Baptist Churches/Congregational Churches

Douglas Pigg

The purpose of this project was to equip members of Firsts Baptist Church, Naples, Florida, with the necessary skills to be an effective decision counselor. The author used the Quipping Program Model comprised of four lessons. Lesson one explained the role and work of the Holy Spirit from John's Gospel. Lesson two explained the decision of salvation. Lesson three explained the decision of sanctification. Lesson four guided the counselors through practical application. The project resulted in the members of First Baptist Church, Naples, Florida, effectively enhancing the decision counseling ministry of the church.

This abstract was created prior to the change in the word count for RIM abstracts

Nicholas T. Wilbur

The purpose of this project is to develop a relational evangelism strategy to reach millennials of Cumming Baptist Church, Cumming, Georgia. The project director led selected members of Cumming Baptist Church to develop a multifaceted relational evangelism strategy that will minister effectively to the millennial population of Forsyth County, Georgia.

The strategy formation team met for six sessions to develop the strategy for the church. The project director instructed the team on demographic data from Forsyth County, information on millennials found through research, best relational evangelism practices, the biblical rationale for relational evangelism, and strategy formation technique. With this knowledge, the strategy formation team, led by the project director, developed a multifaceted relational evangelism strategy. Once completed, the strategy was presented by the project director to the pastoral staff, outreach ministry team, and deacons of CBC for approval and implementation.

Robert James Fontell Jr. D.Min.

Statistics indicate that thousands of churches have experienced decline to such an extent that without intervention, these churches will reach the death stage in the life cycle of the church. However, churches do not have to experience the final stages of the life cycle of the church because they possess the potential for renewed growth. Pastors can learn the skill of leading a church through revitalization.

This project will examine principles that bring life and transformation to the local church through biblical research on church health, the study of the life cycle of a church, common biblical behaviors of healthy churches, and their impact on declining churches. It will seek to explain the evangelistic efforts that addressed the decline experienced by Calvary Christian Church (CCC), Northeast Philadelphia, PA, and brought the beginnings of revitalization. The biblical research describes the development of an evangelism strategy that will change the culture of the church to rediscover its mission and foster a healthy state.

O. Henry Powell Young IV

The purpose of the project is to equip next generation ministers at Cross Church, in Northwest Arkansas, with strategic evangelism implementation skills. The student did so by exploring the fields of evangelism and strategy implementation in next generation ministries. The project included the design and execution of a curriculum workshop which will be used to train next generation ministers at Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas, in strategic evangelism implementation skills. Research regarding the trends of salvations and baptism rates in the Southern Baptist Convention from 2010 to present. Existing strategic evangelism tools were presented along with new material designed by the project director. The project resulted in the development of a next generation evangelism strategy workshop and the equipping of next generation ministers at Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas.

Jeremy Ryan Williams

The aim of the project was to enhance the project director’s skills in expository preaching from Old Testament historical narrative at Black Creek Baptist Church, Collinsville, Alabama. The proposed project follows the preaching-skills enhancement model. The project director researched the field of expository preaching for best practices. An expert in the field of expository preaching evaluated the best practices. Based on best practices, the project director developed a series of sermons for evaluation by an expert in the field of preaching and an expert in the Old Testament before they are delivered. After feedback, the project director delivered the developed sermons to the Black Creek Baptist Church congregation. Selected congregants provided input to the project director through listening guides. An expert in expository preaching evaluated the sermons through a video presentation. In the end, a final evaluation took place by the project director to determine the level of enhancement in the preaching skills in the field of expository preaching from historical narrative portions of Scripture.

Stephen Bradley Watson

The purpose of the project was to equip selected adults of Marion First Baptist church, Marion, Arkansas with essential team-based assimilation skills. Upon completing research of team-based assimilation practices and skills, the project director developed four equipping sessions. The project director held the four equipping sessions with selected adults from First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas. Participants learned about selected team-based assimilation skills and how to put selected skills into practice when interacting with guests, regular attendees, and members of Marion First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas. Participants discovered the importance of welcoming interactions with guests in order to increase guest retention and assimilate guests and regular attendees into the membership and ministry of Marion First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas.

David T. Um

The goal of this project was to develop a unified strategy for Antioch Baptist Church to make disciples from among college students in Boston, Massachusetts. The project director used the strategy planning model. The project director investigated existing disciple-making strategies popularized by Southern Baptist and non-Southern Baptist evangelical organizations as well as lesser-known programs in discipleship. The project director completed a systems audit by examining case studies of church members whose lives have changed significantly through discipleship. The project director studied the disciple-making strategies already used and currently in use at Antioch Baptist Church to reach college students in Boston, resulting in an organizational profile. The program director enlisted a team and held sessions to analyze the various discipleship programs and synthesize the most effective elements into a single unified strategy for disciplemaking. The project director presented the resulting strategy to the leadership of Antioch Baptist Church for official approval.

Seth Robert Stiles

The first part of the project consisted of the construction and distribution of a church-wide survey about Christian witness in the workplace. A survey was helpful in developing an accurate approach to helping Northshore Bible Church members practice Christian witness in the workplace more effectively. The second part of the project consisted of constructing and teaching an essential “theology of the workplace” in a seminar based on key expositional and theological teachings from the Bible. In the third part of the project, the project director constructed and distributed two reproducible worksheets to seminar attendees. The first “self-assessment” worksheet enabled seminar attendees to gauge present engagement in Christian witness in the workplace. The second worksheet assisted seminar attendees in developing a personalized plan for improving Christian witness engagement in the workplace. The final part of the project consisted of establishing a way for seminar attendees to stay in touch with the instructor for encouragement. The project director documented the most popular issues, questions, successes, and failures from seminar attendees to discern trends for bettering future seminars.

Robert Kevin Mims

The project’s purpose addressed text-driven preaching as one of the methods available to pastors and church leaders searching for a remedy or program to help revive the local church. Church revitalization has become critical as pastors eagerly search for ways and means to church renewal. Opportunities to reach congregations concerning church revitalization during the most populous gatherings, those occurring on Sunday morning, are missed. This project enhanced the project director's skill in text-driven preaching in conveying and convicting the congregation at Ridgeview Baptist Church in Danville, Illinois, of the understanding and need for church revitalization and, most importantly, participating in the church’s renewal.

Jeffery Dale Holeman

The purpose of this project was to equip selected leaders of the First Baptist Church of Oxford, Mississippi, with church conflict management skills. This project began with research in the field of conflict management and identified skills that are applicable to a local Southern Baptist Church. The project director developed a workshop to train selected leaders with the skills needed to manage church conflict. The selected leaders included deacon officers, committee chairpersons, and full-time church staff from the First Baptist Church of Oxford, Mississippi. This workshop included skill presentations and opportunities for case study applications. The project terminated with the workshop that equipped the selected leaders of First Baptist Church of Oxford, Mississippi, with church conflict management skills.