Life at Broadway Baptist Church continues to be exciting and spiritually rewarding. There continues to be interesting Bible study, countless opportunities for service, especially during this Christmas season, and many avenues for plugging into the life of our church. Our children's and youth committees continue to develop strong programming for our children, plan numerous outreach activities, and host events for them to have fun with their families and each other.
Ron Higdon's seminars have concluded and have given us the opportunity to look closely at ourselves and our church, engage in sometimes difficult conversations, and to lead us in how to resolve issues and create solutions as a loving body in Christ.
We have celebrated the lives and mourned the loss of many of our saints, baptized youth and children into the path of Jesus Christ, and welcomed new members to our church family. We've enjoyed fellowship with a pot luck luncheon following a memorable Children's Sabbath, dressed ourselves in wild and crazy costumes for our Fall Festival, had breakfast together, and completed several building renovations and repairs. Our mission activities continue to engage us in many different ways serving in our community and, as always, we worship, fellowship, and decide our future together.
Your deacons continue to serve in multitudes of ways. They teach Sunday school, serve on committees, visit our friends in the hospital and care facilities, served during the seminars, chaperone youth and children events, and host various events and activities. Our building oversight committee is working hard to develop a policy and process for the use of our beautiful facility and your building committee is working on a plan to ensure the safety and security of our congregation during all worship and church activities.
The Stewardship Team conducted a highly successful campaign that began with intentional planning in early June and culminated with Pledge Sunday on Oct. 1. My deepest gratitude to Emily Holladay for her organization and planning with us and to the entire team that spent many hours dedicated to this campaign. Thank you to Leslie Cashion, George Coleman, Beth Davis, Katherine Devins, Scott Kimbell, Mark Riddle, Bob Stopher, and Claudia Wells. Leslie has graciously offered to serve again in 2018 to provide the continuity from this year's plan.
Autonomy for Baptists means that we make the decisions for our church together. At our last business meeting, we approved a budget of $975,000. The Deacons approved this budget in their Nov. 13 meeting and an additional proposal that calls for the Deacon Chair to appoint an ad hoc committee that will collaborate with the personnel committee to address compensation and benefits changes necessary to stay within the approved budget. They will review options and present preliminary recommendations to the Deacons at their December meeting.
The joint committee has a big responsibility and one that most certainly will impact and involve us all, so I gave serious consideration to the individuals I asked to serve and they were approved unanimously by the deacons. I shared my rationale for those selections with the deacons and the staff. They are:
Chair - Emily Allen Kirby (served on the Ad Hoc Committee in early 2017 that examined the roles of the Senior and Associate Pastors, member of the personnel committee, and parent of a child)
Steven Lin - Deacon, parent of children
Steve Naiser - Deacon, parent of youth
Bob Johnson - Deacon, former pastor, interim pastor
Bill Stevens - upcoming Deacon, parent of former youth, finance committee.
The personnel committee members are (as set by Bylaws of BBC):
Vice Chair of deacons - George Coleman, Chair of Personnel Committee
Chair of Deacons - Debby Griffin
Chair of Finance Committee - Ron Newcomer
Ad Hoc Member - Scott Kimbell
Ad Hoc Member - Emily A. Kirby
I know they will be looking at all avenues of possible revenue in order to keep things running as smoothly as possible, with as little disruption as possible, and to maintain resources needed to continue the high level of programming we have received over the last several years. I know that you join me in my thoughts about how blessed we all have been by the wonderful ministries and programs we have been offered. We all know how hard everyone in our office and in our building maintenance strive to make everything work seamlessly and efficiently.
I ask that we continue to pray for each other, our ministers, our staff, our pastor search committee, and our church leaders as we continue our spiritual journey as a people who are seeking to serve God the best we can.
Blessings,
Debby Griffin, Deacon Chair
