Believing Living Connecting
Below are the issues of the Brady Lane Ledger, Volume 1. With articles from our Senior Pastor Jeff Keller, as well as messages from our Elders and other prominent Christian writers. We hope you will enjoy!
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 1
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 2
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 3
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 4
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 5
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 6
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 8
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 10
Brady Lane Ledger Vol. 1 Iss. 11
Good Day BLC Family,
With a heavy heart, and much prayer, the Elders of Brady Lane Church have made the difficult but necessary decision to suspend all services and activities, groups, ministry teams, rentals, and any other functions from today, Wednesday March 18 until May 17, 2020. We will be closed for 8 weeks. The office and building will be completely closed during that time period. The Elder team will continue to meet and monitor the situation and if conditions change for the better we will reconsider the length of suspension, or if things continue to get worse, we will lengthen it.
We will be doing pastoral care through our life groups, ministry team relationships and through elders and staff efforts but these checks will all be done on the phone, by calls, texts, or emails. We will not be conducting any in person pastoral calls unless we are making drop-offs of supplies or groceries for folks in need.
We are not making this decision because we are afraid. In Christ we are afraid of nothing. We are however trying to consider the well-being of nearly half of our congregation, who fit into one of the various categories of folks who are at risk.
Why didn’t we close last week? Why now? Due to more information being provided by agencies and experts as to the ramifications of continuing to stay open, pleas from the CDC, Indiana’s Governor, and from the President of the United States, we felt it was time this week to make the decision to shut down.
During this time, we will continue to have worship services available online every Sunday morning, beginning at 8:30. You can easily find these sermons one of three ways – first you can go to our website at www.bradylanechurch.org and click on the media tab and then the messages tab. The most recent message will be the first one to appear. You can also go straight to YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVklOJFEoNYk5u–6nRrzaQ and the most recent video will be to the far right of the line of images. The third way will be to follow our links to YouTube by watching from our social media platform on FACEBOOK. You will also be able to access a virtual bulletin in a couple of different ways. One way will be through YouVersion Bible App on your smart phone or tablet. Stacey will be setting up a virtual bulletin on that app that you can save to your notes of your personal online Bible. We will also make that bulletin available on the website and also on social media.
We will have a few songs recorded by Lee Anna Atwell and then Jeff will deliver a message. We will be pre-recording these during the week and launching them at 8:30am on Sunday morning, so whenever you get up on Sunday and want to have worship, it will be ready for you to view. You can take communion as a family on your own and you can continue to give offerings either by giving online through our website, or by mailing your offerings into the church through the USPS.
Stacey will continue to put together lesson material and activities that our families can do together at home for the kids – those documents will be sent to our families via email and will also be available online at our website.
Jeff will also do his best to record a couple of messages a week either in written form or video that will assist our adults in continuing to do discipleship while we are unable to gather.
The only ministry team that will continue to serve together during this time will be our food pantry. While it will remain open – we will greatly alter our handout procedures. We will be going to a drive through set up and will take the food out to the people in their cars rather than have them come into the building. We are currently looking for 5-10 18-40-year-old members of BLC to come in and assist in the hand out, as most of our food pantry workers again are in that prescribed danger zone for this pandemic. Also, if any of you are in need due to these special circumstances, please let the church know and we will get food to you!
Good Shepherd Learning Center will also remain closed as long as the Lafayette School Corporation remains closed.
During this time, the BLC staff will still be operating out of our facility and at times from home. Please contact the church office, Jeff or Stacey, or any of our elders or Deacon Team Leader Stu Jones during this season and we will assist you in any way we can.
We hope everyone understands the decisions we have made, we feel it is in the best interest of our congregation, whom we have been called to pastor, protect, and pray for. Please be in prayer for each other, check on one another, take care of one another while we weather this stormy season. No matter what happens…remember – our GOD is in control! When this is done, we will have the greatest worship celebration together that BLC has ever seen!
IN CHRIST,
BLC Elders
Don Roberts, Mark Sorensen, Mike Roller, Bill Gaines, Mike Odom, Nathan Hazelgrove, Richard Culbertson, and Jim Hudson
And BLC Staff
Jeff Keller, Stacey Smith, Tricia Roller, Lee Anna Atwell, and Lesley McKowen
Hey there everyone! Haven’t added to the blog here since before Christmas, so I thought it would be a good time early in this NEW YEAR to check in. We are headed into the last weekend of January – hard to believe that four weeks have zipped past us already. We announced yesterday that we have finished the first month with hiring our NEW TEAM MEMBER & Next Generation Director, Stacey Smith, who will be with us beginning Feb
ruary 3, 2019! Can’t wait for Stacey and his family to join us.
I have mentioned a few times the last few months that I have felt like God is preparing us for something big…something special for His kingdom and glory. I haven’t been able to figure all of it out as of yet, but I know Stacey and his family coming is part of it. I know continued, steady, growth is part of it. We have grown from a 2017 weekly attendance average of 165 a Sunday to 215 a Sunday in 2018. We have had Sundays upwards of 230-240 that were not Easter or Christmas. A more important number for me is that we have had around 25-30 nursery – elementary school children in attendance on average! We have grown our second service from a weekly average attendance of 60 in 2017 to 110 in 2018. Every Sunday we see new faces, and more and more of them are not going through a revolving door…they are sticking around.
What are we doing? What is the magic that we have captured in a bottle? How can your church get the growth we are getting? I don’t think it is anything earth shattering. We are growing slowly but steadily because we are transparent, We love people, and we hold scripture as our truth from God. That’s it.
No smoke and mirrors…no laser light show. No promises of financial prosperity. No books being written on how to do it yourself! Is it a NEW APPROACH…no, I don’t think so.
Transparency – If you are reading this I want you to know we are not perfect. We are 250-ish sinners who have been saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. Of all the sinners, “I am the worst” the Apostle Paul wrote. We don’t have it all figured out. We stumble. We struggle. We have people who are fighting depression and anxiety. We have people who are working with the Holy Spirit to overcome addictions. We have people who have recently lost loved ones and are grieving. We have folks who are struggling with identity issues, sexual impurity, and the list goes on and on. We have folks who are going through their first, second, or third battles with Cancer. We have others who are just struggling with aging. If you are struggling with life, you belong with us…not to be judged, or ridiculed or picked on…but to become one of us…one of our family! We are certainly a bunch of misfit toys! But the joy that we live in and the peace that sustains us comes from the fact that Jesus has cleaned us up…washed us clean of sin by spilling his blood. We are made righteous by his sacrifice!
Love – I know…an overused, misunderstood, and abused word. We love tacos, or we love our football team, or we love our new car! Our modern lifestyle has sucked the life o
ut of a word that once meant something special…Hesed – in the Hebrew – Agape in the Greek. Love without condition. God’s love. At Brady Lane Church we do our best to display love, through the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The fruit from our relationship with the Holy Spirit of God, and with Jesus Christ our intercessor, and the Father – brings that unity of brothers and sisters from every tribe, tongue and nation. We have folks who are Hispanic, we have African Americans, we have folks who are from Korean and Japanese descent. We have had folks who have joined us for seasons who have either lived in or are from countries like Taiwan, Ethiopia, Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Haiti, and soon Indonesia. We support missions in our community, our state, our country and the world. We serve anywhere between 150-175 families twice a month with our food pantry. We minister to 30 neighborhood families with our Good Shepherd Learning Center preschool. WE provide Grief Recovery Classes, Financial help classes, and Bible classes. We have fellowship events within our congregation regularly but we also have big events that we invite our whole community to be a part of. We don’t do any of it because we are special…we do it because of God’s love growing up in us through the work of the Holy Spirit! And we want to share that LOVE with YOU!
Truth – You have a truth, I have a truth, she has a truth, he has a truth! We all have a personal truth that we hold to, that is usually marred with our own personal opinions, experiences and upbringing. At Brady Lane Church we are working to make sure our personal truth lines up with GOD’s Truth…and His Truth is found in His Word…Jesus. Scripture helps us understand where God wants us to go and what He wants us to do…but our understanding of God’s truth comes from a daily interaction with God’s word. Do we do it perfectly…are all 250 of us in it everyday…again…TRANSPARENTLY…no. But I do believe we have a growing number of folks at BLC who are trying harder and harder to keep that commitment to living in a relationship with God through His Word. Psalm 119:115 says that God’s word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path. I shall hide it’s words in my heart, that I might not sin against God. God’s Holy Word is our Truth… and we hold up His Truth. We don’t apologize for God’s commands. We don’t back away from difficult topics. We don’t shudder under the weight of worldly popular opinion. God is who we have to answer to in the end. As one collective body we say…as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD! That’s it.
Are you looking for a NEW LIFE? Are you looking for a church family. Are you looking for a drama free zone. Are you looking for a bunch of goofballs and misfit toys that you can add your distinctive gifts and love to? Are you looking for a place that cares about you – not your money, (we are a debt free church – your giving is between you and God…we don’t care to know your business), we care about your family becoming part of our family. Are you looking for a place to worship God by singing traditional hymns? Are you looking for a place to worship God by singing contemporary praise music? Are you looking for a place to worship, and you don’t care what kind of music we play? We have it all…come and check us out!
You are welcome! You will be greeted at the door by some awesome people with beautiful smiles. You will be given a gift from us to you, and you will be shown where things are by our wonderful Guest Services Team! Stop running from God. Stop trying to figure it out. Come join us sinners who have been saved by Jesus!
in HIM,
Pastor Jeff
We are happy to announce that Stacey Smith has been offered and has accepted our Next Generation Director position at Brady Lane Church! This is an exciting day, and the beginning of a new chapter in the life of our church! Starting February 3, 2019, He and his family will officially be part of the Brady Lane Church family.
Stacey writes:
“I am blessed every day to be able to come alongside & speak God’s truth into the lives of young people and their families as they navigate life. My wife, Annah & I have been married for 19 years. We have 5 kids (Madison, Lexi, Halee, Micah, & Paige) who keep us busy with all their activities and sports. I have been in Youth & Children’s ministry since graduating in 1999 from St. Louis Christian College. My favorite Bible verse is Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
The Elders and Staff are very excited about Stacey coming. He brings with him 20 years of youth and children’s ministry experience along with a desire to see God’s Kingdom grow one relationship at a time!
We can’t wait for everything to get rolling! Please pray for Stacey, Annah, Madison, Lexi, Halee, Micah, and Paige! Welcome to the family!!!!
Hey everyone, don’t forget to mark your calendars for February 9th, 2019 at 5pm! Our fellowship team and worship team are hosting a big event that should be a load of fun. At 5pm we will have a soup cook off – bring your best chili, or any other kind of soup you would like to create, and we will have judges decide who wins. We will have plenty of soup and deserts and we will enjoy a great time of fellowship and food. Then at 6pm we will enjoy a concert with Malachi Jaggers( www.malachijaggers.com ). Malachi is a local Christian recording artist and musician who is now preparing for a concert tour – and he will be joining us before embarking on that tour! At the end of the concert we will announce the winners of the SOUPer BOWL Cookoff!