Dr. Ron Sumners
January 11, 2009
On the first Sunday of May this year, it will be sixteen years since I came to be the Pastor of Meadow Brook Baptist Church. It has been a terrific experience and God has blessed us in wonderful ways.
We have come a long way together; from a frustrated, ministerial drop-out selling insurance and a struggling congregation that went through a bad adolescence to a thriving, growing fellowship. The attendance at that time was about a hundred in Sunday school and maybe 120 in Worship. The prospects did not look good.
In 1990-91, the attendance at Meadow Brook Baptist Church was well over 300. In less than three years, it had dwindled to that low ebb in 1993.
Many of you were here through those days and you know the pain that this church endured. Some of you are new to Meadow Brook Baptist and do not know where we have come from. It is important to know where we have come from. It is important to look at the past so we can meet the challenges of the future. I want to tell some of the story again to those of you who know it all too well, and to those of you who have come since those days.
In December of 1991, I stood in the pulpit of Trinity Baptist Church in Whiteville, North Carolina and resigned as pastor. The people there, to this day, do not understand why. I was barely sure myself. I only knew that I could no longer be a pastor of a church. I was determined that I would never pastor a church again. I felt inadequate, unqualified, and was, to use a cliché, completely burned out!
I moved my family back to Alabama. For the next year and a half, I learned some of the most important lessons of my life. I learned that serving God has little to do with my ability. I learned that God becomes strong when I admit my weakness. I learned that church is not about programs, or budgets, or committee meetings – the church is about people! People, especially the one standing before you, are far from perfect. Therefore, the church will always be imperfect.
I learned that being angry at people for their imperfections is foolish. I learned that God could use me even with my less than perfect life. I was not forever cast on the scrapheap of life and ministry. I learned about grace and forgiveness. Not only did I learn about forgiveness, I actually accepted God’s forgiveness.
If I told you all that happened during those days, you would be bored to tears. I assumed a person with all of my obvious ability would have people fawning over me offering me jobs. I found that the skills I had were not that much in demand and that middle-level management positions were being eliminated at most companies. I looked for any kind of job and I typically got the response; that I was over-qualified for the job. I had never had to look for a job before.
People had always come to me. Now I was told that I was either less or more than they needed.
I had a lot of time to think about myself during those days. I reevaluated my life and what caused me to give up on ministry. I discovered that I had been trying to do ministry in my own strength and had always been burned out in less than five years.
When I came to Meadow Brook, I was not looking for a church and this church was definitely not looking for me. I was simply filling the pulpit for Bro. Charles Stroud, who was interim pastor. I believe God brought us together. I certainly have not been all I should be. I have failed you more times than I would like to admit, but you have been loving, supportive, affirming and forgiving. I love you and I love Meadow Brook Baptist Church.
After almost sixteen years, I am not burned out! I feel that we, as a church, are on a new vista of service and growth. I want to be a part of it. The last year has been difficult for me and the church, but we are both still here!
Our membership now stands at 935. In May of 1993, the membership was 447, but about fifty more of them would join other churches by the end of the year. So, in these fifteen and a half years, we have grown 109%. When I arrived, the average worship attendance was about 120, and Sunday school was about 100. At the end of 2008, our Sunday school average is about 388 and Worship average is around 450.
In 1998, Belinda Stroud rejoined our staff as Preschool/Children’s Director and Jim Browning became Minister of Administration. Up until that, the staff consisted of me, Ed Cleveland and Dan Urquhart, both of whom were part-time. Those additions as well as a very impactful trip to Promise Keepers here in Birmingham, were the stimuli for a steady period of growth.
In 1999, we began to plan for a new building that would house this sanctuary, a preschool area and a new choir suite. A committee, led by Robert Reeve, began the work of choosing an architect, a financial institution, a contractor and many other things. We began our first capital funds campaign and raised almost $2,000,000. The total cost of the project when completed in 2002, including renovations to the old building, and prior debt was almost $5,000,000. At the end of 2008, we owe about $1,500,000. To give that some perspective, when I arrived in May of 1993, the church had a debt of $1,600,000, with only 120 people attending!
We began construction in November of 2000. We continued to grow during this time and several Sunday school classes met in the WMU building across highway 280. So many people worked tirelessly to make this building a reality. I could never mention them all, but I could not omit Robert Reeve, the chairman of the building committee, David Faught, who helped oversee the actual construction, Keith Bryant, the church treasurer, who worked a plan and proposal as to how the financing would be possible, and Charles Blackmon, our consultant with RSI. He directed our two capital funds campaigns.
2001 was an eventful year. In May, Dan Urquhart, who served as our Minister to Youth from October of 1993, left to become the pastor of Pine Hill Baptist Church in Wilcox County. Belinda Stroud resigned after the birth of her second child. Both had been wonderful ministers in our church. Cindy Cagle became the interim director of Preschool and eventually came to serve full time. In October, James Culbreth joined our staff as Minister to Students. He came to us from Wynnbrook Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia. In 2001 we averaged 320 in Sunday school and 409 in worship. Our undesignated giving had grown from around $300,000 in 1993 to $946,293.
We moved into this building in February, 2002. There has been a steady growth since that time. We moved James Culbreth to Minister of Education and Nick Price became Minister to students. Last year we lost Nick Price. James again is working with our students. Also, in 2007, David Eanes came as our Minister to children and families. We plan to find a new youth minister and administrator as soon as possible.
Missions and ministry is our priority now and will be into the future. We have many of our people involved in many different ministries. We have taken a trip with Builders for Christ every year since 1985. We need new people to go with us this summer. We have ministry projects with FBC Acipco and Jimmie Hale mission as well as numerous other ministries. Andrew Morgan serves as our Minister of missions. Although still part-time, he does a tremendous job of involving folks in ministry. In 2009, we hope to expand our mission opportunities and involve even more of you!
When I arrived at Meadow Brook Baptist, the Deacons here were a typical, Baptist board of directors and the relationship to the pastor was adversarial, pastor and deacons each trying to straighten the other out! Tonight, we will ordain three new deacons. Their sole responsibility will be to be ministers and spiritual leaders in our church.
Our giving in 2008 was $1,286,827. We exceeded both our Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offering goals. We averaged about $4,300 per family. This is fairly good giving, especially in a poor economy. While this is true, a tithe, in our area, where the average household income is $102,000, would be around $3,000,000. So, we gave less than half of what a tithe should be. We invested almost $200,000 in mission and ministry. That is 15% of our giving. If we tithed, we would invest $500,000 in missions and ministry!
We have done a good job paying down the building debt. I challenged you two years ago to pay off our building debt in seven years. To this point, you have given $166,000 this year alone. Just imagine if we tithed; we could pay off the debt in less than two years. How we would be blessed!
I challenge each of you to tithe in 2009. We have 99 families on roll who gave less than $1,000 in 2008. That is a third of our membership. I am sure that some of those families gave closer to $100 than $1,000. If all those families tithed, it would mean an extra $891,000 in 2009. I could give you “What ifs” all day. The point is: we are hindered from doing all we have been called on to do because we are not a tithing church. We do not tithe with our money or our time.
We have come far in these fifteen years. Now is not the time to rest upon our laurels. Now is not the time to become satisfied and complacent. We have not arrived. God has so much more for us to do and He desires us to do what we do now – better!
Where do we go now? Do we sit here and stagnate? Are we just the alternative “traditional” church in our community? Are we to be defined by our style rather than our ministry? Are we here just to do what we have always done?
We have a wonderful fellowship. This is the most loving and caring church I have ever been a part of. The people here genuinely care about one another. There are exceptions to that rule, but it is true for the most part. But a great strength can also be a weakness. It becomes easy to assume that the purpose of the church is to simply provide fellowship and nurture for the saints.
Meanwhile, the unsaved sinners, in this community die with no hope!
The truth is that we have done a pretty poor job of evangelism, reaching outside the walls of the church. The Outreach Committee has done many things in the last few years to make us more aware of our community. We have a Block Party in the spring and a Fall Festival in October. They have done numerous other activities: hot chocolate at the football games, Tee shirts that speak a word about our church: Got joy?
These efforts have been good and we will continue them. However, the funds for this type outreach are at a premium. We would like to do more, but I refer you back to the section of this sermon about tithing. We would desire to bring Andrew Morgan full time but again; I refer you back to my statements about tithing.
The only way that is completely effective in evangelism, is for one Christian to tell another person about the love of Jesus and lead them to salvation. I would have to believe that very few of you actually do that! I challenge you to make 2009 to make it your purpose to share your faith and reproduce yourself with a new convert. If we all did that, next year at this time we would have 1870 members. What a joy it would be if I saw you leading someone down the aisle to introduce them to me. Can I convey to you the joyous sense of revival that would envelope this church if we did that? 935 new members in 2009! We would have no place for them; but what a wonderful problem to have!
Almost two years ago David Eanes came as our Minister to children and families. He is doing a good job involving more people in that vital ministry. Kelley Young works with him as Preschool director and works tirelessly. We are a community of young families with young children. That statistic will continue to grow. We need more parental and church member involvement. We need a renewed commitment. It is the responsibility of every able church member to take a turn keeping and working in our preschool and children’s departments.
We have overworked and exhausted a few who see their commitment to God in that area. It is easy for them to get discouraged. It is your responsibility to help teach “our” children. Every child is your child. You should take care of your children; volunteer with David or Kelley to find a place of ministry. If you have a child in that area and assume it is someone else’s responsibility to care for your child and never take a turn, shame on you! You would do that in no other area of your involvements. I have a wife who never gets to come to worship because she is taking your turn in the nursery! She has heard plenty of my preaching. She has endured it for 38 years, but she would enjoy the fellowship once in a while. Could you volunteer to take her place? I would be happy to do so, but it might prove difficult. Will you take my place?
Music enhances worship. It is the opportunity for each of you to participate. Ed Cleveland needs the help of volunteers for there to be a music program. We need a renewed commitment by many of you to use the talents that God has invested in you. You are not giving Him much return right now. We have an average of 388 in Sunday school. There should be 10% of the Sunday school average in the worship choir. So, we should have 38 in the choir every Sunday. Maybe you disagree with the music sung or would like a different style. Maybe you don’t like me or Ed. That is understandable, especially concerning me. But you don’t come to church for me or sing for Ed.
You do it for the Lord. If you don’t use your gift, God just might decide to take it back.
Our church has always averaged about 50% of our membership actually present on any given Sunday morning. We need for church members to actually attend regularly. I call it the “Ministry of attendance.” Would you commit with me to be in our place every Sunday? I promise you that unless I am too sick, I will be in my place. Will you?
A man in our church envisioned a few years ago beautiful stained glass windows in our sanctuary. It was designed for that from the beginning. We have had a good amount given for that purpose already. This spring, I will appoint a committee to investigate the possibility of proceeding with that as soon as possible. This project will be funded by special gifts for this sole purpose.
We have a young couple that has felt God’s call to start a new church. I would ask that we partner with them and assist them in all the ways that we can. What a wonderful possibility!
We have come a long way. We have not arrived; we are still on the journey. This is not the time to become satisfied with ourselves. When people become static, they no longer look to the horizon, they search for what is wrong in the here-and-now and focus on that. Instead of looking to possibilities, we begin to seek out the imperfections in one another. How I would love to retire from here in a few years knowing that Meadow Brook Baptist Church was known in our county and state as a church known for its love for people and involvement in ministry.
We have so much farther to go! What will 2009 hold for us? We can’t wholly predict that for our individual lives or for Meadow Brook Baptist Church. We can, however, cast a vision of who we would like to be in God’s service and hoist our sails to be blown by the breath of His spirit.
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