Arkansas

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.

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.

Laramie LeQuieu

The purpose of this project was to develop a church revitalization leadership engagement strategy for the pastors of Smaller Membership Churches (SMCs) within the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC). A team a church health practitioners from the ABSC, leaders of local Baptist associations in Arkansas, an pastors of churches within the ABSC, were assembled to aid in the strategy's development. Specifically, the aim of the team was not only to engage SMC pastors in the work of church revitalization but to help retain pastors and churches in the ongoing process of church revitalization. The need for revitalization leadership engagement and retention has been addressed by developing a strategic plan with both relational and resource components to help these pastors navigate the process and stay the course.

Jordan Stephen Ferris

The purpose of this project is to enhance exegetical preaching skills of Old Testament narratives that increase congregational awareness of spiritual empowerment at Central Baptist Church, White Hall, Arkansas. The congregation will start to develop a deeper sense of biblical theology and spiritual empowerment by understanding the context and application of Old Testament narrative, and thus helping the congregation potentially see spiritual empowerment from other biblical narrative texts within the canon of Scripture.

The project director will be using the Preaching Skills Enhancement model with three phases to accomplish this mode. Phase one will consist of researching expository preaching and proper exegesis of Old Testament narratives. Phase two will be the formulation, writing, and preaching of a sermon series from Old Testament narrative. Phase three will be the assessment of data and impact on the congregation as well as the project director.

William Cato D.Min.

This project addressed a lack of opportunities for Christian vocational discernment at First United Methodist Church in Arkadelphia, Arkansas (FUMCA). The research question asked what effect, if any, the public speech of leaders would have on the vocational self-understanding of congregants. The hypothesis postulated that the public testimonies of congregational leaders, coupled with a sermon series, would produce an increase in the percentage of congregants who identify as called to participate in God’s redemptive work. While the hypothesis could not be substantiated, the project produced vocational agitation among congregants. Results indicated the need for follow-up measures to sustain lasting change.

Timothy R Brewer

The purpose of this project was to develop a strategy to enhance the spiritual health of Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Guy, Arkansas (MOBC). The project director explored the demographics of Guy, Arkansas, and the surrounding communities; analyzed the historical profile of MOBC; proposed a working definition of "spiritual health" by exploring existing models of spiritual health enhancement; developed a spiritual health enhancement strategy for MOBC; and presented the strategy to MOBC. The project director utilized a strategy model for this project.

The strategy was completed by meeting four goals for this project. The project director (1) explored the demographics surrounding MOBC, (2) examined existing models of spiritual health enhancement, (3) led a team in developing a spiritual health enhancement strategy for MOBC, and (4) presented the spiritual health enhancement strategy model to the congregation of MOBC for approval and endorsement.

Phillip Zachary Reno D.Min.

The thesis of the praxis director’s ministry praxis was to use the theological truths embodied within the Lord’s Prayer for the purpose of discipleship of new believers at the Summit Church, Saline County, in Benton Arkansas. The director’s method of research was to identify the doctrinal truths within the Lord’s Prayer through an exegesis of the text as well as researching historical uses of the Lord’s Prayer for discipleship. The director developed and presented a teaching curriculum based on the doctrinal truths of the Lord’s Prayer to new believers within his church context. The praxis director concluded that using the truths of the Lord’s Prayer in the discipleship process of new believers was greatly beneficial.

David O Mitchell

The purpose of this project is to equip selected pastors in Bartholomew Baptist Association, southeast Arkansas, with church revitalization skills. Through a workshop, selected pastors will learn relevant skills in church revitalization discovered during the research phase of this project. An annotated bibliography will be produced to serve as the source material for the workshop. A questionnaire will be given to the pastors concerning revitalization skills prior to the start of the workshop. The workshop will assist the participants in increasing their understanding of the field of church revitalization and some of the needed skills in church revitalization. At the conclusion of the workshop, an evaluation form will be given to the workshop participants for their evaluation of the workshop.

Leslie F Belden

Where is God? This research attempts to give new ways of searching for the presence of the Holy by exploring the intersection of theology, the faith stories of five congregations in the Presbytery of Arkansas, and the architecture of the building complexes of those congregations. The research employed the method of qualitative analysis to find recurrent themes in the faith stories of the congregations as told by long-time members, analyzing those stories through the lens of Reformed theology, and contrasting those findings with the church's architectural expression of faith. The study found that each congregation expresses its faith in unique ways, both in story form as well as structurally, but that Presbyterians need reinforcement of our verbal vocabulary to articulate how we understand the Holy to be among us as a particularly called people of God. Our spaces and places give us tools for expressing our faith if we will spend the time and energy to learn the language.