Revitalization

Church Revitalization Proposal

Each student will develop a Church Revitalization Proposal for his ministry context. The Proposal must employ insights from all of the required textbooks, presentations, and class discussions. The Church Revitalization Proposal paper should be 10 to 12 pages, double- spaced. The paper must include:

1. Introduction: This must explain the historical background of the church as extensively as necessary to accurately reflect the church’s current state. Historical statistics, leadership structure, programming approaches, and overall culture of the church should be addressed.

History

The current Eastside Baptist Church was founded by Reverend A.A. Haggard in 1939 in Plant City, FL. The church began after the aforementioned Reverend began a tent revival on the corner of two streets in the center of town. He then turned the tent revival into the meeting of a tabernacle at the address of the current physical church on Calhoun Street in Plant City. The first scripture focused on for the vision of the tabernacle was Matthew 6:33. The tabernacle had intermittent services held until in 1942 Reverent E.D. Blocker made the first move to officially make the tabernacle into a Baptist Church. The first name of the church was Calhoun-Baptist Church with thirty five founding members. Later in the same year the church was accepted into the South Florida Baptist Association. In 1943 the church began construction on their first building, a 200 person one-room building for the purpose of worship services. Reverend Blocker resigned as Pastor in May, 1945. [1]

After the resignation of Reverend Blocker, Reverend Walter Pollard began his career as Pastor of the church for the next three years. During his time as Pastor the church was relocated to the east side of the town to a purchased property on East Calhoun Street. The original purchase price of the land was $750. The old church property was then sold, and funds were raised to build new construction at the new location. Funds of support were received from individuals as well First Baptist Church, Plant City and the Florida Baptist Convention. In 1945 with the move to the new location, the name of the church was changed to Eastside Baptist Church. During the same year, the church pastorium was build on the northwest side of the property. In March of 1949 Reverend Harry A. Ross began his 5 year ministry as Pastor. Under his leadership the church grew rapidly in size and the first educational building was built. In 1954 Reverend Chesteine began his pastorate and continued until 1967. During his time as Pastor, the church continued to grow and a new auditorium was built. The church also began a kindergarten and daycare program in 1961. In 1968 Reverend Reynolds began his pastorate until 1978. During his time Sunday school attendance climbed to 464 people and the property value climbed to $350,000. Additional church income doubled, gifts to missions tripled, and two full time employees were added to the staff (worship Pastor and educational secretary). It was during this time that parking was created for 100 parking spaces. In 1979 Reverend Waylon Carlisle was called to Pastor. Reverend Carlisle served as Pastor for 27 years. Under his leadership the church demolished the main sanctuary and broke ground on the current Family Life Center. This project, completed in 1998 is the building which the church currently still owes $500,000 on. During his time several ministries began including the Spanish ministry and food bank ministry. Unfortunately, both these ministries fell apart within a few years of starting.[2]

In 2006, when Pastor Carlisle resigned a Pastoral search committee began seeking a new Pastor for Eastside and were led to Brother Jack Roberts. The church struggled greatly during his Pastorate, and the church saw a rapid decline in membership and income. Pastor Roberts was asked to leave in 2006 and Eastside member Brother Wayne Weeks served as interim Pastor for 2 years. The next 3 years were met with struggle as the church hired and let go Pastor Dennis DeMarios and Pastor Davis Ramsey. In 2013 the search committee was once again tasked with hiring a new Senior Pastor. The committee came upon Pastor Randall Johnson. With his new leadership and vision the church was sparked back alive and the remaining 60 members grew to a current 250 members. Under the leadership of Randall Johnson the church saw an addition again of a Hispanic ministry. The youth program hired Pastor Grant Fowler as youth Pastor in 2017 and the youth program has also experienced the same growth. With the new spark lit, there is great hope ahead for the revitalization of Eastside Baptist Church.

Eastside Baptist church is a community church in the heart of Plant City, Florida. The church is surrounded by homes in which only a few members live. The church has a Pastorium across the street from the main sanctuary which is a 4 bedroom home. The buildings of the church consists of a sanctuary capable of seating 300 people. This building has several upstairs classrooms which were created when a previously placed balcony had to be closed in in order to maintain the structure of the building. The front of the sanctuary has an altar with a baptistry behind the altar. The baptistry is older, the heater does not work, and the bottom of the baptistry is rusted over. Behind the baptistry are 3 classrooms which are currently used for storage. The opposite side of the sanctuary contains an upstairs area in which the sound and lighting boards are kept and run. This area is locked and only able to be opened by a select few people. The building of the main sanctuary has had issues in the past year with air-conditioning and major roof leaks. The air conditioning unit had to be entirely replaced, however there are still issues with ventilation into the rooms made from the balcony area. This can pose a problem as the climate in Florida is extremely hot and humid. Unfortunately, due to ventilation issues these rooms are only able to be used for storage and not classrooms. The church has struggled with roof leaks and unfortunately, the most major roof leak is directly over the sound board equipment. The equipment has often been covered by tarps when not in use. It is believed that the leak has been fixed, but time and a rainy season in Florida (late spring) will prove whether this is the case or not. Of greatest note in the main sanctuary area is that there are no accessible bathrooms. The closest bathroom requires a walk to a different building area. This has been an issue for some senior adults.

The second major building at Eastside Baptist Church is named the Family Life Center (FLC). This is a building which was built in the 1980s and unfortunately the church still owes over $500,000 on the original construction. The FLC contains a large gymnasium with basketball hoops. There is a full industrial kitchen with storage for food and products. The downstairs contains a classroom which has been decorated into a prayer room, a library with books which can be taken and returned for free, and a classroom for senior adult education. The upstairs has 8 medium sized classrooms which house the Sunday morning Bible Study classes. There is both a staircase and an elevator to reach the second floor, making it easily accessible for anyone.

The third major building at Eastside Baptist Church contains the oldest sanctuary. This has been transformed into a Hispanic ministry where services are taught in Spanish. The building also contains the Associate Pastors office, the church office, the financial secretary’s office, and 8 large classrooms upstairs which are used for the children’s ministry programs. Connected to this building below the children’s ministry area are the nursery and preschool areas. Unfortunately, this building has also had major issues with roof leaks and as a result the church has struggled with mold problems. There have been repeated attempts to fix the roof, however the major problem is that the church roof needs to be entirely replaced.

The church also owns the home which is directly across from their parking lot and next door to the Pastorium. This home was donated to the church in the 1970s. Originally it was used to house the youth group, however with the building of the FLC the youth group moved out and the home became a storage area. About 5 years ago there was a vision the home could be used to house another Pastor. Several of the church members went and gutted the house entirely of drywall and electric and discovered the cost would be too great to continue the project. As a result, the home is now a gutted empty house which is only usable for storage. There are holes in the outside walls which expose some things to the outdoors.

The main church parking lots are located on the back side of the church. These parking lots have handicap spaces as well as regular parking. There is an area of overhang of roof which people can drive their car under to protect others from getting wet in the heavy rainy season. The front side of the building contains 1 row of handicap parking spaces. Most of the parking spaces are not visible from the main road. There are no specifically allocated visitors parking spaces.

Church Leadership Structure

Senior Pastor

Randall Johnson is the Senior Pastor of Eastside Baptist Church since October 2013. He has previous experience as both a Senior Pastor and a Music Director. Randall also doubles as the churches music director for Sunday morning worship services. Randall is an extremely gifted vocal musician which adds to both his preaching and his morning worship. When Randall and his wife Laura first arrived at Eastside the church had only 60 in attendance. The church had just experienced a time of difficulty both financially and spiritually with difficult previous leadership. Randall has taken the church from 60 in attendance to 200 in attendance. He has gradually changed the worship music from singing only hymns to incorporating more contemporary songs into a blended worship service. The newer style of worship is now accepted by all ages of the congregation. When Randall arrived at the church the only other person on staff was a children’s minister who had been on staff for almost 30 years. Randall has added to staff with the addition of an Associate and Youth Pastor in 2017, music Pastor in 2017, and young adults minister in 2019. Randall has slowly started the revitalization process within the church with his gracious attitude towards forgiveness and healing for all. He is extremely compassionate with his members and true Shepherd. Randall has helped the church to heal from poor decisions in the past, and changed the direction of the church from near death, to on its way back to life.

The music Pastor for Eastside is Jim Hagan. Jim has been the music Pastor at Eastside since 2017, but he is 84 years old and has been in the ministry for all of his adult life. Jim has a heart on fire for the Lord which is evident through every area of ministry in which he works. Jim is responsible for leading the adult choir and Sunday evening worship service which is in the form of traditional hymns. Jim is a huge asset to the Pastoral staff with his heart of evangelism, his years of experience, and his undying focus to not stifle the Holy Spirit.

Hispanic Pastor

Jesus Campos is the Hispanic Pastor at Eastside who was ordained by Eastside in 2017. Jesus was previously pastoring his own Hispanic church that met in the strawberry fields. Upon being led to Eastside, Jesus transferred his entire church body of approximately 30 to Eastside to combine the two together. His services now are entirely in Spanish. His ministry allows for services to be heard in both English and Spanish at the same time.

Children’s Minister

Sally Mallileu is the children’s minister at Eastside and has been for over 30 years. Sally has a passion for discipleship and pours her heart and soul into the children of Eastside. Sally has created a discipleship program in which children are immersed in the Word of God in all encounters with the church. Sally has recently suffered the loss of her husband and her future with Eastside is not yet known.

Young Adults Minister

Glenn Lassiter is the young adults minister at Eastside. He has completed 1 semester of college at NOBTS and was licensed by Eastside in 2019. Glenn has a heart and passion to reach the young adults and focuses on ministry to both single and married young adults in the age of 19-35.

Church Secretarial Staff

The church has 2 different women which serve as secretarial staff for Eastside. The primary secretary, Brenda, is in the office Monday through Friday from 9am-4:30pm. Brenda takes responsibility for publishing all programs and paperwork, helping with purchase orders and finances, keeping track of the churches bills, payments, and tithes, and answers the phone and directs calls appropriately. The church also has 1 women which help answer calls and direct traffic when Brenda is working on finances. These ladies each work 1 day a week in the office answering phones and keeping track of the calendar.

Programming Approaches

Sunday school

Sunday night bible study

wed nights kids youth and adult classes

It is important for the church to establish events, activities, and opportunities for contact with the lost within their neighborhood. This will be done through block parties specifically Trunk or Treat on October 31st and Easter Extravaganza a few weeks prior to Easter weekend. Each of these events require several months of planning, as well as teams of willing servants to complete each area. The activities must have a strong emphasis on gospel spreading. What this means is that it is alright for the events to include fun activities, in fact this is a great draw for the neighborhood to the church grounds, but the activities should also include gospel centered, gospel spreading messages. One of the ways this will be accomplished is incorporating the SOS booth at both events

Culture Of Eastside Baptist Church

Nostalgic and Tradition reeder pg 10 quote

focus on programs reeder p 9 quote

Bad repetation in the community reeder pg 16

distracted from the Gospel reeder pg 17

2. Guiding Values: Provide an accurate biblical theology for church revitalization that serves as the basis for any efforts to bring revitalization to a local church. Be as comprehensive as possible to address the church, governance, mission, and vision.

Small and medium sized community churches in the Southern Baptist denomination have been gradually on the decline over the past 20 years. The decline has been evident in number in attendance, baptisms, tithing, and retention of Pastors. The process of church revitalization is the “power of the Holy Spirit working in (the church) and through (the church) in many visible ways”[1] in order to restore the church back to healthy functioning. The process of church revitalization looks at connecting the past to the present and learning how to look and learn at the past rather than live in the past. In addition it looks at a call to repentance from within the church body and focuses on creating a gospel centered and Christ driven ministry. A focus must be made on a healthy prayer life, preaching of the Word of God, a clear vision for the church to adopt, an ability to create and disciple leaders within the church, and a focus on the great commission. In order for a church to be brought back to life and to restored to good health, it is important to identify where the church being looked at is currently in the process of revitalization. Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit that leads and guides, and the job of man to execute the process knowing where the power of change comes from, God and God alone. This case study will serve to analyze and plan for the continued revitalization of Eastside Baptist Church in Plant City, Florida.[1]Reeder, pg 5

Mission

Eastside has lost its first love just like reeder says when he talks about being distracted from the Gospel. It is just like the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:1–7 “1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. 6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’” The first love just like Reeder said is Jesus Christ and his Gospel. The mission of the church is to spread the Gospel. Matthew 28:19-20 “19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””

Address Church

True church revitalization can never take place and be maintained unless it is the product of a biblical pulpit. Churches in need of revitalization more than likely need revitalized pulpits

Paul warns the Church in Ephesus in Acts 20:28 “28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” In Revelation 2:1–7 “1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. 6 ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’” He shows the decline of not allowing true teachings in their pulpit.

Vision

As Nehemiah was leading the revitalization process in Jerusalem, some key moments emerged where he recognized the need to clarify the vision and keep the people focused. Like in chapter four, the work of the people to rebuild the wall was being ridiculed, and Nehemiah responded: “When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: ‘Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses’ ” (Neh. 4:14 “14 When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.””

Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, “Kick-Starting the Plateaued and Declining Church,” The Journal of Evangelism and Missions: Growing Small & Medium Churches, Spring 2010 9 (2010): 51.

Church governance Revitalization calls for a coalition of leaders. Sounds good! But rather than looking to Jim Collins’s business principles or George Barna’s “Berry Theory,” why not consider what Scripture says about elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3:1–10 “1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 8 Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, 9 but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 These men must als…” 2 Tim. 2:2 “2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Tit. 1:5–12“5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. 10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 1 Pet. 5:1–4 “1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Zach Schlegel, “Review of There’s Hope for Your Church by Gary McIntosh,” 9Marks Journal (2012): 53.

The churches in revelation are well known for needing revitalization we should use the things that Christ has against them as measuring sticks for our church and its need for revitalization.

3. Strategy: This will be the most comprehensive section (at least 4 pages of the paper) and should provide a clear pathway for your revitalization strategy. Address every aspect that will be involved in the strategy. Determine a reasonable but urgent timeline and provide details that coincide with the timeline.

I. show Eastside why they need to be revitalized and pray for each area to be shown to them.

a. Explain to leadership the factors that have caused the decline

1. Nostalgic and Tradition

2. Focus on programs

3.Distracted from the Gospel

b. Show them how to pray about the factors

II. show them where they need to repent

A. those factors

B.. and any other sin that may have them in decline and need of revitalzation

III. Plan for revitalization

A. Teach leadership about the process the disiple making church revitalazation model

1. Make sure they know its true discipleship

2. Explain the process that the lord is given

1.How to read the Bible the pull pork method

2. Spiritual Gifts

3. What we Believe doctrinally

a. God

b. man

c. Salvation

d. Church

B. Explain the structure

1.1 leader and 3 disiciples

2. 3 disciples become leaders and disciple 3 more

3. feed either already stable small groups or Sunday schools with these disciples

4. Discipleship making church discuss 3 year discipleship i cut it down to 1

4. Evaluation: How will you know when you have accomplished the goal? Provide a process of immediate and on-going evaluation. Who? How? When? What tools will you use?

I. Visit each discipleship group once a month

II. Access the groups growth by looking at the amount of replication after three years

III. access the leadership by meeting once a week with each leader to go over there steps and see where they are at.

Iv. Make sure that these groups are feeding the church membership and small groups or Sundays schools that maybe already established.

5. Reflection: Based on what you have learned through this project, will you seek to execute this strategy? Explain the opportunities that are open to this strategy or the obstacles that contest this strategy and what is your plan to lead the church to this critical point of change?