New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

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.

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.

Kip David Salser

The purpose of this project was to assess social needs of selected elementary students and their families in Longview, Texas, for First Baptist Church, Longview. Elementary schools involved in this project were The Bailey School in the Longview Independent School District as well as Birch Elementary and Parkway Elementary, both in the Pine Tree Independent School District. Utilizing the Community Assessment project model, the director undertook an assessment of the demographic data and community needs related to families with elementary students in Longview to establish the project’s foundation. Next, the director determined local resources available to meet identified needs of these Longview families with elementary students. At that juncture, the director explored and investigated regional models and methods of community needs-based ministry to families with elementary students to determine best practices. Finally, the intended results from this project were the identification and presentation of specific recommendations to the Church Coordination Council of First Baptist Church, Longview, by a Strategic Leadership Team, for the development of a community-needs ministry to selected elementary students and their families in Longview.

James Allen Ross

The purpose of this project was to develop a strategy of intergenerational discipleship for Church on Bayshore, Niceville, Florida. The primary goals for this project were to explore existing models of intergenerational discipleship, assess Church on Bayshore’s potential receptivity to intergenerational discipleship methods, lead a team to develop a strategy of intergenerational discipleship for Church on Bayshore, and present the strategy for approval. To accomplish the goals of this project, the project director utilized various methods to measure achievement. This included evaluations, tests, expert evaluators, and designated groups within the church. The strategy was developed and approved for implementation. The implementation of the strategy is beyond the scope of this project.

Chad Aaron Ramsey

The purpose of this project was to develop a multigenerational mission engagement strategy for First Baptist Church, Smithville, Tennessee. The project director used the strategy model to fulfill the purpose of this project. The project director conducted an internal audit on selected small groups at First Baptist Church, Smithville, Tennessee, to evaluate their level of mission engagement. The project director created an annotated bibliography of current mission resources. Upon completing the annotated bibliography, the project director compiled a report of best practices based on the annotated bibliography and interviews of mission leaders in local churches, the state convention, and the denomination. The project director recruited and led a strategy team through a series of mission trainings and strategy sessions to create a multigenerational mission engagement strategy. Finally, the project director presented the finished multigenerational mission engagement strategy to the mission team at First Baptist Church, Smithville, Tennessee, for approval and implementation.

Robert Alan Pinkston

Quebec has over 508,000 college and university students, of whom over ninety-nine percent do not know Jesus Christ as their savior. There are several good collegiate ministries operating in Quebec; however, all their numbers combined show only a 0.2 percent engagement of the university student population. To reach collegiate students for Christ in Quebec, there must be a concerted effort by the local church to engage college students with the Gospel. The project in ministry was to develop a strategy for the local church to use the University Impact House model to evangelize and disciple college students in Quebec.

The Impact House is a rented house or apartment in proximity to a university campus. It houses Christian students who live on mission for God to impact their fellow students with the Gospel. The Impact House typically serves a free weekly meal to attract and connect with lost students. The Impact House also has weekly Bible studies, worship nights and prayer meetings for those that have responded and need to be discipled. The Impact House model, in existence since 2009 in Quebec, has proved effective in connecting with unchurched college students. The project in ministry adapted the strategy to implement in the local church context.

Douglas Brent Moore

The purpose of this project was to develop a life-stage transition strategy from pre-adolescence to post-adolescence for Emerald Coast Fellowship, Lynn Haven, Florida. First, the project director explored the internal demographics of Emerald Coast Fellowship to determine critical issues in selected transitions through a church-wide survey. Second, the project director researched and explored existing life-stage transition strategies to develop an annotated bibliography and report on best practices for Emerald Coast Fellowships pre-to-post-adolescent youth. Third, the project director developed a life-stage transition strategy for pre-to post-adolescent youth at Emerald Coast Fellowship using a strategy team. Fourth, the project director presented the strategy to the senior pastor of Emerald Coast Fellowship for consideration to implement the life-stage transition strategy at Emerald Coast Fellowship. This final project report details the project director’s process to develop the life-stage transition project for Emerald Coast Fellowship

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.

Arthur William McCraw

The project director firmly believes that churches, as well as church planting efforts, must be indigenous efforts with as little external interference as possible, and for as short a time as is possible. The intent of the equipping project was to introduce the idea of further training to a selected group of pastors and house church leaders. The project was designed to demonstrate a basic overview of the concepts needed to successfully lead house churches in Costa Rica and beyond. This project to equip house church pastors in Liberia, Costa Rica was implemented on May 6 and 7 of 2022. The purpose of the equipping sessions was to expose the selected pastors and church leaders to teachings similar to what they may receive in a seminary situation, in order to encourage them to accept the offer of additional training.

The project was successful in that the material was well received and that the group of pastors acknowledged their need for further training. The pre-tests and post-tests indicated that the students’ knowledge was increased as a result of the equipping sessions. Furthermore, their willingness to sign a commitment card committing to additional training indicated the success of the equipping sessions.

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.