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No Slowing Down
After more than two years at Alcoa High, the school remains an ideal place. Meeting at Maryville College when we started seems like a faint memory from the past, not unlike when a 40 year old remembers being a teenager. The support from Alcoa’s school administration allows us the space and flexibility we need. Our biggest facility challenge is having to quickly change service and/or set up times because the school needs its facility. When this happens, we have not had to leave the campus but arranged to use other areas within the school. The gym remains the place we meet for Worship Services giving us room for the growing number of people. We use more of the school’s classrooms than ever expected.
Although we continue to look and pursue property, there currently are no promising leads. We are in no hurry to leave the High School while also seriously seeking God as to what is next. The morale of Saturday night setup has not waned which is astonishing given the demand. New people continue to invest their Saturday nights to set up enabling us to do what we do on Sunday mornings.
Gina Williams was hired as Administrative Assistant at the end of the ‘08 summer with her workload drawing nearer to full-time with each passing month. In addition to keeping the pastors straight and overseeing administration, Gina took the responsibility of finances and bookkeeping in January, ’09 when financial obligations grew and needed to be an internal operation. Our staff continues to work at home as we have chosen to not rent office space.
Dave Cates was hired as a Student Minister in January, ‘09. Dave came as a volunteer to lead the students in ’08 and began harnessing the rapidly growing mob of students. On average, 50-70 middle and high school students meet each Sunday evening. Students now have numerous structured opportunities in missions and serving.
Preschool, Children’s, and Youth ministries have adopted an overarching philosophy called “Orange”. Teams of workers from these areas attended the Orange Conference the past two years. Simply put, Orange is effort to gain leverage by melding the church and family together to help young people grow in their faith. With each of these areas booming, the guidance and vision Orange gives allows us to be more effective.
BCC hired Rodney Arnold, our last Worship Leader, to lead worship and learn how to better start the new church he was called to start. Rodney left BCC to launch his new church in the summer of ’09. Eddie Jett, a volunteer band member with us for years felt led by God to step into the role of Worship Leader. Eddie has never been a Worship Leader prior the summer of 2009. God has blessed us with him to lead the band and BCC in worship. His growth and leadership will be exciting to watch.
International Missions rose to a new level in ‘08 and ‘09. We entered into a relationship with Pastor Straton and Eglise Vivante Church in Rwanda, Africa. A team visited Rwanda in October ’08. We continue to support their work with orphans and HIV/Aids victims. We increased our support of Andy and Emily in SE Asia with the most recent project being an English School for College students. The newest international opportunity is with Rick and Shanna as missionaries to East Asia.
Great memories are etched in our minds of the past two Fourth of July Baptism Parties at Springbrook Pool. Many families dedicated their children to the Lord and 50 people took the faith-step of baptism. These parties were also Volunteer Appreciation Events with catered food, a mechanical bull (which by the way does not mix well with wet swimsuits), a live DJ, t-shirts for all Volunteers, and tons of memories.
BCC apparel has taken on a life of its own. Where our numerous t shirts, bags, license plates, and hoodies came from is a mystery. You won’t visit BCC on any given Sunday morning without seeing tons of people proudly sporting BCC apparel.
If we didn’t mention Lily Loveday, this chapter wouldn’t be complete. Kidstuf Family Production created a pop icon in Lily with her highly popular video each week. Lily has used her unique gifts (not to mention her husband’s skills) and contagious antics to draw a following that enhances our children’s ministry while pointing people to Jesus.
(written summer 2009)
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