• Read “Grace Baptist’s New Roof Comes from Above” from the Washington Times-Herald.
• Watch “Miraculous Project for One Local Church” from WTHITV.com

The church had gotten plenty of value from the original 1979 roof, but knew it would not last forever.

“Unfortunately, funds were always really tight, Showers told the Washington Times Herald. “We began to do some research and through the association we are part of, they have what they call a Baptist Builder’s Club.”

Michael Nolan, director of Baptist Builder’s Club, took the call from Pastor Showers and explained how the Build Up program gives grants to existing churches.

“We do more than give money to hurting churches. We offer funding to churches so they can make needed repairs without going into debt,” Nolan says, explaining how this helps churches solve facility needs without curtailing vital outreach and discipleship ministries that might otherwise suffer.

The resulting grant of $7,000 covered most of the $9,000 material expense. When the church learned that labor costs would be an additional $20,000, Showers contacted Continental Baptist Missions and asked for more assistance.

CBM arranged for help from the Nehemiah program, a group of full-time volunteers who help with church construction and remodeling projects around the country. The team included project leader Steve Meyers and his wife, Anna; Geoff and Donna Bondi; Jeff and Barb Kaiser; and Dick and Selma Patrick.

Further demonstrating the power of Baptist networking, the missionary builders were assisted by a work team from Bible Baptist Church, Kokomo, Ind., led by Randy Teachout.

As an additional benefit, the project attracted plenty of attention. Pastor Showers describes Washington as tightly knit community of 12,000, the sort of place where bad news travels fast, especially if a church suffers through a traumatic period. “I’ve gotten burned with the media in the past,” Showers says, “but when these stories came out, I was delighted with the coverage.”

“This really was a positive thing for us in the community. We could not have asked for a better testimony of what God is doing.”

• Learn more about the Baptist Builder’s Club Build UP program

The BBC board of administrators and Director Michael Nolan—along with the GARBC Council of Eighteen and the GARBC national representative—are pleased to announce that the Start-Up ministry of BBC is expanding.

Historically Baptist Builders Club has given assistance of up to $15,000 to applicant churches in the church-planting phase. Now—through God’s leading, after prayerful consideration, and via the GARBC Resource Center, its staff, and their abilities—BBC will aid church plants in new ways. Instead of only one-time monetary assistance, church plants will receive a variety of assistance for up to three years!

The BBC team held discussions with multiple church planters, missionaries, mission agencies, and planting agencies to come up with the best ways to help church plants in their development. The results are three stages of care: prenatal, birth or launch, and growth.

Prenatal—Year 1

• $5,000 check for postcard/blitz advertising and for assistance with church’s temporary rental location (year 1 only)
• Website design
• Brochure design and printing costs
• Boot-camp training for “things to come,” in cooperation with agencies, to ensure the planter is prepared
• Baptist Bulletin spotlight on the church plant
• Chaplain work in the community in conjunction with Regular Baptist Chaplaincy, led by Regular Baptist Ministries

Birth/Launch—Year 2

• $10,000 check (presented at the GARBC Conference)
• Website design
• Sunday brochure design and up-front printing costs
• Teacher/leader training
• 1 year of RBP material
• 1 year of Baptist Bulletin subscriptions
• Baptist Bulletin spotlight on the church plant (update)
• Strategic planning and financial planning assistance
• Paid registrations for entire church to attend the GARBC Conference (1^st year, after churches’ official organization)
• $1,000 for entire church to use for travel to GARBC Conference

Growth—Year 3

• $10,000 check for land/building costs (presented at the GARBC Conference)
• Builders and people to help (coordinated among missionary builders through BBC)
• Baptist Bulletin spotlight on the church plant (update)
• Follow-up strategic planning and financial planning assistance
• Organizing established churches to help with equipment and furnishings

As you can see, the Start-Up ministry exists to help those who are praying about planting churches. But we cannot do it alone. We need every member of every GARBC church to lend support by signing up to become a member today.

OVER $55,000 IN TOTAL SUPPORT AND SERVICES COULD BE AVAILABLE

Please join us in this important initiative!

Click to DONATE ONLINE or contact Kristen at knolan@garbc.org to become a BBC Member.

Read our April 2010 Newsletter here.

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