Adults

F Leader

Group Connect: What? Why? How?

Group Connect will be this coming Sunday, February 3, for the Brentwood Campus. Now’s a good time to consider the in’s and out’s of such events.
What? Group Connect is a morning event that elevates our value of being connected in biblical community as a premier catalytic disciple-making vehicle and provides easy access to joining a group.
Why? Because biblical community is such a catalytic transformative vehicle, we must both cast vision for their significance and provide easy on-ramps for our unconnected members as well as our lost and searching friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Group Connect is an incredibly easy on-ramp for the unconnected long-time attender and the new attender.
How? We have 10-15 group leaders, particularly new group leaders, lined in the hallway to invite and receive new group members for a 6-week trial basis. To that end, Group Connect is used primarily for launching new groups, relaunching existing groups that are reorienting, and then landing those unconnected individuals that our accumulated data (think targeted invite) from the previous semester dictate. If your group is not represented at Group Connect, then please know that we ARE still sending folks to you through our on-campus LIFE Groups booths throughout the building, our text-to-connect number, our “plan a visit” link on the website, our “more information” link on the website, and the spontaneous seeker. But you and I also know that nothing beats personal invitation, so encourage your group members to invite their friends, neighbors, and co-workers along with them. We also encourage you to reach out to those on your rosters who have not attended in over a month.
Please pray for our community in 37027 and your local community wherever you are. Brentwood, as well as surrounding areas, are seeing tremendous growth of young families and out-of-staters move in. Many, if not most, statistically, of these individuals are unchurched and have no relationship with or desire for a local community of believers. They will not naturally come to us barring a crisis in their life. We must go to them. Pray about starting a group in your neighborhood. Pray about empowering someone in your current group to start a group in their neighborhood. Pray to partner with us to begin strong, biblical communities ready to engage the lost and searching of 37027 and beyond in every neighborhood.

F Leader

2019 Sermon Series

I was blessed to be a part of the preaching retreat to plan the sermon series for this year. To see 7 pastors (plus whatever I am!), come together with prayer, Scripture, lament, and dreams for each of their congregations was humbling. Whatever I thought I had become in terms of leading others, I was reminded that I’ve still a lot to learn to reach their level. I’m so excited for what’s coming down the line that I wanted to share the broad categories with you in hope that you’ll prayerfully consider jumping in on some of these sermon series.

February 3 – Easter: Mark; a trip through Mark to walk in the dust of the Rabbi from the beginning of His earthly ministry to the Resurrection.
April 28 – May 26: Evangelism; a walk through Acts to see the spread of the early church, the preaching of Peter, and the witness of Paul.
June 2 – June 16: Disciplines; A look at the source of our disciple-making efforts with Jesus: prayer, Scripture, and Sabbath.
Summer Series yet to be determined
August 11 – September 29: Culture; Examinations of key aspects for Christians interfacing with contemporary culture, including topics such as technology, sexuality, and racial reconciliation.
October 6 – October 27: Vision series for the entire Brentwood Baptist Family
November 3 – November 17: Grieving; a short series dealing with how Christians are called to deal with loss from Ecclesiastes, Psalms, and Genesis.
November 24 – December 24: Apocalyptic Christmas; a Christmas series from Revelation to remind us that the little baby in the manger is also the victorious ruler of the universe.

I pray that you recognize the Spirit’s leading in these series, from the Scriptures chosen to the accompanying disciple-making opportunities that will come with each for equipping our people. And I pray you consider elevating these themes with your groups by partnering with our preachers to catalyze an unprecedented kingdom movement in Middle Tennessee and beyond.