Alabama

Daniel R. Strickland

The purpose of this project was to develop a NextGen discipleship strategy for First Baptist Church, Opelika, Alabama. The project director accomplished this in four steps. Step one was to gather the demographics of Lee County, Alabama, to better understand the need for age-graded discipleship. Step two was to explore the existing models and methods of discipleship to find best practices. Step three was to develop a discipleship strategy for the NextGen ministries at First Baptist Church of Opelika. A strategic planning team was used to develop the strategy. At the conclusion of step three,
a comprehensive strategy, including a mission statement, vision, core values, milestones,
and key events, was developed. The final step was to present the strategy to the Executive Team at First Baptist Church of Opelika for evaluation. Although implementation was outside the project's scope, the strategy was presented to the church and fully implemented in January 2023.

Louis H. Johnson

The purpose of this project was to develop a church safety and security strategy
for Fairhope Avenue Baptist Church in Fairhope, Alabama. The project consisted of four
components: an exploration of models and methods in the field of church safety and
security in order to determine common vulnerabilities and best practices; the completion
of risk assessments of Fairhope Avenue Baptist Church in order to identify safety and
security vulnerabilities and weaknesses; the development of a church safety and security
strategy in order to address the identified vulnerabilities and weaknesses; and a
presentation of the strategy to the members of Fairhope Avenue Baptist Church.

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.

Brett Warren Self

The purpose of this project in ministry was to develop an assimilation strategy for Stone Ridge Baptist Church, Alexander City, Alabama. The project director conducted an internal assessment of the congregation of Stone Ridge Baptist Church including new members, regular attenders, and guests and identified assimilation deficiencies among the congregation of Stone Ridge Baptist Church. The project director researched three churches that possess effective assimilation strategies to identify best practices of assimilation. The project director recruited a strategy planning team, which consisted of seven members that assisted him in the development of an assimilation strategy using the assimilation deficiencies discovered and the best practices of assimilation identified. He presented the completed assimilation strategy to the leadership team of Stone Ridge Baptist Church for approval. The project director sought to increase his knowledge in assimilation and his skill in strategy development.

Adam Cochran

The purpose of this project was to develop a holistic strategy to enhance religious support for the 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command of the Alabama National Guard. There is a difficulty for National Guard Chaplains to cover units based on monthly schedules, unit locations, and staff requirements. This can serve as a hindrance to religious support to subordinate units. The project director will investigate the needs of religious support down to the company level. This will provide the information needed to assess the religious support needs. The project director will identify resources necessary to enhance the religious support strategy. The project director will identify personnel that will help in the holistic religious support strategy, in accordance with the command master religious plan. The holistic religious support strategy will guide religious support in the 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and its subordinate unit ministry teams.

Robert Bradley Gowing

The purpose of this project is to develop a new member assimilation strategy for Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. the project director formed a strategy planning team made up of church staff. He conducted surveys and analyzed membership data of the last ten years to evaluate the current assimilation and membership process, membership and, and trends in growth and retention. He researched new member assimilation strategies at selected churches, as well as literature about new members assimilation to determine best practices. Based on the surveys, analysis and research, the project director developed a new member assimilation strategy for Dawson Memorial Baptist Church with guidance from the strategy planning team. The project director presented the strategy to the staff coordinating team for approval and implementation.

Jeffrey Dodd Garrett

The purpose of the project is to develop an emergency response strategy for Smiths Station Baptist Church, Smiths Station, Alabama. The project includes detailed research in the field of emergency response. The project director used internal demographics of the church and a special needs survey to identify needs pertinent to emergency response. Ge researched and ranked the area's available resources to produce a resource for a risk management assessment. The project director then explored the field of emergency response to develop an annotated bibliography and produce a report on best practices. A combination of individual and group pre-test, post-test, case studies, and role-plays directed the project director to the proper instruments for the emergency response strategy. Finally, he created and presented the finished strategy for feedback and implementation.

Adam Chochran

The purpose of this project was to develop a holistic strategy to enhance religious support for the 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command of the Alabama National Guard. There is a difficulty for National Guard Chaplains to cover units based on monthly schedules, unit locations, and staff requirements. This can serve as a hindrance to religious support to subordinate units. The project director will investigate the needs of religious support down to the company level. This will provide the information needed to assess the religious support needs. The project director will identify resources necessary to enhance the religious support strategy. The project director will identify personnel that will help in the holistic religious support strategy, in accordance with the command master religious plan. The holistic religious support strategy will guide religious support in the 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and its subordinate unit ministry teams.

Timothy A. Bates

This project was designed to equip parents in their role as the primary disciple makers of their children. The project was completed in the context of Southside Baptist Church in Ozark, Alabama, where the project director serves as the pastor. He used the equipping program model for this project. The project director researched methods of discipleship in regard to parenting and then developed a curriculum in order to teach selected parents of the church with these discipleship practices. He used four select teaching times to equip selected adults of Southside Baptist Church, Ozark, Alabama, with competencies to disciple their children. The intended results were for the parents to be better equipped and more confident in discipling their own children. The project was also intended to strengthen the whole church, inspiring parents and their children to both become more active and grow through the experience.

Robert A. Dockery

This project aimed to equip selected men at Valley View Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with essential spiritual disciplines. This project employed information from research in the field of spiritual disciplines. This project was implemented with a select group of men from Valley View Baptist Church through eight sessions in essential spiritual disciplines. The curriculum in the eight sessions highlighted the following essential personal spiritual disciplines; intake of God's word, submission to the Holy Spirit, and the practice of prayer. Through the eight equipping sessions, the selected men learned the importance of essential personal spiritual disciplines and were equipped to practice them in their lives.