Brookside Baptist Church
1351 Wilmore Road
Nicholasville, KY 40356
(859) 887-1454
Pastor Email: dewayne@brookside-baptist.org
Pastor DeWayne L. Brewer
Encourager
It is my prayer and hope for you and our church family that we continue to find ways to Build Better Connections with God and One Another by Living God’s Ways and experiencing His blessings in all of our lives.
We seek to do this by Connecting You to God and us through Love and Kindness.
Updated: October 14, 2009
Table of Contents:
Section 1:
Brookside Baptist Mission Statement:
Section 2:
My Mission Statement:
Section 3:
Building Better Connections by Living God’s Ways:
Section 4:
Building Better Connections One Step at a Time Together
Section 1:
Brookside Baptist Mission Statement:
We are dedicated to Building Better Christians by Becoming Better Connected to God and One Another in Fulfillment of the Great Commission and Commandment of Jesus Christ. We seek to fulfill this Mission through our Worship, Bible Study, Fellowship and Helping Others by Doing LIFE Together and to Be FIT for LIFE as we seek to IMPACT our Community for Jesus Christ. It is our desire to “Walk in the Light as He is in the Light and have Fellowship one with the other and the Blood of Jesus Christ Cleanses us from ALL sin.” (1 John 1: 7) We seek to Build Better Christians by Becoming Better Connected to God and One Another as Individual Ministers Praying and Caring Together (IMPACT) who are committed to sharing with others the Love of God, Inviting all to know God, and Focusing on Faithfully Sharing in the Lives of others in order to Encourage (LIFE) others to live the abundant Life offered through Faith in Jesus Christ through His Loving-kindness.
We seek to implement the means to fulfill this Mission through our Family IMPACT Teams (FIT). We seek to Build Better Connections through LIFE and Seeking to Live With Urgency to fulfill God’s FITNESS Plan with 2020 FAITH Vision by joining with other Southern Baptist Convention Churches in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ by God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS) with every person in North America by the year 2020.
We will seek to do so by seeking to share the Good News with our neighbors and leading them to turn their lives and hearts toward God through Prayer, Planning, Preparation and Participation in God’s FITNESS Plan for LIFE, Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and seeking the Lord’s Will by Living God’s Ways through a Season of Prayer and Kindness to everyone. We will seek to continue developing this by emphasizing the need to pray, plan, prepare and participate in God’s FITNESS Plan for our church and for each of us as we seek to Live God’s Ways. I received an answer to pray in regard to seeking how to encourage our church in planning and preparing for increasing our facilities and space through the passage of Nehemiah 2: 18 and chapter 3. The primary focus on this going ahead to build “this good work” was through the ministry of our church’s “Gatekeepers”, as described below:
Building Better Connections One Step at a Time Together: Nehemiah 2: 18; 3
“I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me…..They replied, “Let us start building.” So they began this good work.” Nehemiah 2: 18
Nehemiah 3 Principles for beginning this good work: GATEKEEPERS
Principle of the Gatekeepers:
1. (See 1 Chronicles 9: 17, 18, 22 – 32; 23: 4, 5): Gatekeepers guarded the four main entrances to the temple and opened the gates each morning for those who wanted to worship. In addition, they did other day-to-day chores to keep the temple running smoothly – cleaning, preparing the offerings for sacrifice and accounting for the gifts designated to the temple (9: 22-32). There were 4,000 gatekeepers (23: 4, 5). They were all Levites and did many other jobs as well. Some of their duties included (1) checking out the equipment and utensils used each day and making sure they were returned, (2) storing, ordering, and maintaining the food supplies for the priests and sacrifices, (3) caring for the furniture, (4) mixing the incense that was burned daily, and (5) accounting for the gifts brought.
2. Gatekeepers had to be reliable, honest, and trustworthy. The people in our churches who handle the offerings and care for the material and functions of the building follow in a great tradition and we should honor them for their reliability and service.
3. The Walls of Jerusalem had ten (10) gates and six (6) towers that needed guarding and also required the services of the gatekeepers along with their duties guarding the four main entrances to the temple.
I believe our church building and properties represent the city walls surrounding the temple of God as described above as we believe each believer is the temple of the Lord today and the four doors of the temple reflect the mind, body, spirit and soul of the believer today. We are called to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord for true worship in spirit and in truth. Therefore, I would like to recommend the following outline for our church to consider in beginning this good work of expanding our church building and facilities for enhancing our worship, bible study, fellowship and means to help others in our community listed in Section 4.
Section 2:
My Mission Statement:
I am seeking by the power of God’s Holy Spirit to love, encourage and serve each person I am with for Jesus Christ through His loving-kindness. I am also seeking to live in the days ahead in the “Holy Wild” of God with 2020 Faith Vision and connecting others to Jesus Christ through love and kindness in action. I am seeking to know more of Jesus Christ and to love Him more and more each day I walk this journey of faith until my sight is made whole and I see Jesus face to face.
Section 3:
Building Better Connections by Living God’s Ways:
LIVING GOD’S WAYS
The Church God Uses Teaches God’s Ways to Lead Others in Living an Extraordinary Life that is Effective and Productive in Fulfilling the Great Commission by:
1. Acknowledging God’s Presence Always!
(Genesis 28:15; Hosea 6: 6-7; Matthew 28: 20)
2. Loving God and Others Always!
(Deuteronomy 6: 1 – 9 (5 & 7); Matthew 22: 27 – 40)
3. Doing Good Always!
Galatians 6: 9
4. Living by the Power of the Holy Spirit Always!
(Galatians 5: 16 – 26)
5. Being Kind to Everyone Always! (Ephesians 4: 32)
6. Submitting to One Another Always! (Ephesians 5: 21)
7. Obeying and Honoring Your Parents Always!
Deuteronomy 5: 16 and Ephesians 6: 1
8. Fleeing Evil, Pursuing Righteousness, Not Arguing, and Being Kind to Everyone Always! (2 Timothy 2: 22 – 26)
9. Pursuing Godly Wisdom and Being Peacemakers Always! (James 3: 13 – 18)
10. Walking in the Light of Jesus Always! (1 John 1: 7)
Section 4:
Building Better Connections One Step at a Time Together
Recommend we look at a timetable between now and the year 2020 to give substance to our 2020 FAITH Vision for our church. This is a total of approximately twelve (12) years and can be broken down into the following phases for this good work (Note: each phase represents a “Tower of Faithfulness” on our part to accomplish by faith):
- Phase 1: 2009 – (1) Pay off debt of $12,500.00, (2) Increase Building Fund to $10,000.00+, (3) Develop and decide upon plan, financing package, and timetable for new construction with appropriate financing. (4) Continue remodeling work as needed on current building, such as: (a) Remodel bathrooms to improve handicap accessibility, (b) Remodel existing kitchen to improve storage capacity with wall cabinets, (c) finish the “blue rooms” flooring and wall baseboard, (d) repair A/C compressor and furnaces as needed, (e) mount projector and improve audio/visual needs, (f) remove desk and organ from choir room.
- Phase 2: 2010 – (1) Raise $25,000.00+, (2) Prepare Architectural Plans, (3) Prepare Site Surveys and Building Permits, (4) Prepare Front and Rear Parking Lot Areas for additional growth needs of those attending services.
- Phase 3: 2011 – (1) Raise $25,000.00+, (2) Obtain Necessary Financing, (3) Build Fellowship Hall expansion and Kitchen area, (4) Put door in choir room with hallway, windows and a steeple on front of existing Sanctuary building.
- Phase 4: 2012 – (1) Raise $25,000.00+, (2) Complete Building Fellowship Hall expansion, kitchen area, and begin building picnic shelter with playground equipment upgrade, (3) Complete adding door, windows and steeple on front of building, (4) Put up new church sign with appropriate lighting.
- Phase 5: 2013 – (1) Raise $25,000.00+, (2) Build foyer entrance expansion on front of existing Sanctuary building, (3) Blacktop rear parking lot toward the picnic shelter, (4) Begin planning for Sanctuary addition to front foyer for 250+ people and turn existing Sanctuary into larger fellowship hall/activity center.
- Phase 6: 2014 – (1) Raise $25,000.00+, (2) Complete front foyer entrance expansion, (3) Blacktop front parking lot area with sidewalks and install appropriate lighting in parking lot and front entrance drive way area (4) Prepare Architectural Plans, Site Surveys, and Building permits for Sanctuary.
- Beyond Phase 6 and 2014 to 2020 – (1) Complete Building New Sanctuary, (2) Conduct ministries growing out of new facilities and those led to us to do the glad work with the Lord of the Harvest, (3) Continue praying, planning, preparing, and participating in God’s Fitness Plan for our church, (4) Pay off debt – “let no debt remain outstanding except the debt of love”.