Strategic Ministry Plan

“God’s Vision for First Baptist Seymour”

CONTENT LINKS

1.  Introduction                                

2.  Eight Essential Elements                            

3.  The Refocusing Process                            

4.  Our “TimeLine”                                

5.  Our Values                                 

6.  Our Mission Field                                

7.  Pulse Groups                                

8. Our Vision Statement                            

9. Suggested Ministry Strategies                        

10. Strategic Initiatives                            
¬    Loving Relationships                            
¬    Children/Youth and Family Outreach                    
¬    Communication                            
¬    Surrender                                

11. Summary of Strategic Initiative Goals                    

12. Vision Implementation                            

13. Words of Conclusion                             



1.  Introduction
In 2006 the pastoral staff became convinced that Seymour First Baptist Church needed to develop a plan that would provide both direction and motivation for ministry for a three to five year period.    None of the staff had personal experience with developing such a vision, nor knew what resources were available to assist.

It was decided that a Vision Team would be key to successfully completing the process.  In October 2006, a team was approved by the church to pursue the development of the vision.    The Vision Team agreed that a resource on how to develop a vision would be helpful, but they were not aware of any resources.  

An inquiry was made with the Tennessee Baptist Convention about a resource book or other resources.  In response to the request, Archer Thorpe, church specialist with the TBC, called and requested an opportunity to sit down with the Vision Team to share a visioning process entitled “reFocusing” which would involve all of the church’s leadership and even the entire church body in developing the vision.   After reviewing the process, materials and estimated cost for the church to participate in “reFocusing”, the Vision Team presented the proposal to the church in January 2007.   The proposal included Archer serving as our “coach—facilitator” for the process.

This plan, as presented in this document, represents the culmination of the visioning effort by the Vision Team, church staff, leadership and many other members of FBC.  

Early in the process we were exposed to the work of Christian Schwarz whose book, “Natural Church Development” describes the eight essential ingredients for a strong, healthy church.  It is based on the most comprehensive study ever done on what contributes to healthy churches.    The study revealed that, when a church provides the right kind of environment, God will cause that church to grow naturally.  As Luke wrote, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47).    Natural church growth, therefore, is not growth based on any human strategy but rather a process of identifying the essential elements of church health and using that to create an environment in which a church can grow naturally.  As this environment develops in the church, God increasingly uses it to grow His church.    Our task is to provide the kind of environment where growth is possible.  When we do that, God will grow His church.  Back to Top

2.  Eight Essential Elements
The Natural Church Development Project identified eight elements common to churches that were growing both spiritually and quantitatively.  These are

1.  Empowering Leadership

2. Gift-oriented Ministry

3.  Passionate Spirituality

4.  Functional Structures
    (Providing an organization that allows ministry to happen easily)

5.  Inspiring Worship Service

6.  Holistic Small Groups

7.  Need-oriented Evangelism

8.  Loving Relationships

These eight essential elements function like slats in a barrel.

    A barrel can only hold water if all the slats are present and bound firmly together.  Once they are present then a barrel can only hold as much water as the lowest slat will permit.  When the lowest slat’s length is increased the barrel can hold more water.  
    Churches attract and retain people on the presence of these eight elements.  The degree to which we retain people in our church is determined by the presence or absence of these elements.  The spirituality of any congregation is likewise influenced by the presence or absence of them.  If they are present and high, we will retain those who come into our church, if they are low then the people we attract will slowly leave to find other places that are healthier.  When the weakest elements are improved, all elements benefit as the capacity to grow is enlarged.

In January of 2007 we conducted a Natural Church Development survey with approximately forty of our church members participating.  Only thirty participants are required to provide an accurate picture of how Seymour First Baptist stood in relationship to these eight elements.  The survey participants had to be active members, involved in a ministry and a part of a church small group, such as a Sunday School class.
 
The survey revealed that our greatest strengths as a church are (1) Holistic Small Groups, (2) Passionate Spirituality and (3) Gift-oriented Ministry.  Our weakest two area are (1) Loving Relationships and (2) Functional Structures

For a church to be truly healthy all eight elements need to be above an average of the 65th percentile.  Obviously, First Baptist needs to make a lot of improvement.   Remember though, that as the weakest elements improve, all elements improve.  If the weakest elements do not grow, it will make improvement in other areas more difficult to achieve.  It is imperative then that the vision for First Baptist gives special attention to improving the weakest elements.  Back to Top

3.  The ReFocusing Process
Once these elements were identified we began the formal reFocusing process, which is comprised of two main phases.  The first phase is personal renewal through member participation in a Focused Living Retreat.  The second phase is church renewal and vision discovery through leadership participation in three Summits and pulsing of the membership.

How can a church discern God’s vision unless its members understand God’s vision for them as individuals?   It is understandable then that the reFocusing process would begin with personal renewal.  Approximately one hundred members participated in one of three weekend Focused Living Retreats held in February and March of 2007. The Focused Living Retreat assisted members in answering the following questions:  What is my Biblical purpose?  Where have I been and where do I see God leading me next?   What are my values?  What is my vision for ministry?  What goals does God want me to set for the future?   Archer Thorpe and members of the Vision Team facilitated these retreats.  

The next step in the process was three Leadership Summits.  The purpose of the Summits was very similar to the Living Retreats, but rather than focusing on individuals they focused on the church.   What is our biblical purpose as a church?  Where have we been and where do we see God leading us in the future?  Who are we currently ministering to effectively in our church and community, and, based on that, whom should we be reaching out to in our community?  What are our church values?  What model of ministry do we want to use to carry out our ministry?   What have we discerned to be God’s vision for First Baptist?   What goals do we believe God wants us to accomplish in the next three to five years?  Below is an overview of the process that took place during the spring and summer of 2007.  Many of our leaders gave six hours or more on three Sundays in April, June and July 2007 to accomplish this task. In August 2007, they were involved in an evening and morning leadership retreat at Carson Spring. Below is an overview of the summit process, followed by a summary of what we attempted.

 

Overview of Summit One—April 2007 Assessing: Where Have We Been?

•    Our ministry milestones
•    Identifying Actual Values
•    Surrendering Ourselves and Our Church!

Four Questions for Summit Two—June 2007 Discovering: Where Are We Going?

•    What has God shown us so far?
Report from Summit #1 & Pulsing
•    Who lives in our Mission Field?      Understanding our community
•    What must we do to reach them?      Our values and possibilities
•    What could the future look like?      Discovering Vision

Overview of the Summit Three Implementing: How Will We Get There?

•    Update from Summit #2 and Pulsing
•    Designing Our Ministry Model
•    Identifying Strategic Initiatives      Back to Top

4.  Our Timeline
During Summit One we created a church “timeline.”  A timeline is a way of looking back to our birth in 1892 until today to construct a picture of how God has worked in our history to shape us into the people we are today.  We especially focused on the last 10 years.  The reason for doing so was to help us understand how God has worked in our past as an indicator of how He is working now and will continue to do so in the future.

This work was done by focus groups working at individual table with the results of each table being placed on a chart on a wall.  Thus, it is called a “Journey Wall.”*  It was determined that the timeline of First Baptist could be divided into five major “chapters.” Following are the title chapters and a summary of the lessons God taught First Baptist during that time chapter.    

Chapter 1—Foundation Laid 1892-1960   Lessons—Faithful and consistent leadership allows God to work.  God works through His people to establish and accomplish His mission despite lack of funds and resources.  Depend on God. Unity and stability are important.  Depend on each other. You must act on God’s vision. School and church should work together.  God’s plan is consistent and He is preparing His people even when it is not apparent.  Without a vision the people perish.

Chapter 2—Journey Began 1961-1974  Lessons—Risk involves steps of faith.  Church not seeing and responsive to radical changes in society.  Church leaders and committed followers faithful to God’s purpose provide stability and growth.  Church grew because community grew and church was not equipped for growth.  God rewards faithfulness in His people.  Stable leadership led to growth and development.
 
Chapter 3—Testing Time 1975-1986  Lessons—God’s people will follow Godly leadership.  With growth comes potential of opportunities that can lead to conflict and crisis of belief.  Growth can be divisive.  More prayer and less mouth ’75-’86.  Seasons turn, but God is consistent.  Satan attacks when growth begins.  God plans to use our church to reach people, not necessarily in traditional way.  

Chapter 4—Wilderness Detour 1987-1997 Lessons—Even in conflict/turmoil, God is faithful.  Methods can change; God’s Word does not change.  We should not repeat mistakes, learn from the past.  Don’t expect so much of one man.  Indecision; wilderness wandering before moving forward. Make sure we follow God, not man.  All people are human, even leaders.  Change is not easy.  Spiritual growth comes through perseverance.   Wait on God and do not lose focus. We labor in vain without God.

Chapter 5—To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected 1998-2007  Lessons—Conflict can be cleansing.  Keep focus on goals.  Submitting to and seeking God’s will results in fulfillment of His promises and expansion and growth. Importance of looking to God for leadership.  Missions should involve all ages.  Stepping out in faith leads to closer walk with God.  God is faithful when we follow His command. Jesus is exalted and people are drawn to Him when we allow Him to love them through us. Hard work pays dividends for God’s kingdom.  You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! God has uniquely fitted us for service.  Corporate growth is the result of personal growth. God’s people need to reflect His heart.  Growth through dependence on listening to God’s will.    Back to Top

5. Our Values

Our Core Values
As part of understanding our timeline history, we focused on the values that expressed themselves during the various chapters of First Baptist’s long life.    Everyone in attendance placed on the wall the values they saw present in our church’s past that are still values today.  Following the values that were most represented:

Worship…         Offering ourselves to God.
Bible…         Learning and applying God’s word.
Missions…        Sharing the love of Christ near and far.
Family…         Partnering to build and preserve Godly families.
Children…         Training children up in the Lord.
Stewardship…          Giving our resources to be used for God’s purposes.
 
Our Preferred Values
As essential as these values are, we recognized that there are other values we must instill within the life of First Baptist for us to be the church God desires. Our God given vision challenges us to cultivate and develop these values:

Unity…        Building loving relationships among members and ministries.
Accountability…    Holding ourselves accountable to God and one another.
Surrender…        Submitting our personal plans and ministries to God.
Community…        Connecting our neighbors with Christ and His church.

6.  Our Mission Field
Archer Thorpe provided us with extensive information on our community.  Also several surveys were done with people coming to our church campus, school leaders and community leaders.  The information from Summit One and this additional information helped us identify our mission field.

Our mission field as a church is comprised of three ministry focus groups.  A “Mission Focus” group is a target group that we have determined is a group we need to focus on and reach in our community.  Mission Focus Group #1 represents the group we are currently reaching.  MF #2 is a group we could better reach provided we adapted some of our ministries and created some new ones particularly focused on this group.  MF #3 is a group that is present in our community we need to reach, but doing so would involve greater work and changes in ministry.  

Jesus commanded us to reach our world in Acts 1:8—“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Mission Focus Groups represent God’s calling for First Baptist to reach our Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.  The Mission Focus Groups are numbered one through three.  The numbers do not denote level of importance.  All are equally important.    Following are First Baptist’s focus groups as determined during Summit Two.  

Mission Focus – 1
These are the people most like those already in our church.  They are the people we are presently reaching… or to say it another way… they are the people right in front of us.

•    Predominately Caucasian
•    Middle class
•    Mostly married with children
•    All ages well represented
•    Majority raised in church

Mission Focus – 2
These are the people in our community within reach of our church, but somewhat different than the majority of people we are already reaching. Sometimes they are represented by a subset of people already within our church. The people of the church likely have some bridges to these people, but we can be more intentional about using these bridges.

•    Parents (Age 25-45) with children at home, and without a sense of priority for Christ or His church.

Mission Focus – 3
These are people we will not reach without deliberat, intentional efforts to reach into their world. However, they are clearly within our community or sphere of influence and need to be reached.

•    Single adults without children at home
•    People with addictions

7. Pulse Groups
Following each of the summits, the results were “pulsed” throughout the church body.  Members of the Vision Team presented the materials to Sunday School classes and provided other opportunities for those unable to attend a class to gather in a small group.  The purpose of the “pulsing” was to receive feedback from as many of the membership as possible.  The feedback assisted the team in determining if the vision process was moving on the right track, what was missed, what needs to be changed, etc.  

8.  Our Vision Statement
The Vision Team took into consideration the results of the first two summits and the pulsing that came from Sunday School classes and other groups to produce the following vision statement:

As followers of Jesus at Seymour First Baptist Church, God’s vision for us is to be a family of believers that truly cares for each person enough to communicate the gospel of Christ through building loving relationships and serving our community and beyond.

To our church this will mean we will:

•    Value every member and strongly encourage every believer to faithfully surrender God-given gifts and resources for the kingdom.
•    Provide worship, discipleship, and fellowship opportunities for children, while leading them to actively reach out to others.
•    Actively communicate all ministry opportunities in order to instill value and cooperation in all ministries.
•    Develop relational support networks for all ages and groups: senior adults, singles, couples, young adults and children.
•    Provide support for those in pain and mourning.

To our community this will mean:

•    Trusting relationships built to those who see no need for Christ or His church, so they can know, love and serve Him.
•    Stronger families by reaching out to parents and children in innovative, non-traditional ways.
•    An open church campus where everyone feels welcomed and loved.
•    Awareness of activities and ministry opportunities that are available.
•    Help for the hurting.
The scriptural foundation for this vision is John 17:10-11-- “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.”  

9.  Suggested Ministry Strategies
The primary purpose of Summit Three was to take the results of the first two summits and the vision statement and from them develop a number of suggested ministry strategies that could help facilitate the fulfillment of the vision and establish goals to accomplish it.   The result of this portion of the summit was eleven suggested strategies.

1.  Communication
o    Develop an integration plan to form relationships with area churches and expand communication with technology and other avenues (media)
o    Loving communication between ministries (take the gloves off)
o    Communication strategy
o    Develop effective communication
o    Develop a method to increase and enhance communication within the church to the community
o    Build strong communication channels to community and church
o    Communication within the church and to the community
o    Communication and Promotion *Internal (Loving Relationships) and *External (new people and newspapers)


2.  Gift-oriented Ministry
o    Gift-oriented training and equipping
o    Method of instilling vision of personal involvement (teaching and other spiritual gifts)
o    Focus on individual church involvement and encourage the use of spiritual gifts
o    More effective discipleship training (specifically adults)
o    Take ownership in your church
o    Motivate the body to be on FIRE to serve
o    Encourage commitment – Surrender of God-given gifts (Money, time and talents)

3.  Loving Relationships
o    Loving relationships and fellowship within the Body (Be Nice!)
o    Cooperation of all ministries to unify goals
o    Strengthen ministry relationships
o    Develop avenues by which members can begin and grow loving relationships
o    Loving each other within the church leads to unity within the church and accountability to each other

4.  Plan For All Ages
o    Core group plan for all ages
o    Develop a balanced children’s ministry that ministers to and attracts children and parents
o    Re-evaluate, modify and streamline children and youth ministries
o    Re-evaluate ministries and schedules

5.  Worship Services
o    Children’s Worship
o    Worship changes and expansion (format and schedule)
o    Additional worship services (children, youth and seeker)

6.  Debt Retirement
o    Plan to retire debt and develop master plan for growth
o    Facility enhancements

Secondary Strategies

7.  Personal Revival
o    Strengthen and maintain the church’s focus on God by revival of church leadership: ministers and lay ministers

8.  Needs Ministries
o    Establish needs ministries for the mourning, hurting, grieving – those in pain, needy, lonely, homebound etc.
o    Reach out to the suffering and hurting in our community

9.  Lost People
o    Reach un-churched (de-churched) parents whose children are involved in church activities
o    Care for and love lost people – we have to love people enough to want them to come to know Jesus
o    Day of prayer and fasting – Some type of worship to reach un-churched

10. Single Adult Ministry
o    Establish a single adult ministry
o    Establish a single/unmarried no children ministries

11. Local School Ministries
o    Partner with local school to tutor, mentor and help with family needs.


10.  Strategic Initiatives
Understanding we can only take on so much change in a given time period, the suggested strategies were refined to four initiatives which incorporate elements from several of the suggested strategies.
1.    Develop a communication plan that will actively communicate all ministry opportunities to the church, individuals, groups, organizations, other churches and the community.

•    Individuals communicating with ministries.
•    Ministries communicating with one another.
•    Ministries communicating with church members.
•    Church communicating with the community.


2.    Develop a plan to encourage the surrender of God-given gifts and resources through identifying each member’s talents, experiences and passions, mobilizing individuals into ministry teams, and training individuals to use their talents to glorify and promote Christ.

•    Implement more effective discipleship training, including gift oriented training and equipping.
•    Encourage personal revival, individual church involvement, and use of spiritual gifts.
•    Create a master plan for debt retirement and facility enhancement.


3.    Develop a plan for a needs-based ministry that will comprehensively discover and meet the deep needs of our church and community, therefore strengthening loving relationships into more than casual relationships.

•    Cooperation between ministries to unify and accomplish overall goals.
•    Promote loving relationships and fellowship within the church.
•    Minister to those who are mourning, hurting, grieving, and those with needs or addictions.

4.    Develop a plan of worship and ministry for all ages to reach and teach the churched, the un-churched and the lost.

•    Develop a children's ministry that ministers to, and attracts, children and parents.
•    Plan additional worship opportunities for children, youth, and seekers of Christ.
•    Reach the lost and un-churched (or de-churched) parents whose children are involved in church activities.

The Vision Team divided into four subgroups with each group assigned one initiative from which to develop goals and put them on a calendar.    Following are the four initiatives, statements explaining their needs and calendared dates for the accomplishment of the goals. Though they are numbered one through four, the numbers do not denote importance but simply the order in which they appear.   A complete calendar is located in the appendix.

Strategic Initiative 1:  Loving Relationships
Since the Natural Church Development Survey revealed that First Baptist is weakest in the area of developing loving relationships, we must develop strategies that create opportunities to strengthen relationships beyond casual to loving. Loving relationships will be able to grow as we encourage our members to focus on developing close relationships through four areas.
1.    L.I.F.E. Groups
2.    Corporate Worship
3.    Enhance Ministry Leadership Team Meetings
4.    Sunday Morning Bible Study

Goal 1:  L.I.F.E Groups
Loving Relationships will be built in L.I.F.E. Groups, small groups of believers and non-believers meeting together at the church and in people’s homes for the purpose of fellowship and Bible study.  L.I.F.E. means “Life is for everyone.” Group members will be encourage to participate in discussion of issues that meet people’s needs. Particular The discussion topics will be drawn from Sunday morning sermons.  At times, the study material may be a Bible book or topical study that is not based on the Sunday morning message.  See the Time Chart for L.I.F.E. group meeting dates.  L.I.F.E. groups will meet for a specified period, i.e. six to eight weeks.  The dates for strengthening loving relationships through L.I.F.E. groups are immediate and ongoing.   

Goal 2:  Corporate Worship
Loving Relationships will be built as all gather and worship together.  This incorporates the unity of L.I.F.E. groups and other ministries gathering together corporately to worship together.  Morning worship is each Sunday morning.  Specified times are set aside throughout the year for evening corporate worship.  See the calendar in Time Chart in the appendix for specific evening worship times.

Goal 3:  Ministry Leadership Team Meetings
Loving Relationships will be built and communication strengthened as Ministry Leadership Team Meetings occur quarterly for ministry leaders to meet together, plan together, pray together and work together.  Prior to the quarterly meeting, a letter will be sent to the ministry leaders informing them of the upcoming meeting, the agenda and scriptural focus for the meeting.  At the beginning of each quarterly meeting a devotion will be shared on the scriptural importance of working together, thereby attempting to create a unified body of leaders working together.  See Time Chart for meeting dates.

Goal 4:  Sunday Morning Bible Study
Loving Relationships will be built as Sunday morning Bible study directors and leaders meet quarterly to plan, pray and encourage one another.  Prior to the quarterly teacher meeting, the directors will meet to plan the teachers’ meeting.  Information will be given to the teachers concerning attendance, new members, visitors, etc.  Teacher training will be made available as opportunities arise.  Teachers will be encouraged to create an environment that fosters outreach and fellowship opportunities as well as a loving environment where class members minister to one another.  See Time Chart for meeting dates.  

Strategic Initiative 2:  Children/Youth and Family Outreach  
Goal 1—Children And Youth Ministry Leadership Team.  This team will work to coordinate all children and youth ministries and activities (AWANA, MVP, Sunday School, choirs, retreats, etc.)

This team is to develop a strategic plan to reach the children and youth in a coordinated effort.  All children and youth should be receiving a consistent message from all ministries that is targeted at a common goal. The intent is not to take over any one ministry, but to enhance all ministries by providing a consistent theme to touch the children and their families.  This plan is to be developed, scheduled, and presented to the church each year at the end of spring or beginning of summer before it is put in place each fall.

Goal 2—Children’s Worship.  This team is to develop a children's worship time that will start in the fall of 2008.  This is not a "baby sitting" time, but a fulfilling worship experience designed to balance out all of the other ministries.

Goal 3—Full Time Children's Minister:  Based on the refocusing feedback, the need for a Children's minister has been identified.  The Children and Youth Ministry Leadership Team will determine the needs for this minister from the process of coordination of
all ministries.  They will work with the personnel committee in 2009 to create a job description for a children's minister. They will present their proposal to the church for approval.  If approved, the search process will be in 2010.

Goal 4—Connect Un-churched Families Into The Life Of FBC:  An outreach ministry team will be formed in 2009 to lead us into a process to reach our mission focus 2, the un-churched families that God is bringing to our property.  This team will develop this process with the Children and Youth Ministry Team and communicate the strategy with the church by the middle of 2010.  Implementation of the process will begin fall 2010.

Strategic Initiative 3:  Communication
The members and ministries of First Baptist need to more fully and clearly communicate with one another.  Therefore, we will develop a communication strategy that incorporates three key elements:  (1) Fully disseminate information to our church family.   (2) Instill value and cooperation, by developing better methods of communication between all ministries.  (3) Heighten community awareness of available activities and ministry opportunities.

Goal 1—Communication Team.  A communication team will be formed by the end of February 2008.  The responsibility of this team will be to monitor and foster improvement of communication in all three elements listed above.  Other teams may be formed to carry out specific goals, but this team will be the ongoing oversight team.

Goal 2—Advertise.  First Baptist Seymour has much to offer to our community. For us to communicate to our community we need to advertise in ways that make our name and ministries familiar and easily recognizable.

    One way we will accomplish this is by developing church promotional materials with logo and slogan that will appear on all of our correspondence, website, advertisements, etc., to consistently promote the ministries of FBC to our church and community.  Work on achieving this goal will begin March of 2008 and is to be complete and implementation should begin by the end of November 2008.  
    
A second way we will further advertise our church is through the promotion and enhancement of our website. Statistics prove that most people who move into a community now check church websites before making their first visit.  A positive first impression is essential to promoting the life and ministry of First Baptist.  The dates for this are immediate and ongoing.  

Goal 3—Information Centers.  Our church can be intimidating to those who are visiting us.  We need to make their time with us very positive by providing easily understood and accurate information.  To achieve this goal we will establish information centers to both gather and distribute information about our ministries. The centers may be located in the church foyer, entrances to ball fields, around the walking trail, in the gym during basketball season, and elsewhere.  
    A part of this goal will include the installation of an accurate church directory placed at strategic entrances to our building providing a clearly labeled layout of our church plant.  Also, prominent, easily read directional signs will be placed throughout the building.  Work on this goal will begin April 2008 and will be completed by the end of 2008.  

Goal 4—Electronic Sign.  Though our current sign is large and easily read, it is difficult to change and limits promotion to only two items.  An electronic messaging sign will greatly enhance our ability to promote ministries and events to our community.  Plans for developing the sign are to be completed by the end of October 2008 and the sign installation complete by the end of 2009.      

Goal 5—Communicate Ministry Opportunities.   First Baptist is blessed with many diverse ministries, some more prominent than others, but all very important. Unfortunately because of the number of volunteers required to meet the demand of some ministries, these larger ministries often receive more promotion.  This goal includes two ways to overcome this problem and communicate more clearly all ministry opportunities.
    
The first method will be to conduct an Annual Ministry Fair that will highlight each ministry of the church and encourage members to check out these ministries and volunteer where they believe their gifts and talents may fit.  The ministry fairs will be held in August or September each year.    

The second method will to recognize and promote a different ministry each month.  They will be promoted during the worship service via the large screen announcements or a video.  The ministry will be encouraged to set up a promotional booth in the foyer for their designated month.  Volunteers for the ministry will be recognized.  This will begin March of 2008 and will be ongoing.  

Strategic Initiative 4: Surrender
Personal and corporate surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ will be essential to the fulfillment of God’s vision for First Baptist.  Without surrender of our lives, wills, and resources to God and His Kingdom, none of what has been presented to this point will ever be achieved.  

Therefore, we will instill in the hearts of the members of First Baptist a desire to discover and surrender their spiritual gifts, passions, and resources for the building up of God’s Kingdom.  It is the intent of this initiative to prepare and help place many more of our members in positions of active, ongoing ministry.  This initiative will also promote greater overall financial giving, which will provide for the growth of ministry.  To accomplish this initiative two goals will need to be achieved

Goal 1:  Spiritual Gifts Discovery Class.   Over the next two years 80% of our active members will identify their God-given passion through participation in spiritual gifts discovery classes and involvement in ministries.   These classes will begin in the fall of 2008 with the 80% membership participation completed by the end of 2010

Goal 2:  Stewardship Campaign.  The purpose of the campaign will be to pay off the current debt, improve current facilities and prepare for future growth needs whether in facilities, ministries or staffing.   The formation of and training of a stewardship campaign team will begin in March 2008.  Promotion of the campaign will begin in October 2008.  The actual giving period of the campaign will be January 2009 through the end of 2011 or as determined by the campaign team and the church.

11.  Summary of Strategic Initiative Goals

Goals for Loving Relationships
  Goal                                   Time Frame
 L.I.F.E Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Immediate and On-going
 Corporate Worship . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . ... . . . . . . Sunday Mornings and
                              Specified Sunday Evenings
Ministry Leadership Team Meetings . . . . . . . . . Quarterly
Sunday Morning Bible Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday Morning

Goals for Children/Youth and Family Outreach  

  Goal                                   Time Frame
Children And Youth Ministry Leadership Team.    Formed by April 2008
Children’s Worship.                           Start Fall of 2008
Full Time Children's Minister                     Search Process beginning 2010
Connect Un-churched Families                  Implement beginning 2010

Goals for  Communication

Goal                                   Time Frame
Communication Team.                  Formed by April 2008
Advertise.  
    (1) church promotional materials        Implement by December 2008    
    (2) website                    Immediate and Ongoing
Information Centers.                      Implement by End of 2008
Electronic Sign.                      Installation by End of 2009    
Communicate Ministry Opportunities.   
    (1) Annual Ministry Fair             Annual in August or September
    (2) promote a different ministry each month.  Begin in March 2008

Goals for Surrender

Goal                                   Time Frame
Spiritual Gifts Discovery Class.               Fall of 2008 through 2010
Stewardship Campaign.                  2009 through 2011


12.  Vision Implementation
Once approved by the church, the implementation of the vision will be overseen by four Task Teams. Each team will be responsible for implementing one of the four initiatives.  Sub-teams may be formed to carry out implementation of individual goals within each initiative.  Each Task Team will have, at least, one member who is also a member of the Vision Team. The Task Teams will provide regular reports on the progress of their assigned initiative to the Vision Team.  The Vision Team will provide a formal report on the progress of the vision at each quarterly church conference, and informal reports during worship services.   The Vision Team will conduct an annual evaluation of the progress and report during a specified Vision Celebration Sunday.

13.  Words Of Conclusion
At this point, a word of thanks is in order for the entire group of people who worked so hard to make this strategic plan a reality.  It was a daunting task with many giving up several Saturdays and Sundays and many evenings throughout the week.  In addition, there were assignments each had to complete from month to month and some additional meetings to pulse the congregation and report back the findings.

We trust that God has used this process to give us an accurate picture of our past (where we have come from), our present (where we are) and our future (where we believe God is leading us).