The Words of God Through God’s People Ardmore Baptist Church Conference November 1, 2015

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit ▪ If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14: 15-18

The Words of God Through God’s People ▪ 3 primary themes have emerged to date: ▪ Spiritual Development and Discipleship Training ▪ Responding to the Needs of the Community ▪ Building and Grounds

Spiritual Development and Discipleship Training ▪ Spend time, energy, and resources on building God’s kingdom. Souls matter. ▪ Develop ministry and resources for college age students ▪ Develop ministry and resources for young adults/young professionals ▪ Develop a web ministry ▪ Develop a special senior citizen’s service ▪ Discipleship training for new and mature Christians/Deepening spiritual growth ▪ Develop a Divorce Care Ministry, a Marriage Enrichment Ministry, and a Ministry for the Unmarried ▪ Add a Full-Time Day Care in addition to the preschool

Spiritual Development and Discipleship Training ▪ Recognition that we need to be bigger than “taking care of our own.” ▪ Training on how to go out into the community and build relationships (not just good gestures, but doing it as Christ would do it!) ▪ Training and guidance on how we create relationships “outside these walls” ▪ Outreach and ministry for the “unchurched” ▪ We believe that the priorities for our next Kingdom investment should be in the ministry areas of children, youth and college. The best opportunity for life change through the Gospel message is with those age groups, and we feel that it is important to invest heavily now.

Responding to the Needs of the Community ▪ Ministering to those in the hospital ▪ Meeting the needs of the homeless in our community ▪ Meeting the needs of the refugees ▪ Support for those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and their caregivers ▪ Enhancing resources for our Senior Citizens in our congregation (e.g., ministries to help older adults who struggle with loneliness/depression and need many types of assistance) ▪ Use the church van to pick up members at Homestead Hills ▪ Responding to the needs of the poor in our community

Responding to the Needs of the Community ▪ Support Christian Job Corps (ongoing financial support and other) ▪ ABC is a very strong church, and we have a number of churches in our area that are struggling to keep their doors open. There are many opportunities to explore partnerships with our sister churches. What do we need to do to help smaller churches succeed? ▪ Team up with African American churches to do community ministry, habitat for humanity, etc… ▪ Establish an off-site family/community center ▪ Expand partnership with Ashley Elementary (include them in VBS and/or offer Summer music camps for the community; expand on the Ashley Backpack program by making it into a Food Co-Op for the school/neighborhood. Parents can participate as a family instead of just feeding one or two children).

Responding to the Needs of the Community ▪ Support a developing church in a 3 rd world country. Build a support community in another country – building water resources, helping a group become self-sufficient and then be able to minister to them ▪ Supporting missionaries who are being sent home/losing their financial support ▪ Offer services other than Sunday mornings for young families (e.g., like Saturday evenings) ▪ Convert one of our vans to a mobile dental clinic for the poor ▪ Use of church space to serve the poor ▪ Lend “congregational consultants” to help organizations make progress towards goals that help the community ▪ Don’t focus on expenditures of money – rather focus on “something that happens internally that can be expressed externally in service”

Building and Grounds ▪ New Staff Offices ▪ Better security (church and preschool/children) ▪ Update Sunday school classroom training materials (e.g., WiFi that works in the entire building including all the Sunday Bible Study classes; white boards in Sunday school classes, video technology/capability in classrooms, HD ceiling mount projectors, stage lighting in fellowship hall, hire technology staff member, etc...) ▪ Have money in hand for any future projects, so that we remain debt free ▪ Further addressing the parking needs of our church ▪ Expand Playground/New Playground Equipment ▪ Stay current with needed maintenance updates and repairs ▪ Create multipurpose space