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tbc Worship & Fellowship

Good News! New Sound System will soon be installed in the Sanctuary

Did you know that we have a brand new sound system on the way? 

Did you know that a generous donor has helped us to purchase of a brand new sound system? The soon-to-be installed system will help us to enhance sound quality for those physical present in the Sanctuary and also to share the service neighbors in every corner of the world! We are looking for a handful of folks to help learn the new system and work in a rotation on Sunday mornings at either the sound board, podcast station and/or livestream station.

The new soundboard will give us a tremendous amount of flexibility and the new speakers will greatly enhance the listening experience for worship participants in the Sanctuary. The new system also features hearing assistance devices!

Our Live Stream  ministry continues to gain momentum.  While on average live attendance is under six viewers, our regular attendees are able to keep a vivid digital connection to the family. Where Live Stream clearly has seen an increase is the number of views post live Worship. There has been an increase from 20 average views to 40 average views per week in the 30 days that follow the service.

The Podcast Ministry enables our church family, immediate and extended alike, to listen to the services. Unlike the LiveStream, we are able to archive all of our worship services. The search feature on the website makes the entire library of Worship Services, and Wednesday Night Bible Studies, accessible. Listeners can also subscribe via their portable devices for automatic downloads.

Currently, we are looking for volunteers to come upstairs in the balcony to observe our current system and begin to learn the basics. Ideally, we would like a rotation of volunteers so that everyone has ample opportunity to worship downstairs, alongside the majority of the congregation.

Interested in learning more? Just swing by the sound board the next time your present on a Sunday morning. TBC Worship 201612

 

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Blog entry featuring our Pastor’s advice for churches pursuing sabbatical for their staff members

Home Again

This blog post is part of a series that features guest posts from pastors who have participated in Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal grants. We wish to highlight some helpful approaches to the process which have allowed these grants to be blessings to both the pastors who go on renewal leaves and to the congregations themselves.

The impact upon the congregation was positive and focused. The church offered the sabbatical as a gift to myself and my family. The vast majority of congregants were genuinely rooting for me in the long waiting period between submission of the application and confirmation of selection. The congregation burst into spontaneous applause when they learned that we had been selected by the Clergy Renewal Program. Some worried about the longevity of absence and others were a bit skeptical about the theme. However, the church did a magnificent job preparing for the absence, and the leadership stepped up in all the right ways. To my knowledge, Tabernacle Baptist Church has never offered a three-month sabbatical to a pastor in its 125+ years of existence. However, I now believe the church would not hesitate to offer an extended sabbatical for myself, or future pastoral staff members, because of this positive first experience.
Here are some practical thoughts for pastors and congregations that are considering applying for the renewal grant:

  • The clergy renewal team was formed and began their work several months prior to the submission of the application. We worked collaboratively on a shared google document as the actual grant submission required multiple drafts.
  • We made a concerted effort to include multiple voices from various church leaders throughout the grant. The task was less intimidating and also reflected the congregation’s voice as a whole.
  • The clergy renewal team hosted a town hall meeting and a series of brief articles to keep the congregation informed. They also released a Sabbatical Q&A booklet just before the beginning of the sabbatical to help answer questions about my absence. Clergy Renewal: The Alban Guide to Sabbatical Planning provided a wonderful template.
  • I resisted the urge to check Facebook throughout the majority of the sabbatical and avoided reading church newsletters. That said, I spent some time reading through the church Facebook entries, newsletters, and bulletins the week leading up to re-entry. It provided a good snapshot of activities that took place and also the evolving prayer list.
  • I suggest you set up an auto-reply on your e-mail stating that your account won’t be checked. Ask folks to wait to e-mail you upon your return so that you aren’t looking at a full e-mail box on the first week you are back. Same goes for voicemails.
  • Your colleagues with previous sabbatical experience are telling the truth: it takes some time to get back into the rhythm. The post-sabbatical fog is real, but it won’t last forever. Most of us don’t realize how tired we are until we finally get a chance to break away and rest. Sabbatical provides deep rest and re-entry can be jarring. I suggest you create a “start here” folder and place it atop your desk for the first day you enter back into the office. Some of the folder’s contents may include: upcoming sermon passages for the next season, a calendar of events for the upcoming season, advice on bad habits you promised to put down on the other side of sabbatical important issues you left behind before you left, etc.
  • Pay it forward – identify five colleagues that could use sabbaticals but aren’t serving in congregations that have experience with sabbaticals. Offer to bring some of your lay leaders to their church to speak to the benefit of offering a sabbatical to their pastor.

This piece has been adapted from the reflections of Pastor Sterling Severns from Tabernacle Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia, who says that, “The sabbatical was life-changing.”

The Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs at Christian Theological Seminary(CTS) seek to strengthen Christian congregations by providing opportunities for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection. To request permission to repost this content, please contact clergyrenewal@cts.edu.

tbc Media

Tabernacle Stories: Week 4 (Naomi Reddish)

“We need to tell stories as a testimony to what God has done and is doing. If we do not share the stories, their power and truth are diluted, and their impact forgotten” (Beth Reddish Wright and Barbara Davis).

This seven-week series centers on the theme of “testimony.” Each week, we are inviting one or two people from our congregation to share stories about their spiritual journeys and where they have seen God at work in their lives. We will have time to ask questions and explore together how God is movineg among us at Tabernacle and in the world. This series meets in the fellowship hall from 6:30pm to 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings. Tabernacle Stories begins on April 6th and will continue throughout the Easter season until May 18th.

2016 TBC Stories Schedule:

April 6 – Jay Hartman
April 13 – Gail & Bill Welstead
April 20 – Larry and Kathy Allen
April 27 – Naomi Reddish
May 4 – Vincent Sallie
May 11 – Bya Wann
May 18 – Samuel Lian

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Realizing Our God-Sized Vision:  April 2016 Update

Thanks to all of you who were able to attend our recent TBC Quarterly Business Meeting to hear about the Construction & Renovation Committee’s recommendations for next steps in realizing our God-Sized Vision.  For those of you who were unable to attend this meeting, the Committee will continue to make every effort to keep you updated in the weeks ahead regarding plans to move forward with prioritized renovations to our existing space.  Once we obtain updated drawings, announcements for small group meetings will be sent out.  We hope that most of the congregation will be engaged in those sessions to stay informed and to have questions you may have answered.

The committee has purposefully taken thoughtful and purposeful steps in evaluating the current needs of our church ministries and maximizing use of our current space.  Work completed over the past several months includes:

  • An updated analysis of space utilization for both current needs and continued growth was completed and reviewed.
  • The Committee obtained costs for several concepts that would help reduce the overall costs of our construction and renovation efforts.
  • An evaluation of total funds expected to be raised based on current campaign commitments was completed.
  • Based on anticipated available funds and use of existing space, a prioritization of functional changes that support our Vision is in process.

Based on that work and your input, the Construction & Renovation Committee is recommending the following changes begin in 2016, beginning soon with the replacement of the church’s air conditioning system for the sanctuary, the replacement of the roof of the Williams Building, and the demolition of the two row houses.  (Note:  Using the God-Sized Vision funds to replace the church’s air conditioning system for the sanctuary assumes a positive approval vote by the congregation on 5/8/16.)

While these efforts are completed, the Committee will finalize details for additional items on the list of recommended changes, including:

  • Create a Gathering Area on the Sanctuary Level
  • Build a New Elevator Tower, Including New Step Tower
  • Create a New Childcare/Church Entrance (After Demolition of the Row Houses)
  • Make Physical Appearance Improvements to the Williams Building 1st & 2nd Floor
  • Make Physical Appearance Improvements to the Williams Building 3rd Floor for Youth Summer Mission Teams
  • Remodel our Food Preparation Kitchen
  • Make Physical Appearance Improvements for the Main Church Room Floor Areas
  • Return of Green Space on Grove Avenue

With our anticipated collection of $914,322 by the end of 2016 for the God-Sized Vision campaign, we expect a shortfall of between $50,000 and $75,000 as a result of completing these renovations.  We ask for your ongoing fulfillment of your campaign commitments, your consideration of additional donations to the campaign to overcome the expected shortfall, and your ongoing prayers.  Your caring and engagement are key to our success!  Thank you in advance for your kind and generous support.

tbc Media

Death and Dying Series (Lent 2016)

If you missed our four-week series “On Death and Dying,” our 2016 Wednesday night Adult Lenten Series, here are links to podcasts of all four sessions. We’re grateful for your willingness to delve into this subject, and found that we had very meaningful dialogue around tables when given permission to talk about this most challenging topic. We hope you’ll find the podcasts and the discussion questions helpful for you as you wrestle with what it means for us to be mortal human beings who believe in an infinite God.

Series Overview and Schedule

“Dying is the most general human event, something we all have to do. But do we do it well? Is our death more than an unavoidable fate that we simply wish would not be there? Can it somehow become an act of fulfillment, perhaps more human than any other human act?” (Henri Nouwen). Join us for this special four-week Lenten series in the Fellowship Hall from 6:30 to 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings after the fellowship dinner. Led by Jeff and Julie Walton and Art Wright, this series will explore practical and theological aspects of what it means for us to prepare for a good death. Please contact Art Wright (wright@tbcrichmond.org) if you have any questions.

Week 1 (Feb 17) – Introduction and Big Questions
Week 2 (Feb 24) – The Dying Process, How to Prepare Well for Death
Week 3 (March 2) – After Death, Funerals
Week 4 (March 9) – Grieving

tbc Media

On Death and Dying: Week 4 (Adult Lenten Series 2016)

This is the fourth and final week of “On Death and Dying,” our 2016 Wednesday night Adult series during Lent. Our session this week is led by Rev. Jeff Walton and includes discussion of the grieving process. We’re making these podcasts available if you are unable to join us on Wednesday nights in the fellowship hall.

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Series Overview and Schedule

“Dying is the most general human event, something we all have to do. But do we do it well? Is our death more than an unavoidable fate that we simply wish would not be there? Can it somehow become an act of fulfillment, perhaps more human than any other human act?” (Henri Nouwen). Join us for this special five-week Lenten series in the Fellowship Hall from 6:30 to 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings after the fellowship dinner. Led by Jeff and Julie Walton and Art Wright, this series will explore practical and theological aspects of what it means for us to prepare for a good death. Please contact Art Wright (wright@tbcrichmond.org) if you have any questions.

Week 1 (Feb 17) – Introduction, Big Questions
Week 2 (March 2) – The Dying Process, How to Prepare Well for Death
Week 3 (March 9) – After Death, Funerals
Week 4 (March 16) – Grieving

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Tabernacle Stories

Tabernacle Stories: A Wednesday Evening Series

A number of us have been meeting on Wednesday evenings in the fellowship hall after the weekly fellowship dinner for our “Tabernacle Stories” series. This is a seven-week series centered around the theme of “testimony.” Each week, we invite one or two people from our congregation to share stories about their spiritual journeys and where they have seen God at work in their lives. We ask questions and explore together how God is moving among us at Tabernacle and in the world.

I have to admit—this series has been more meaningful and richer than I ever anticipate. Each week, the stories we’ve heard have made us laugh, cry, and reflect in profound ways on God’s presence in our lives and in the life of our congregation.

The idea for this series started with a quote that my wife Beth shared with me. She had interviewed dozens of people for a history book she wrote about Camp Alkulana, and she was sharing something that a former camp director had told her about the power of stories. She said: “The story is told … as a testimony to what God has done and is doing. If we do not share the story, we believe, its power and truth is diluted, and its impact forgotten.”

I thought—how profound! It seems simple, and even obvious, on the one hand. We read in worship each week about the stories of God at work in the lives of our ancestors of faith: Abraham and Sarah, Ruth and Naomi, Isaiah, Jesus, Paul, Priscilla and Aquilla. But how often do we feel like we have permission to share with others what we think God has been—and is—up to in our own lives?

For me, the question became this:

How else do we know what God is up to in the world and in our lives unless we talk about it and share our stories?

So each week our guests have been sharing stories of their spiritual journeys. The first week, Jay Hartman shared very meaningfully about how he senses God’s presence at work in his life through his carpentry business. He isn’t on staff at a church, but he shared how he has come to see his day-to-day job is indeed a ministry. During our second week, Gail and Bill Welstead shared rich stories about their lives and their involvement in the life of Tabernacle Baptist Church for decades now. Bill, now a retired chemist and prescription drug maker, shared a poignant memory of a particular experience he had when wrestling with the ways in which he was gifted to serve God aside from his vocational calling:

“I was on my way home, and I remember…. I was at Brookland Park Boulevard and Brook Road…. And a voice came to me—not audible. But a voice came to my mind and it simply said, ‘Bill if you could make a drug that could cure the world of every disease, do you think it would be a better place?’ And I had to think about that. I thought about that all the way home, and the next day and the next day. And I was thinking, ‘You know, there would still be greed, and there would still be murder, and there would still be war, and there would still be all of these other things. Yeah, maybe people would feel better doing it. [laughter] But I began to realize that there has never been a drug made—nor will there be—that will change a man’s heart. That will transform a man—or person. … And so then I got the idea that, ‘God, you must be speaking to me.'”

You’ll have to listen to the podcast to see how Bill’s story continues!

Just this past week we got to hear from Kathy and Larry Allen, who recently became members of our church on Easter. They traced their journeys from Virginia all over the country and world. They shared their sense that God had called them back home to Richmond, and to Tabernacle Baptist Church in particular, to serve and use their gifts for ministry among us and in our community.

I share these snippets just to whet your appetite. They are just a glimpse of the amazing stories we’ve heard each week. I can only imagine that the stories we’ll hear in the coming weeks will be just as amazing. Through these stories we sense God at work in profound ways in our lives and in the life of our congregation. I hope you’ll join us.

Here is the remainder of our schedule of speakers:

April 27 – Naomi Reddish
May 4 – Vincent Sallie
May 11 – Bya Wann
May 18 – Samuel Lian

Grace and Peace,

Art Wright

Minister of Spiritual Formation