Hey everyone!  It’s Tuesday morning of Holy Week, the week that leads up to Resurrection Sunday – the title I prefer to Easter Sunday.  Sunday is the day that we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!  The Maker and Perfector of our faith!  As we head through the week I want to challenge you to read some scriptures and do a few things to prepare for Sunday! 

• First read the arrest and crucifixion narrative sometime this week from all four Gospels.  Maybe Read one Each day starting on Wednesday.  They are each two chapters long.  (Matthew 26 & 27; Mark 14 & 15; Luke 22 & 23; John 18 & 19)
• Also Read 1 Corinthians 15.  I am going to be preaching out of that chapter but for time’s sake won’t be able to cover the entire chapter.  We will be specifically studying verses 3-8; 18; 20-22; and 57.  But to have a good grasp of the context it will help if you have read the text before coming.
• PRAY. Meditate.  If you feel led…fast.  Prepare your heart and soul for something from God.
• Join us at Elmwood Church of Christ on Friday night at 7pm for our Good Friday service.  This will prepare you even more for what is to come on Sunday.

Resurrection Sunday is always a special day.  I have many beautiful memories from past observances of the resurrection of Christ.  I know this coming Sunday will be added to those!  Join us at 8:30am or 11:00am.  Breakfast will be served between the two services!  Lots of good food and great fellowship!  We will be finishing our Song of the Ages teaching series with a message titled: O Glorious Day! 

I hope this past month you have taken it to heart and been encouraged by the fact that Jesus Paid It All, so that we could understand How Great the Father’s Love is, and realize that each one can come, Just As I Am, to receive his Amazing Grace, so One Day we can share in His resurrection…O Glorious Day!

May God bless you and keep you, may He cause His Light to shine upon you, and grant you peace!

In HIM

Pastor Jeff

 

A vision from God cast for us!

We have been spending the last 8 months or so, working on the next three year vision for Brady Lane Church.  This past Sunday and the next two Sundays our Elders will be continuing to reveal this vision to the congregation.  I would like to take a moment to share the vision with you.

The meaning of our VISION – ANTICIPATE – is through God’s prompting of  us through the Holy Spirit, and with His guidance and direction, we as a church begin to Anticipate the needs of our church and the community around us, to use our resources with good stewardship to meet those needs, both spiritual and physical.

INVOLVEMENT

Involvement in our vision pertains to us making more of an effort to connect our body of believers to each other through opportunities to do ministry together, and to be in life groups together.  We also desire to make sure we make a better effort to connect with guests and new attenders, to do a better job of getting them involved in the body of Christ at BRADY LANE!  Some of the things we will be doing in the next three years to help with that are:

• New interior signage to eliminate guest and member confusion
• New Service Times Beginning on January 7th, 2018 – (8:30 Worship/9:45 Sunday School/ 11:00 Worship)
• Move Coffee Bar away from children’s hallway to the adult hallway to alleviate congestion and add security to our children’s area
• Formation of a security ministry team
• Annual Ministry Fair in all three years
• Implementation of Involvement Plan (1st time guest – to meet the pastor – to BLC 101 & 102 Class – to involvement in life group or ministry team
• Formation of an intentional Connection Team
• Improve guest services team by adding new members and upgrading our welcome area to help people get involved.
• More mentoring and discipleship opportunities – Goal was set that everyone who serves in a ministry will have trained someone to do what they do before 2020.

COMMUNITY

Community in our vision pertains to our desire to get more connected to the community around us.  We have been very internally focused over the past three years as we healed the grew through a difficult season.  Now we are ready to turn our eyes out to the community around us, and get busy making Jesus famous in Lafayette, Indiana.  Some of the things we will be doing in the next three years in this area are:

• Better follow up on our events to help connect with our community and get them to come back again.
• More focused outreach opportunities, being intentional with our calendar to match up with community events.
• Connecting with Pheasant Run Apartments to reach to their tenants
• Electives for the community – ESL, Help Groups, Recovery Groups, Financial Classes, Etc.
• Increase in our involvement at Miami Elementary School, our adopted school.
• Increase our presence in our community at events, festivals, parks, city schools, and Purdue and Ivy Tech events.
• Become more culturally diverse to match our community around us.
• More involvement in Missions both at home and abroad.

RESOURCES

Resources in our vision pertains to the abundance of blessings that God has poured out upon us, and using those blessings to bless others.  We have set a goal by the end of 2017 to be out of debt as a church.  We are very close to reaching that goal.  With the freedom that presents to not be making a mortgage payment every month, most churches end up going back into debt to start a new project.  Our elders have made a commitment that BRADY LANE CHURCH will remain debt free – and we will not take on another large debt.  All projects in this area will only be completed when the money has been raised to do them.  Again this means we are going to as a church remain disciplined as good stewards of what we have, while we wait to save up the amount needed to complete the project.  Some of the projects that we hope to complete in this next three years if God continues to bless us are:

• Remodel and Secure Brady Lane Kids Hallway.
• Upgrade Sanctuary Lighting.
• Construct Neighborhood park/playground on our open lot complete with parking and bus stop.
• Outdoor sign replacement to solidify our identity in the neighborhood.
• Bring GSLC Director and teachers on as BLC staff, making our preschool tuition free.
• Upgrade Sanctuary Stage.
• Repair and Securing of Baptistery Well.
• Begin developing a new master plan for our facility taking us beyond 2020.
• in 2020, we will begin early phases of new master plan to add or repurpose space under our existing footprint.

We can’t wait to see what God does with us next.  Come join us to see these items and many other come to life over the next three years!