Our Space Communicates Hospitality by Bert Stouffer
At Second Baptist Church we are committed to being catalysts for God’s dreams to come true in our church, throughout the KC Metro Region, and around our world. We take a strategic approach to this, adopting a comprehensive ministry plan (our Catalyst Plan) every two years that includes everything we hope to accomplish over the next two years. As we approach the midpoint of our 2019-20 Catalyst Ministry Plan, we will be sharing testimonies about what we’ve accomplished so far. In this blog series, leaders will share with you how your generosity of prayer support, service, and financial giving to our Catalyst Fund have made it possible to progress toward the achievement of the major goals voted on by our congregation. Thank you for your support.
Our newly renovated chapel will be available for use as we ring in the new year. This is a long over-due update to an important worship space, and it will serve us well for decades.
As I’ve shared before, our congregation has been blessed by those before us with a generous facility to serve as home base. To be sent out — with fellow believers into our community and world - we must leave from somewhere. For us, that somewhere is our church building.
We often bring people back with us through our various ministries or they simply find us on their own. And when they come to our church, we want them to feel welcome and comfortable.
A comment my wife once made about hospitality has stayed with me. People want to feel that you anticipated and prepared for their arrival. In this spirit, we were moved to renovate our chapel – to equip the chapel to serve as a place for us to prepare for ministry, and to serve as a place to welcome people into our community, whether for a short visit or a long stay.
Throughout this project, from listening sessions to planning and through construction completion, I’ve been heartened by the vision and generosity of our church. Second Baptist’s strategic decision to utilize Catalyst as a way for us to give together enables us to embark upon larger initiatives over a longer period.
Significant projects like the chapel renovation must be planned, executed and paid for over multiple years. The commitments we make together to the Catalyst plan and our faithful fulfillment of those commitments provide the resources needed to do big things.
I’m grateful to worship in this community of believers who like to take on big projects. Together we are actively investing in our future as the presence of Christ in our little corner of the world.