As Christmas is rapidly approaching, it is time for our annual Food Donation to support families within the Jefferson County School system. Please look below to see what items your Sunday School class is bringing. If you would like to contribute, but are not currently in a Sunday School class, please feel free to bring any of the items listed below: 

• Aluminum Foil - Lectionary Class and Pastor’s Discussion Class
• Canned Corn, Tomatoes, and Fruit - Children’s Sunday School Classes and Women of Grace Class
• Canned Beans and Soup - Youth Sunday School Classes and Perry Class
• Potatoes and Sugar - FREE Class and SALT Class
• Flour and Corn Meal - Lydia Class and Ruth Class
• Coffee, Tea, Potatoes - Theophilus Class and Exodus Class
• Money for Perishable Goods - Armstrong Class and Carver Class

Please bring your food donations to the plastic bins in the Atrium, Friendship Hall, or the Church Office by Wednesday, December 16. Thank you in advance for helping provide for families in our community and schools!

The Quarterly Business Meeting will be Wednesday, November 18, at 6:00 p.m. in Friendship Hall. This is a very important meeting as we will be voting on the 2016 Budget, the 2016 Nominating Committee slate, and on proposed changes to the By-Laws. Please plan to attend.
 
If you need dinner reservations, please call the church office at 502.895.2459 by noon on Tuesday, November 17.

A few folks have wondered why we are doing another stewardship emphasis when we just had one early this same year?  The reason is that our budgeting cycle has changed.  We used to have the stewardship emphasis early in the year, and then we would approve our final budget around April 1.  Now we will be voting on our budget each year in mid November.  (This year the business meeting is on November 18.)

If you haven't had a chance to send in your Personal Commitment (Pledge) card yet, please do so.  The responses on those cards determine the shape of the coming year's ministry budget.  Thanks!

Our annual Thanksgiving dinner and communion service will be held Wednesday, November 25, at 6 p.m. in Friendship Hall. Standing reservations do not apply. Please make a new reservation for this dinner by noon on Tuesday, November 24, by calling the church office at 502.895.2459. Please note that dinner is at 6 p.m. Please arrive early to ensure seating with your family. 

I have had the pleasure of attending Women on Mission twice since joining Broadway Baptist Church.  This past meeting, Bob Johnson led us in a very thought provoking study of Moses and the five women that God chose to place in his life to nurture, protect and support him.  Dr. Albin Whitworth played the most amazing collection of old hymns effortlessly.  It was beautiful from start to finish. 

However, I was most struck by this amazing group of ladies who love God and Broadway Baptist Church.  Helen Graves (103) joined BBC at the tender age of 19.  Most of the ladies there have been active members of BBC for 30, 40, or 50 years. They continue to seek and find ways to share the gospel with the membership and the community at large. It would be easy for the group to compare aches and pains, but that simply did not
happen. Laughter and joy, smiles, and fellowship filled our morning together.

~Mary Lucy Hook 

The Fulfilling God’s Vision Stewardship Emphasis for 2016 is underway. As of October 15, we have received 87 Personal Commitment Cards totaling $399,458. Our goal is 200 cards pledging $952,750.  

The Ministry Budget for 2016 will be voted on at the Quarterly Business Meeting on November 18. Please submit your Personal Commitment Card by November 8 so that they may be included in the budget formation process.

Chenoweth’s test scores came out and they are amazing. They are overall 12th in the district in elementary schools – and have the 2nd highest percentage of kids on Free or Reduced lunch of those 12 schools – 53 percent of their kids. (Norton has 20 percent in comparison.)

Dare to Care has requested we change our volunteer day at their warehouse to the 3rd Tues. of each month. We will be joined with another church group that does the backpacks. This will be a new adventure for us. Hope we will have a large group from Broadway each month.

The first time for the new 3rd Tuesday is October 20th 2015. We will carpool from the Ofice Door of our church at promptly 8:50 a.m. Hope to see you there. The hungry children are counting on us.

If you have been to the Family Life Center in the past seven years, you have probably noticed the drink machine that sits back in the corner by the windows. In the summer of 2016, some of the youth will travel to Kosice, Slovakia, to minister among the Roma people there. One of the very simple ways you can be involved in supporting this trip is by purchasing a drink from this machine! All proceeds go directly to support the international trip the youth take. Drinks are $.75, and every penny helps! Thank you for the many ways you as a congregation have supported, and continue to support, the youth ministry.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Baptist Fellowship is pleased to name Kristin Belcher as operations coordinator. Belcher holds degrees from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (MDiv), University of Louisville (MSSW), and University of Kentucky (BSW).

She is a certified social worker. Belcher’s experience with KBF is multi-faceted, beginning with volunteering on missions projects, serving as missions intern, and most recently managing the KBF office since 2013. She has served as student minister with First Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY since 2012. In 2014, Belcher won the Outstanding Community Service Award from the Southeastern Association of Area Agencies on Aging for her contribution to the lives of older persons.

In addition to her administrative leadership for KBF, as operations coordinator Belcher will assume responsibilities including leading and developing missions opportunities, providing educational resources, and networking with churches, ministers and laity. Working with peer groups will be a focus, particularly developing the young Baptist ecosystem in Kentucky. Belcher began this new role on September 15, 2015.

Kentucky Baptist Fellowship is a fellowship of churches and individuals who are committed to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. The KBF’s mission is three-fold: 1) to help churches partner with one another and with other organizations that share a similar philosophy and goal; 2) to provide resources for churches and individuals as they do their work; and 3) to encourage involvement in missions and ministries in local communities, throughout the state, and globally.

I once made a hole-in-one, and it was awkward.  I mean, I was playing alone, and since nobody was with me, what was I supposed to do? Jump in the air? Shout? If a golfer screams on a tee box, and nobody is there, does he make a sound?  All this to say, I do not count naturally infectious enthusiasm as one of my gifts. But let me just say, I am growing more and more excited about God’s spirit being alive in our church! 

I’ll confess I had apprehensions about our discernment process: “What if we do this, get a sense of God’s calling, and then the church just doesn’t step up?” Instead, I’m feeling very strongly that narrowing our focus to these four priorities is reinvigorating us as we focus on God’s mission. I believe we are moving into a great period in the history of our church!

Our stewardship effort —”Fulfilling the Vision”—is a vital step in this process. Please return your Personal Commitment card by the first Sunday in October.  In November, we will be voting on a budget aimed at Fulfilling the Vision, but we need to know the level of financial support before we can move forward with the plan. Ministry plans are being finalized now and will be updated on the website in early October. I will also be sending out a summary of the plan to the congregation.  

I’ll see you on Sunday!