I hope you're having a good week! It's been a few weeks since my last update so I wanted to write and update you on some upcoming events and new informational items. I'm leaving for Houston this Monday along with other members of our Family Mission Trip Ministry Team. Please be praying for us as we travel this week and share the Gospel.
Before I get to the new updates, I wanted to let you know that our church is starting to see some exciting signs of life both spiritually and organizationally. This summer has been filled with so many different events and activities. It's easy to get lost with everything else that's going on.
The thing that I'm most excited about is the number of people who are coming to trust in Christ as Lord and express that decision through baptism. This Sunday we had two more people baptized bringing our total to 30 baptisms this year! That's an average of one baptism per week! It's so encouraging to see.
Some of these baptisms are children within our church who are "coming of age" to understand the Gospel for themselves and making a decision to trust in Christ. Others have been adults who either were never baptized after becoming a Christian or who recently came to faith in Christ and expressed that faith publicly through baptism. Every story is unique and different.
I believe this is just the beginning of a new thing God is doing in our church. The fall of 2020 looked bleak on many different fronts. A spiritual malaise had taken hold in my own life. I could feel a similar malaise taking root in our congregation. Vital signs were starting to wane on every front.
If you go back and read updates from this time period you know that our answer to that malaise was to repent, get on our knees and pray for God to wake us up and revive our hearts. I know the Lord did a special work in my own heart and I believe many others had that same experience as well.
Throughout 2021 and especially this spring of 2022 we committed ourselves to prayer and fasting. We openly declared our absolute dependency on God. We cried out in desperation for Him to do something that ONLY HE could do. We saw God answer prayers specifically and (in some cases) miraculously.
As a result of these cultural changes, signs of spiritual life are returning again. It's a gracious gift from God for which I'm so thankful.
Now is not the time to shrink back. Now is the time to press in even more: more humility, more prayer, more worship, more evangelism, and an ever increasing commitment to spread our joy in Christ to the unreached peoples of the earth.
In the sections below you're going to read about new events, new opportunities to serve and exciting developments about Broadview church as a whole. In light of all of that "activity" let us not forget the MOST IMPORTANT THING.
Remember the words that Jesus spoke to Martha's busy busy heart.
"But one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Mary was Martha's sister and the "right choice" she made was to commune with Jesus, sitting at His Feet.
Let us never become so busy doing things "for Jesus" that we neglect our time "with Jesus." Let us never become a church that is super busy but spiritually hallow.
Abiding in Christ is the one thing that's necessary. Every thing else in life must flow from that. If that one thing is absent - it doesn't matter what else is present.
As we move forward into this Fall season I hope we'll all keep that in mind. There's nothing wrong with a busy calendar and an active church. It's actually a positive sign of life.
But having a busy life doesn't mean we have to have a busy heart. Let's be people whose hearts are singularly devoted to communion with Christ.
Summer Updates
With that said, I want to spend the rest of this week's update to fill you in on some important announcements and some new upcoming events.
Growing Pains
As I mentioned earlier, our church is growing in some exciting ways. As you'll see in the video above, much of that growth includes young families with preschool aged children.
To accommodate that growth we need to add some classrooms and enlist some new volunteers! Adding one new classroom at each hour means we need to enlist about 16 volunteers.
Right now, our preschool ministry provides programming at the 9:30 and 11:00 hour. There are a minimum of two volunteers per classroom so that's four volunteers. Because it's so difficult to get people to serve "long term" we rotate the volunteers out every week. Four times four is sixteen.
The volunteers who serve in our preschool ministry do an important work. Many of the young kids who make decisions in our children's ministry do so because of the solid foundation that was laid during preschool. It's not "childcare." It's discipleship.
Due to safety guidelines and sexual abuse prevention efforts, we only allow female volunteers to serve in our preschool ministry. Given that limited pool from which we are able to draw, it's all the more important for you to join us in praying for God to raise up a new group of volunteers.
If you're willing to serve, please email Tiffany with your information. You will go through a background check and screening process and then be qualified to serve.
With this kind of growth happening this fast we can't afford to wait very long! I hope you'll watch the video, sign up to serve and then call a friend and convince them to serve alongside you. It's just once a month. You can do it!
Even if you aren't able to serve right now, please join me and the rest of our staff in praying for God to meet this need.
Below you'll see a new calendar of events as well as a new small group kicking off next month. Please take note of these important dates and upcoming events.
Don't forget to pray for our mission team this week in Houston. Also, remember we have our 5th Sunday Singing next Sunday at 5:00PM followed by an Ice Creme Social (Blue Bell!) If you've never been to a hymn sing with ice creme then you haven't really lived.
Our final women's ministry summer event is going down NEXT TUESDAY, August 2nd. The event will go from 6:00PM to 8:30PM. Bring your favorite salad and make some new friends. If you're new to Broadview this is a great way to meet new people.
If there's anyway I can pray for you please let me know. If you have other announcements that need to be made please reply back to this email and we can include them in the next update. I hope you have a great rest of your week!
July 25-29 - Family Mission Trip (Houston, TX)
July 31 - Fifth Sunday Hymn-Sing - Ice Cream Social afterward (5:00PM)
August
August 2 - Women's Ministry Super Salad Supper (6:00-8:30)
August 14 - Preschool Volunteer Rally (12:45PM)
August 17 - School Starts Back Up
August 21 - "Promotion Sunday" Preschool/Grade School
August 21 - Preschool "Blessing Breakfast" (8:15-9:15AM)
August 21 - Broadview Members Meeting (5:00PM)
August 24 - Wednesday Night Programming Resumes (6:30PM)
August 27 - Men's Breakfast (7:30AM)
August 28 - Courageous: Mens' Bible Study (5:00PM)
September
September 11 - Music Ministry Auditions
September 17 - Men's Dove Hunt
September 23-24 - Ladies Fall Retreat
October
October 1 - Outreach October (Saturday Outreach)
October 8 - Men's Cornhole & College Football
October 20-22 - Hands & Feet Ministry
** if you see something missing that needs to be added please respond to this email with the information. You can also reply if you have questions about any of the upcoming events. **
All men in our church are invited to participate in a new mens only Bible study on Sunday nights at 5PM. This mens group will examine what God's Word has to say about Fatherhood by using the Courageous Bible Study materials based on the movie Courageous.
In the video above you can listen to Jon Underwood talk about the movie, the small group and why it would be a worthy investment whether you're a dad to be, a current father or empty nester.
We are starting a new young adult small group at 11:00am on Sunday mornings! This small group will begin by studying through the book of Ephesians. The class will be led by Dustin Malone and consist of a blend between expositional Bible teaching and group discussion.
The book of Ephesians is one of THE BEST New Testament letters for understanding the truth of the Gospel and how it applies to your every day life. It's also a great book for understanding God's design for the local church.
No matter what season of life you find yourself in, you will benefit from this small group. The group is open to all (not just young adults). It will launch on May 17th. You can go ahead and preregister if you think you might be interested.
Contact Dustin at (325) 370-9777 for more information.
This coming July 31st we are having our 5th Sunday Singing. We will bust out the hymnals and gathering together to sing. These are always great gatherings for getting the whole church together under one roof. You call out your favorite hymn and we sing to one another the great truths of the Gospel for the rest of the evening.
Fifth Sunday Singings are great by themselves. They're even greater with a little Blue Bell Ice Cream. So our J.O.Y. Ministry will be hosting an Ice Cream social after the 5th Sunday Singing with a silent auction/raffle to raise money for our Senior Adult Ministry.
Please make plans to be there and stick around for dessert!
Super Salad Supper
August 2nd | 6:00-8:30PM
Our final women's event for the summer is scheduled for August 2nd at 6:30. This month they will be hosting a Super Salad Supper in our Education Building.
Bring your favorite salad to share. We will eat, fellowship and have a devotional time together.
August 14th we are going to have a Preschool Volunteer Rally! This will be a quick meeting directly following the third service where we will discuss curriculum, calendars, and review safety procedures. It is very important for all current and prospective volunteers to attend if at all possible.
Pizza and salad will be provided.
Blessing Breakfast
August 21st | 8:15AM
We want to invite you and your family to a breakfast on Promotion Sunday, August 21st, from 8:15AM-9:15AM in the Education Building. We will enjoy a time of fellowship with other families, present each child with a new Bible, and pray a blessing over these children as they move forward. If you are able to attend this event, please let Tiffany know! Other family members are also invited but please RSVP your number to Tiffany Lohse.
Men's Breakfast
August 27th | 7:30AM
Education Building
It's back! We are kicking off our fall season of men's ministry with a Men's Breakfast gathering on August 27th at 7:30AM. There will be a delicious breakfast served starting at 7:30. That will be followed by a time of fellowship and prayer. There will be a speaker who will share a testimony or brief devotional followed by a time to hang out and play dominos afterwards.
Auditions for Worship Ministry
September 11 | 2:00-4:00PM
We are adding vocalists, instrumentalists and media techs to our worship team. With some of the turnover that has taken place over the past few years we have a growing need to add new folks to our team. If you have a desire and gift for leading others in worship through song please let us know!
You can email Taylor for more information or to schedule your audition. Vocalists will be asked to sing a song and instrumentalists will be asked to play. The song can be given to you in advance of the audition once you email Taylor and let him know about your interest.
We are looking for volunteers in every area: vocalists, guitarists (lead/rhythm), bass, drums, keys, sound board, Pro-presenter, livestream, camera operators. If you have an interest in this area now is the time to step up and serve!
It's time again for our Hands & Feet ministry! We started this ministry in 2021 and it's a ministry to members of our church who have a need related to their home that they cannot do themselves or cannot afford to have done.
This year, we are also opening up the ministry to friends of members or unchurch people from within our community. If you know someone for whom this would make a positive impact please let them know.
If you HAVE a project we need you to fill out a submission form as soon as you can.
If you are willing to WORK on these projects we need you to register as well so we can be better organized on who is working when and how to create our teams.
Finally, if you are willing to GIVE to this ministry, any amount will help to make a big impact. Last year, some of the projects exceeded $1,000 but those were also the projects that made the biggest impact. Through your generosity we will be able to bless our city in a significant way.
