April 25, 2016

Dear Faith Family of Clear Branch Baptist Church Florence,

I first want to give King Jesus all the praise He deserves. He has blessed our worship and gathering in ways that leave me speechless at times. I think the best way to describe it in a single word is “AWE.” What we have experienced at CBBC Florence over the last few years is one of the most phenomenal things I have ever witnessed. May God continue to be glorified and may we pursue Him in all we do.

With any numerical growth there comes challenges with space: parking, Sunday School, nursery, and worship. Currently we are maxed out in all areas. With any growth there are trials, uncertainties, and emotional pulls. We have been in deep talks for several years amongst the staff, deacon body, and leadership of CBBC about the constant growth that we have experienced. Over the past five years, we have addressed several needs. We moved to a renovated worship center to accommodate a growing congregation, then later upgraded and expanded a children’s facility to accommodate growing and growing numbers of children, moved the nursery to make it safer and more family-friendly, remodeled a youth room to create a welcoming atmosphere, and expanded sections on the parking lot. All of these have been necessary modifications, and now we have outgrown them all.

A special business was called for April 24, 2016 at 6 p.m. We, as a church body, put a plan together to meet some of the challenges we face. We voted on an eight-member “Strategy/Vision Team.” Effective as of April 24th, this “Strategy/Vision Team” will collect information, research options, and present their data to help cast the vision of our members for the future of CBBC Florence. This team began working immediately. We believe the best step forward is to be united in any effort we undergo. That is why we selected a team that encompasses the totality of our congregation. The team consists of a Deacon Representative; Kyle Reynolds, a Staff member; Rebecca Cooper, four men; Lee Coleman, Mike Lowe, Cody Pickell, Mike Buckalew and two ladies; Mary Lou Shepherd and Chrissy Middleton. People that are older and younger, who have been at CBBC Florence all their life to new faces in our congregation were selected. We desire  faithful open-mindedness and varied experience.

This team will have a responsibility in setting and casting the vision on behalf of the church body. This will be a congregational effort and will require your support. The Strategy/Vision Team will be working the next few weeks to formulate a survey that will help in this effort. In the coming weeks you will have an opportunity to be involved in the vision via the survey that is formulated. I ask that you would support this team, be involved in the process, and get on board with any decision that is made by the overall majority of CBBC Florence. This will be impossible without unity and we need you. We need your voice, commitment, and desire in setting the next foundation within the Clear Branch Community.

There will also be two other teams that are formed. The next team to be formed is a Prayer Team. Why a Prayer Team? We need to pray and pray and pray some more. We need to pray for God’s will, not our will to be done. We need to pray for clarity, discernment, and unity.

After the survey is completed and the vision has been cast, we will form a Building/Remodeling Team. This team will join the Strategy/Vision and Prayer Teams. They will have the responsibly, together, of seeing the vision from cast to completion. Please be in prayer about the formulation of these teams to come.

Next, we must do something to meet the challenges now. Over the last few years we have grown to numbers that have maxed out our worship center, parking, and nursery. We see those numbers dwindle after prolonged periods of time at max capacity. There is a written rule that statistically affirms what we have seen. We have been over the 80% capacity for quite some time and over the last couple weeks at 100%+. To meet our challenges we agreed, corporately, to begin offering two morning worship services on May 15, 2016.

The model will look like this starting May 15th:

8:30 – Worship (with nursery)

9:30 – Sunday School and Life Groups

11:00 – Worship (with nursery and children’s church)

6:00 – Night Worship (with children and youth bible studies)

We know this will be a change and changes can be unnerving. But with changes there are also great possibilities. We ask that you would be patient, engaging, and surrendered. Patient: with the changes until a vision is cast and we can move forward to accommodate the growing body of Clear Branch Baptist Church. Engaging: in worship–this will require that some people move to the 8:30 Worship Service, and whether there are 5 people or 150 people, be engaged in Worship and what the Lord wants to speak in you and through you. Engage, and commit to attend Worship. Surrendered: to serve–this will require that more people step up and serve as God has called us to. You will have the opportunity every Sunday to be part of Worship, even when you are serving in various capacities.

So we ask you to pray. Pray for our church and the challenges we face. Pray for our leadership to surrender totally to the direction The Lord would have us go. Pray for our Strategy/Vision team as they prepare the survey for us, a church family. Pray for the future Teams to be formed and that God would place exactly who He desires in leading us forward. Pray for servants and pray in surrender to become one.

God can do more in a moment than we could do in a lifetime. Let us watch Him at work and continue to praise Him for the great things He has done and continues to do.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:11

On a Journey together,

Bro. Jonathan