J. Douglas Dortch, Jr., Ph.D.
First Baptist Church, Tallahassee, FL
Building 4 Community Church Conference
"Shout! For the LORD has given you the city."
Scripture: Joshua 6:1-16
July 23, 2006
Our church has been so richly blessed over the years, and I appreciate so much you gathering tonight as we talk about God’s blessings for us in the days ahead.
It was about five and a half years ago when we came together on a Sunday night just like this one to talk about the future of First Baptist Church. The specific topic of that conversation was, “Where do we believe God is calling us to do and be church?”
I thought it was a great conversation. I also thought that it was an important conversation, and I think that tonight’s conversation is equally important, if not more so, which doesn’t make this conversation any easier. I say that on the basis of how when you talk about matters of God’s purpose and plan, you know that not everyone is going to feel the same enthusiasm. But I hope that tonight, as we are together and as you give thought and prayer to what we’re going to be discussing, that you’ll come to see that God’s hand has been upon our church every step of the way and the future that He has for us is bright and hopeful.
These conversations are not easy but they’re necessary. They’re absolutely essential if a church is to maintain its vitality. You may not realize it but every congregation goes through what we might call a “life cycle.” For example, a church is born into existence. There is a compelling vision that brings a people of faith together in order to build a community of faith. For us, the birth of our congregation was November, 1849. Almost 157 years ago, people of faith came together to form this church.
Soon thereafter, after a church receives a sense of calling and purpose and has a vision of what can be, the church begins to give expression to that vision in important ways. They go through what might be called a period of infancy, where they’re trying to learn how to walk as a congregation. They’re trying to learn how to negotiate the pitfalls and challenges that come before every new church.
Soon thereafter, the church enters into a period of childhood, where they’re trying to learn how to articulate and give structure to the vision.
Then they move through a period of adolescence, where they’re seeking to discover how best to manage the vision so that the church can live out its mission and purpose.
Then most churches reach a stage of adulthood, where the church is thriving and doing well. The vision is clear, and the mission is something that everyone has bought into. The relationships that exist within the church are strong and dynamic. Programs are in place so that God’s blessings are seen among the people in all manner of ways.
If a church is not careful, they then move past the apex of its life cycle into a declining stage that begins with maturity, where the church settles down, the vision is not as paramount or important as it once was, people are happy with the programs, they appreciate the relationships, but there is not really any zeal to seek a new word from God or a fresh understanding of what God is calling them to do. And if the church does not look back at its original dream and doesn’t seek to dream new dreams, the decline continues.
They enter into a stage that’s been called “Empty Nest,” where people are leaving the congregation to look for other congregations that do have compelling visions. And if the church is not careful, it continues to experience a slide into retirement, where the church says, “Well, we’ve done well, our best work is behind us, but we’re going to maintain our ministry as long as God would have us be in existence.”
The church continues to slide into old age, where it just really can’t help itself in any respectable way and where the church is reeling and is in a real dire predicament.
Eventually, the church dies, closes its doors, and becomes something else. You’ve seen it in many communities – a restaurant, a performing art center. Once there was a compelling vision that brought those people together, but that church, once past the stage of adulthood into maturity, did not take the time to talk about what new thing God might want to be doing in their midst.
I think this model is very important for our church at this time. In fact, I think it’s been important for our church for a long period of time. I believe that for several years now our church has been in the maturity stage, where vision tends to decline and the emphasis is not so much put on relationships or developing new programs or new approaches to ministry as much as it is on management. “How do we manage the fellowship?”
Now this stage of maturity is not an inherently bad stage. It is, however, a most critical stage, and I want to impress upon you how critical it is when a church like ours enters into the maturity stage, because it is at this stage that a congregation can go one way or the other. I’m not advocating that our church go all the way back to birth, infancy, childhood, or even adolescence. But I do think that it’s important for a congregation like ours from time to time to think about what it is that God is calling them to do in a new and fresh way so that they remain vibrant with a healthy, adult-type of ministry. And I would contend that if you look back over the history of this First Baptist Church, there have been many occasions when this congregation has been in the stage of maturity and has dreamed a new dream that has compelled it to revert back to a stage of adulthood, where the ministry of this congregation has continued to be vibrant and relative.
And because we’re talking about matters of vibrancy and relevance, that’s why all of our discussions regarding the issue of where do we do and be church – what it is that God is calling us to do in terms of church, what is the future that God has for our church – have created such a sense of passion among our fellowship.
As I’ve listened to the conversation and engaged in it for eleven and a half years, what I’ve been hearing is more than a question of location. It’s not just where do we do church, it’s a question of direction; it’s a question of where we are going as a congregation. It’s a question of vision – what is it that God is calling us to do that is new, fresh, vibrant and relative? It’s a question of how do we be faithful to the mission that we believe God has given our congregation? And if that doesn’t elicit some passion from our membership then, folk, we’re way on the wrong side of the curve, moving in the direction of death.
But the truth is, we’re not there and this church never has been close to being there.
I was drawn into this conversation – this discussion on location, direction, mission, and purpose – very, very early in my tenure here. I hadn’t even begun to unpack my books when I started getting hit with questions regarding location. “Where are we going to do church?” “What do you think we ought to do?” “Should we stay or should we go?” And from the very beginning, eleven and a half years ago, I’ve said two things, and I have been consistent with these convictions the entire time. My first response was and has continued to be this – “I don’t care where we do church.” I really don’t. My only concern is that we do church where God would have us to do church. I am not concerned about the question of location and never have been. My only concern is trying to understand the mind of God when it comes to the matter of location. And the second thing I have said from the very beginning is this – “Wherever God leads us to do church is going to be a costly proposition.” There are no short cuts when it comes to resolving the question of location, where God would have us to do church. If God were to lead us to move from our downtown location, it would require from us a great deal of financial sacrifice. If God were to lead us to remain in this present location, it would require from us a great deal of financial sacrifice. We cannot resolve this question on the basis of simple economics. I hope everyone understands that.
But I do recognize how essential it is to resolve both of these statements – where do we do church and how do we pay for this new direction in which God is leading us.
Five and a half years ago when we came together, we thought that at the time it might be best for us to start exploring locations beyond the downtown area. We came to that decision on the basis of economics. We reasoned that it would be costly here. “What might we be able to pursue with the same amount of money in some place nearer the population center?” It was a reasonable question. It was the right thing to do at the time. And so at our last conference, I offered the story of Gideon in the book of Judges as a biblical guideline and challenged us as a church to set out before God a fleece to see what God might be saying in regard to this matter.
And at the time, five and a half years ago, I also offered three criteria that I believed to be absolute priorities as we looked for land beyond our present location. They were the following: (1) High visibility – We have tremendous visibility here in our downtown location. Any search for property must meet this criterion. Where is there a place in Tallahassee and Leon County that would afford us maximum visibility? (2) Open accessibility – Any location beyond our present location must be a place to which everyone can come from every part of the county. And (3) Adequate parking – It must be a location that provides us with enough real estate to provide adequate parking.
We had a special committee that we appointed to pursue the possibility of land beyond our present location, a committee that went about its task mindful of these criteria that I’ve just mentioned. And I can stand before you tonight and without any reservation say that those committee members worked exceedingly diligently in their pursuit. Very few people know how hard that committee worked as they looked for a location that met the aforementioned criteria. And to make a long story short, remember its been five and a half years, the committee concluded just this past fall that there was no property available at the present time nor any property that would be available in the foreseeable future that would meet the criteria and help us as a church to maximize our witness.
Therefore, I stand before you tonight and say that it is absolutely clear to me that the fleece that we set out five and a half years ago is telling us that God’s future for our church is in our present location, which is a resolution to the issue of location that I believe we can accept with great enthusiasm. Indeed, we must. We must accept this decision with great enthusiasm because we see it as the leadership of God in our efforts at following Him.
Now, I recognize this evening that perhaps as you’ve heard that statement, “God wants us to remain here,” you may not be as positive as I am about where God has led us. But I am and I believe all of us can be. And I want to take just a few moments this evening for us to look together at the opportunities that are before us as a church right here in our present location. A lot has changed in the five and a half years when we set out the fleece. For example, in the first place there is a residential presence that is returning to downtown Tallahassee. In the next few years, we’re going to be seeing people who are in the shadows of our church who live here. These people will live in the downtown area and will be in need of a church that can offer ministry to their spiritual needs. I think that’s an exciting development and I think it’s a development that has taken place by the hand of God.
Secondly, FSU continues to move in our direction and provides us with a ministry focus that enables us to be able to advance the kingdom of God not only in our community but also throughout the world. The world comes to FSU not just from all over the state of Florida but from all over the globe. And yes, it is the case that we might only have an opportunity to work with that population two, three, five, seven, or maybe ten years, but we have an opportunity to minister to that population, and when people from within that population leave to return home or to other places where God is leading them, our church has left a mark on their souls. That’s a wonderful thing. If we say the purpose of our church and the mission of our congregation is to equip believers to carry out the great commission in the community and throughout the world, we’ve got a population just down the street that enables us to do that.
In the third place, our Weekday Early Education and our CLC auxiliary ministries continue to attract hosts of people not associated with First Baptist or with any church in any way. We have yet to maximize the outreach opportunities in these auxiliary ministries. And these people come to us on a daily basis. I think its time for us to see ourselves as being not so much involved in the childcare business, not so much involved in the gym business, but being involved in the Kingdom business and the people business and using our childcare and recreational ministries to reach people for Jesus Christ. In fact, all of these three opportunities that I’ve just outlined ought to be our church’s primary field of mission in the years ahead. We must right now begin to prepare ourselves for the residential presence that is emerging in downtown Tallahassee and to reach out to that population encouraging them to come and join with us. They belong here. We need to be even more purposeful in reaching out to the Florida State community and the TCC community and the FAMU community, to the student population, recognizing they’re only here with us for a season but what an opportunity we have to shape their souls for Jesus Christ! We need to be even more serious about saying to the student population, you belong here. We need to reach out to the families that come to our Weekday ministries and to the individuals who come to our CLC center and say to them we want to be concerned not just about your family and not just about your physical needs, we’re concerned about your soul and we want to introduce you to Jesus Christ who is our Savior and our Lord. These will become the three primary fields of ministry focus, not to neglect the regional outreach that our church has. We have always been a regional church; we’re not a neighborhood church. When neighborhood churches begin to decline as neighborhood churches eventually do, regional churches like ours continue to be able to have an impact far beyond the decline of specific neighborhoods, because the heart of God is a heart for the city and He has placed people like us in the center of the city.
So I hope that, tonight, this part of my sharing will in the first place bring closure to the question of direction. I don’t want anyone to leave this place still wondering, “Where is God calling us to do church?” In my mind, God has given clear direction and that direction is in our present location, the place where God has had us for over 150 years.
And the resolution to that statement of where do we do church brings us to the second statement “How are we going to do it?” Doing what needs to be done in our present location is going to call from every one of us a significant measure of sacrifice, which is never a show stopper for a people of faith like us. We need to face facts. We have a facility that merits our attention. The temptation we will face as a congregation is to view the present challenge that is before with respect to this facility as purely a maintenance matter. In fact, I’ve heard people speak of the challenge in various committee meetings as a matter of “deferred maintenance.” And some of you who have been in those committee meetings, you have heard that same expression. “We’ve got a situation where we are facing deferred maintenance.” Tonight, I want to call a moratorium on the term “deferred maintenance” and in its place I want us to start talking about “potential mission.” This question of what do we do with our facilities is not a maintenance issue, it’s an issue of mission and how we can best fulfill our mission in this location. In other words, “How do we take these present facilities which have served us so well through the years, this sanctuary and most of the facilities that we enjoy, having been built almost 50 years ago, and align them for the purpose of doing ministry in the 21st century?” It’s not 1957. It’s soon to be 2007 and when we talk about what we do with this facility, we need to think in terms of 2007 and how we align these facilities for ministry in a new day.
Now, I am so grateful I don’t have to make any of those decisions by myself. In fact, I’m grateful to be a part of a church where I don’t have to make many decisions by myself. This is a Baptist church and the power of the church is in the congregation. You hold the key to where our church goes. I don’t. No member of our pastoral staff does. And I am so grateful that we’ve got a good committee in place that is prepared to help us, offering leadership to the matter of how do we align our present facilities for ministry in the 21st century. You see their names on the screen and as I call their names, I would like for them to stand so that you can see them. And later on we’re going to go downstairs, we are going to enjoy some ice cream. You’re going to have a chance to talk with these people in an informal setting. They’re going to want to hear your heart.
Jim Cooke is the chair of this committee. Other members of the committee are Gray Cartee, Leon Cassels, John Corven, Eva Davis, Al Eppinger, Matt Folsom, Virginia Glass, Josh Hall, Jeff Latimer, Jim Pitts, John Schanbacher, Lorne Shackelford, Larry White, and Bob Wurzel. Lee Scarboro, Charles Maynard, Matthew Jenije and Tom Link are on the committee as ex-officio members by virtue of their service in other areas of our church. Later on downstairs you will have a chance to speak with them and let them hear your heart. They want to hear your heart. And in the days to come, we’re going to have more formal opportunities where we bring people together so that they can hear your heart. It’s important that you feel a sense of investment in what God has for us in the days ahead.
And there are some other things that I want to encourage you to do beginning right tonight. In the first place, I want you to pray. This is a spiritual matter. This is a matter that requires from us the kind of commitment that only comes from a people who are empowered by their prayer life. And if there is any way that we can rise to meet the good challenges that are before us, it will come through our commitment to prayer. I want you to pray for this committee. I want you to pray for our church. Many of you have been doing that. For the last five and a half years, you’ve been praying, you’ve been asking God for direction. You keep praying. If you’ve never prayed about this matter, start praying right now.
Secondly, feel free to give…right this moment. We have a designated account set up called the “Building 4 Community Committee” and its okay for you to begin giving to that fund right now. Now I want you to know that in the coming days, I’m going to be coming to you asking for your money and I’m going to do that without shame or embarrassment, because I’m going to give my money and it’s going to take everyone making a financial commitment to what God is calling us to do. Many of you have been looking for an opportunity to make a financial contribution. You can do that today. Now, these offerings are to be above and beyond your financial support to the regular ongoing ministries of our church. We’re not going to ask you to take your tithe and give that to the “Building 4 Community” campaign. We’re going to be asking you as I’m going to be doing, to give beyond your tithe to what we believe God is calling us to do as a church.
Thirdly, start inviting people to come to what’s happening at First Baptist Church. I can’t think of anything more important in creating a spirit of enthusiasm than our people going out into the community inviting folk to be a part of what is happening in our church. Just because a residential presence is emerging in the downtown location doesn’t mean that those people are going to find their way over in our direction in mass. Just because there are 50,000 college students in the city of Tallahassee doesn’t mean that we’re going to able to maximize our ministry focus in their direction just on the basis of being near the FSU campus. Just because we have families who are here every day dropping off their children or coming to play basketball or do aerobics doesn’t mean that they’re going to join us again on Sunday. Every person here tonight needs to take more seriously the mandate simply to invite people to what God is doing in our church. I honestly believe that when you invite someone to come and participate with you in something that is happening at First Baptist Church, you are not going to be embarrassed by their response. In fact, to a person, every new individual that I have had the privilege of speaking with who has been invited by someone from our church to join us here at First Baptist has been so enthusiastic about what’s happening here. First Baptist Church Tallahassee is in many ways the best kept secret in our county and it’s not supposed to be that. And the only people who can change that are you and I. We need to become more serious about inviting people to our church.
And then lastly, be hopeful. Be positive. Positive behavior is contagious, and the behavior that can tip this whole matter in a direction that is most productive for our church is a positive attitude. There are a lot of people who aren’t here tonight. It’s the summer; some people are out of town this particular weekend, other people have other conflicts tonight and couldn’t be here this evening. There are a lot of people who needed to be here but for very good reasons couldn’t be in attendance. We’re taping this session tonight so that they can understand where we’re going as a congregation and how we believe God is leading us, but the very best marketing (for lack of a better word) is for you to go to those people that you know aren’t here and needed to be here for whatever reason and say to them, “You missed it!”
There’s an exciting spirit in our church. Good days are ahead. The best days are ahead. And I need you to go forth, not just within our church but in our community to say, “We believe we have a direction and a vision. And the days ahead are going to be some of the most fruitful and joyful in the great history of this First Baptist Church.”
Over the last several weeks since the Building 4 Community Committee planned this gathering I really have been seeking God’s direction on a second biblical narrative that might guide as we move into this next phase. Much like I believed the Gideon story was a powerful story of what we needed to do before God, we need a second narrative, a second story. And I think I’ve found it.
God has led me to it in the account of Israel’s conquest of the city of Jericho. You know the story. It’s found in Joshua, the sixth chapter. Jericho was an important city. At the time when Israel was entering the land of promise, it was one of those cities that Israel needed to conquer in order to be able to secure the land flowing with milk and honey. Most people thought Jericho an impenetrable fortress, a city that would never fall. And there it was, standing squarely in Israel’s path as they were seeking to get settled into the Land of Promise.
But when you go back and you look at the story, you see that God gave Israel direction. God said to the people, through Joshua, “March around the city. March around the city once for six days and on the seventh day, march around it seven times. And when you hear the long trumpet blast, shout! For the Lord has given you the city.”
“Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.”
And that’s exactly what God did. God gave them the city of Jericho. God fulfilled His promise to them to give them the land flowing with milk and honey.
Brothers and sisters, we’ve been marching around this mountain of “location” for long enough. By my calculation, at least seventeen years, if not longer, we’ve been marching around this mountain. I believe the time has come for us to celebrate and to shout and to go forth and claim the promise of the new day that God has for us and for this church.
“Shout! For the Lord has given us the city.”