presented this plan on February 8 for the consideration of our fellowship.
We have a lot of time between now and September 6 (the proposed start of “Venture Sunday School” and promotion of the “Core Sunday School”). There are several other very important pieces of the Venture Sunday School that we will address in the days ahead. Our church has urgent needs…Preschool Ministries, ministry to the Karen refugees, developing a new strategy for effective outreach to Hispanics, Sunday School annual review and design (promotion). It is all very exciting (and a lot of hard work). I hope you will ask the Lord for His energy and strength.
In the next few weeks we will be reading the book of Nehemiah together. It is one of my favorites. So, I’m reminding myself (almost daily), that “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10). It is a responsibility that I accept…a privilege that I embrace. I want to remind you of the same. On the large scale of this troubled world, asking any of us to make adjustments so that we may reach others seems very small by comparison. Joy anyone?
I’ll see you Sunday. It looks like its going to be a great day.
Don
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