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Our Best for God |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 6/19/2008 8:14 AM | Over the course of the 60 year history of Brookhaven Christian Church, there have been several changes in the structures that have housed this great ministry. First, it was the little house on Colonial Drive that got us going. Then, when the membership began to outgrow that location, property was purchased on the corner of Lanier and Peachtree. For awhile the congregation met at Oglethorpe University, utilizing their auditorium as a sanctuary. Then, in 1958, the first building on the church’s present site was built. Twice in the next 30 years the building was expanded and renovated and then, in 2001, the last building expansion effort ended with new offices, classrooms, a youth room, a community room and a beautiful fellowship hall. Why were all these changes undertaken? So that God’s work could continue to flourish and the kingdom of God could grow.
We have done a great job at growing this physical plant to serve our needs, but some are now wondering if it isn’t time to take a look at some upkeep and renovation issues so that this facility can even better reflect our love of God and God’s purposes in the world.
In the past couple of years we have taken care of some “beautification” issues that will make the church building much more “low maintenance” in the future. A new sound system has helped improve the quality of our worship services in the sanctuary. New chillers replaced worn out air conditioning systems. The front of the church and the trim all around the church has been replaced with “maintenance-free” materials that beautify as well as cut down on future costs. The roof on the sanctuary was badly in need of repair, and early this year a beautiful metal roof was installed that should last another 50+ years. But there are other things that are in need of attention. Our parking lot is showing signs of age - buckling in places, breaking up in other places - and is in need of replacement. And the sanctuary is showing the signs of wear and tear that are inevitable after 20 years of use.
Yes, if my calculations are correct, it has been 20 years since any renovation/changes have taken place in our sanctuary. Take a look around. It is a beautiful space, but it needs some TLC. 20 years of sun have damaged the carpets and the pew coverings. The chancel furniture is growing older and less stable. Stains in the carpet detract from the sanctuary’s appeal. Maybe it’s time to take a good hard look at what we can do.
Central to any discussion like this is always the question of “why?” Why are we doing this? Why is what the sanctuary looks like important? Who cares if the parking lots are kind of broken up? Well, it seems to me that we should always do our best for God. When the choir spends hours and hours rehearsing anthems and hymns, it is not to please themselves, but to give their best to God. When the Praise on Peachtree team works at putting together meaningful alternative experiences, they are giving their best for God’s glory. When Sunday school teachers prepare their lessons, they work hard to make sure that God’s purposes are served through their best efforts. When the Garden Club and the Building and Grounds ministry spends long, hot hours weeding, planting and beautifying the outside of our church, they are clearly saying that God deserves the most beautiful setting we can offer. So it is with our worship space…and any other space in the church building, as far as that goes. We seek to honor God; we seek to give our best to God; we seek to glorify God and one way to do those things is to make sure we do our best to put our absolute best foot forward. That means a space that grabs us when we walk in, a space that takes hold of us and sends a message loud and clear: this is a place of worship; this is God’s house.
There are other reasons to think about renovating our worship space. Technology that could aid our worship is available today that was not available 20 years ago. Changing the configuration of the chancel area in the front of the church might make for more and varied worship experiences. Changes in the pews and floor covering might have a great impact on sound.
This Sunday,June 22nd, immediately following worship we will have the 2nd quarter board meeting. It will be in the sanctuary and will last no more than 30 minutes – Charles Kinney promised! During this meeting, we will be introduced to a group of people who have been chosen by the executive team to act as a task force looking at possible building enhancement and renovation. Nothing has been decided; no plans have been made. The purpose of this task force is to gather information from you and to look into what is possible. Is renovation feasible? What can we afford? How much, if any, is doable? What are our priorities? And most importantly, at the heart of all the questions, how can we best serve God in this process?
We do a good job of using our facility. We currently have 4 groups using our community room on a weekly basis. We have occasional meetings of folks from Oglethorpe University, folks from the Regional Church, not-for-profit groups have used our facilities for one time training and gatherings. We work hard to keep those widely used rooms inviting and in good repair. Our job now is to take a broader look around this facility and ask what we can do to make it as inviting as we can. Because after all, that is what we seek to do: invite people in to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Take a look around. Dream about what this facility could be, come to the meeting after worship this Sunday, talk with the folks on the task force and spend some time in prayer that we might keep God at the center of all we do, and that whatever we do, we do it for God. If we do that, we will not go wrong.
For your prayers
Please continue to keep all our campers in your prayers. This week, Charly Olson is at Camp Christian and you can send her a message by sending an e-mail to camp@gadisciples.org and putting
“Charly Olson – Chi Rho Camp” in the subject line.
Announcements
Don’t forget that VBS starts this Saturday at 6:00 p.m. with dinner! We will meet Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings this year, so be sure to join in the fun. If you have questions, or to sign up, please contact Debbie Kinney at debbie@brookhavenchristian.org
Attached to this missive are the quarterly ministry reports from the various ministries of BCC. Take a look at all the good work being done and note the ministry chair. If you would like to help out in any of BCC’s ministries, contact me or the ministry chair. We will not be presenting the reports during the board meeting, so take a look and catch up!
The response to our “Participating in the Miracle of Abundance” offering was absolutely great for the first week! We gathered enough to feed a family of 4 for at least a couple of weeks. Keep up the good work! The basket will be in the narthex every Sunday from now on, and it will be brought in with our monetary offering for blessing at the table. So, from now on, every Sunday get in the habit of picking up your Bible, and a can or two of food when you come to Sunday worship!
I hope to see you all this Sunday, June 22nd as we gather to celebrate the Lord’s Day together. The sermon continues our emphasis on “Miracles All Around” with a sermon entitled “The Miracle at Mt. Carmel”. The scripture lesson is 1 Kings 18:20-40. Have a great rest of the week!
Be peaceful,
Brad
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