Called in 1992, Mike Glenn is only the second pastor in the history of the Church. First, the main value of the Church is "the gospel first and always." Therefore, preaching is central to the proclamation of the Gospel and the communication of the Good News. Preaching is central to the proclamation of the gospel by the local church.
The evangelization of Hellenists by the church in Antioch is a turning point in the expansion of the gospel mission for several reasons. Spiritual leaders are leaders wherever they go and are ambassadors for the gospel in the community, not just within the walls of the church. In the mid-2000s as House and Allison note, “the early days of the multisite revolution felt like.
The BBC preaching group model has implications for the future of the church far beyond the pulpit.
Assessment of the Brentwood Baptist Preaching Team Baptist Preaching Team
Therefore, to improve the team and maximize time together, it was agreed that this project would assess the preaching team in three tangible areas: the level of satisfaction with (1) sermon research material; (2) weekly preaching team meeting; (3) and annual sermon planning and equipment cycle. In week 3, a summary document of the findings was presented to the preaching team for discussion and feedback. The greatest overall strength of the weekly sermon research document is the time savings per pastor of at least two to three hours of research time per week.
Weaknesses noted by the team were the repetitive use of the same or similar resources. This high score can be attributed to the method of the senior pastor, who makes it a common practice near the end of the meeting to ask each pastor the pointed question: "How do you plan to preach this text to your congregation? " In the interviews, the pastors shared that the strength of the preaching team meeting is the high level of involvement and participation. Several pastors commented on the helpfulness of the contributors due to the depth of ministry experience present in the room and the diversity of perspectives of the deaf pastor (bringing a very literal, practical and visual interpretation to the text), the Chinese pastor (bringing a non-Western lens to the study), and the ministry residents (bringing the millennial and Gen Z perspective).
The biggest needs for the group moving forward are more time for prayer and more time for sermon evaluation. Due to the size and complexity of the church, multiple planning processes must be considered to arrive at the optimal time for the preaching team to step back to focus on the annual preaching plan. Holiday seasons, review periods, and key initiatives in the life of the church, such as the timing of campaigns and projects, make this a moving target.
The final result of the preaching survey was that the team would like to spend more time evaluating each other's sermons.
Review of Multi-Site Preaching Teams
In week 5 a summary document was created and in week 6 I presented the results to Brentwood Baptist's preaching team. First, every senior pastor sets a high expectation that every teaching pastor is well prepared prior to the regular preaching team meeting, whether the meeting is in person or online. Therefore, preaching team members are expected to be fully engaged in the team meetings, making them a high priority in their weekly schedule and marking a high level of participation while in the meetings.
Second, "How do you hire your preaching team?" This question was intended to explore how other teams use research assistants, how they provide background research, and whether they invest in the development of the preaching team through books, conferences, and workshops. Another common theme is for each preaching team to direct their team to the best research tools. Finally, most of the churches surveyed find time for a preaching team retreat that not only helps with planning, but shares best practices and resources for sermon preparation.
Overall, any church that uses a preaching team model spends a lot of time, money, and energy making sure that their pastors are well-resourced and that those resources are consistent with the doctrine and philosophy of preaching in their church . Whether face-to-face or virtual (using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.), regular sermon team meetings both establish a weekly rhythm for collaborative sermon preparation and increase the depth of the work. Finally, each preaching team has implemented some form of long-term planning cycle, usually built around an annual preaching team retreat.
This shows that a preaching team format is not necessarily "all video" or "all live preaching." These churches deliberately use a hybrid approach for various legitimate reasons.
Points of Excellence
For example, 80 percent of the time is from the teaching pastor, and 20 percent they hear from the senior pastor on video. It's also an important tool externally as we consistently get calls and consult with churches several times a month who approach us with interest in our preaching team model and ask for supporting documentation. Creating this document was a straightforward process, but one that will both clarify expectations for preaching team members and help other churches develop their own documents for alignment and clear communication.
With the preaching team's feedback and help, I began the document with introductory thoughts from the senior pastor. Thirdly, we have the reservation that in unusual circumstances a teaching pastor can ask the preaching team for permission to deviate from the plan for a Sunday when it would be ministerial malpractice not to address a crisis within a particular congregation. Other "must do's" include standardizing the Bible translations approved for use in the pulpit and clarifying our doctrinal standard of the Baptist Faith and Message.
The "great points to do" are attending conferences and seminars as forms of "professional development" to learn and grow as a preacher. The "to do well" point of excellence that attracts the most attention great is the challenge and training of the senior pastor to preach outstanding sermons (without notes) as much as possible.The preaching team must protect the pulpit from the worship service being a time for many other distracting messages, arguing against the idea that "if the pastor doesn't say it, then it doesn't matter."
Overall, developing the "Preaching Team Points of Excellence" document was a simple but important step for our church.
Sermon Evaluation Tool (Rubric)
The process of preparing a sermon is as spiritual as preaching the sermon itself. By assessing the current effectiveness of the preaching team meetings, we identified several growth points for the future that will deepen our preparation. This project helped clarify and improve the development of the multi-site ministry model, especially in the field of preaching.
Internally, this project was prioritized because of the advanced preaching team model that had been developed over twelve years but had not been academically evaluated or documented. The first goal was to assess the current effectiveness of the current preaching team in the areas of expectations, resources, and cooperation through weekly meetings. The first objective was achieved by conducting a survey about the preaching team among the participants of the weekly meeting of the preaching team.
This goal was met with 100 percent participation by all members of Brentwood Baptist's preaching team. With the help of the senior pastor, a draft was prepared, reviewed by the preaching team, edited and returned to the team for final approval. Although this goal was the most simple and straightforward of the four, the preaching team agreed that it was one of the most practical and useful steps in this project for several reasons.
But 75 percent of the Brentwood Baptist Preaching Team feel "excellent" or "good" about the amount of time they put into sermon preparation.
Would Do Differently
Multi-site church ministry maintains a high view of both the Scriptures and the church, which emphasizes the importance of the. I have become deeply convinced that the answer is yes, because a healthy pulpit model elevates the proclamation of the gospel, which is and will remain people's greatest need. After all, to be hearers of the Word without being doers is to be dangerously deceived (James 1:22).”12.
Finally, I am grateful to the entire faculty and staff of the seminary, who encouraged and patiently supported me. This project sought to improve the work of the preaching group by evaluating the weekly meeting in terms of expectations, resources and level of participation. The project identified and documented "points of excellence" for clarity and for the benefit of the outreach team and other churches that might want to learn from our experience.
This survey assessed the effectiveness of the preaching team in terms of expectations, resources, and cooperation through weekly meetings. Weekly Preaching Team Meeting: On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the following parts of the weekly preaching team meeting. The third goal of the project was to develop a consistent set of standards and expectations, or "points of excellence," for the Brentwood Baptist Church preaching team.
Under the direction of the Senior Pastor, the Brentwood Baptist Preaching Team is responsible for the preaching and teaching of Scripture at all Brentwood Baptist campuses and locations.
Preaching Team
Each teaching pastor must comply with the Annual Preaching Plan that is developed by the Senior Pastor and Preaching Team Coordinator in collaboration with. How prayer needs and updates are distributed is at the discretion of the teaching pastor. The Senior Pastor or Preaching Team Coordinator will occasionally assign assignments or readings to the preaching team.
The fourth goal of the project is to develop a self-evaluation rubric that measures sermon focus, coherence, and areas of improvement for each teaching pastor to use in evaluating his or her preaching. The research you will be participating in is designed to help improve the methodological framework for the ministry team at Brentwood Baptist Church (TN). Hook - Did you feel that the introduction grabbed the audience's attention and presented the "big idea" of the message.
After surveys were conducted in May 2021, this summary was presented to Brentwood Baptist Church's ministry team. 0% Over 75% of the time, our pastors feel excellent or good about the amount of time we invest in sermon preparation. 0% 81% of the time, our pastors feel like they do a good job or better at getting our people's attention with the "big idea" of the sermon.
First Christmas as a layperson: Burned out by pandemic, many pastors quit in past year.” The Washington Post, 24 Dec. 2021.
