January 9th, 2025
by Dr. Spencer Plumlee
by Dr. Spencer Plumlee
Over the next few months, our church will prayerfully consider one of the most weighty changes in our history: changing our name. After prayer and discussion, our elders have approved the following timeline:
As we lead up to this important moment, I would like to bring back an old practice- the church newsletter. I don’t know if this will happen weekly, but on a regular basis I will share more of the heart behind the name change in our weekly email.
To start, I’d like to talk about the vision for the future.
Vision for the Future
Over the next 10 years, thousands of churches will close their doors across America. Church attendance in our country is declining and many churches are struggling. This will not be a phenomena our region is immune to.
We want to position our church family to be ready to replant dying churches. Faithful christians have invested millions of dollars in facilities and real estate we want to honor. Moreover, these faithful christians have invested their very lives in these places and spaces. They’ve met God in these buildings. They’ve seen people come to Christ in these worship centers. They’ve seen their kids and grandkids baptized in these baptistries. We long to see these places restored and redeemed for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Here’s a crystalized statement of vision our Elders look at regularly. This is a statement we’ve presented at different points to the church, but this seems like a good time to review it:
We long to be a Hub for Health in the Southern Part of the Metroplex that sends disciple-making members, leaders, staff and elders to plant and replant churches.
The phrase “Hub for Health” captures much of what we long for. We want to be a healthy, sending station that invests in other churches for decades to come. The mission God has called us to of “guiding people to multiplying impact for Christ’s kingdom” is designed to overflow into a sending culture. We want to see members become disciple-makers, “multiplying” their impact. From those disciple-makers, we want to see ministry leaders raised up investing in kids, students and adults in powerful disciple-making environments. From those leaders, we want to see staff members called to serve vocationally and godly men called to serve as elders.
This pipeline of Disciple-Making is the engine we long to create so that a steady stream of kingdom minded believers who want to see this entire region impacted are sent out.
Vision and a Name Change
What does this vision have to do with the name change?
After a season of prayer, our elders believe we need to focus on outreach and growth. In order for this disciple-making pipeline to continue, we need to reach new people. This is why we’ve termed 2025, “Advance.” Leaning into a culture of invitation and evangelism is our top priority this year.
In the process of discussing invitation and evangelism, we discussed potential barriers. One barrier to invitation all of us have faced over and over again is our name. The name, “First Baptist” was at one time a very effective tool for invitation. Fifty years ago, people had a high sense of denominational loyalty and when they moved to a new area would always try to find a church in their “tribe.”
Those days are behind us. Yes, there’s a percentage of people who still look for the Baptist church when they move to town, but it's significantly smaller.
The bigger barrier though is not just the shifting denominational allegiances in our culture, but our specific reputation in this community. As I’ve mentioned in other places, the church has endured three splits: 1998, 2003, and 2015. In one sense, it’s a sign of God’s favor that we are healthy and as vibrant a church as we are considering much of the turmoil we’ve walked through.
But the fact remains that many in this community associate the name “First Baptist” with dysfunction. The hardest part of this perception is that this is not true! We are a healthy, disciple-making, Jesus exalting church! I’m 100% convinced that if many of the people in our community who have a negative association with us actually attended a worship service and life group, they would leave with a much different impression. Sadly, we never get that chance most of the time.
An even greater challenge is this: this association with dysfunction has the potential to impact our ability to be a hub for health. If our ability to engage new people with the gospel is impacted by our name, I believe we must change our name. If our ability to invite new people into what God is doing in our church family is impacted by the name, I believe we must change our name.
The name change is not just about a fad or being trendy. It’s not even about trying to distance ourselves from “Baptist.” It’s about closing a chapter of our church’s life that has been associated with dysfunction and stepping into a new season of growth and outreach. If a name change helps just 20% of our church invite more people, it’s worth it because of the vision for the future. We want to invite more and more people into the Hub for Health vision for the future, and we believe a name change is an important next step to see that become a reality.
Urgency in Vision
By 2030 we’d like to plant or replant a church in our region. Just five years from now, we’d like to be in a position to send out disciple-making members, leaders, staff and elders to start a new church or to rebirth a struggling church. The ONLY way we do that is if we grow. We must reach new people to position the church to do this work. I am convinced one of the ways we will grow is through a culture of invitation and evangelism. And I am further convinced a name change will help us engage in this work.
Why are we tackling the name change in 2025? Because we want to plan/replant in 2030.
Imagine this:
In 2028, we are connected with a struggling church 15-20 minutes from us. The church has dwindled down to 20-30 people, but they own a building and property in a growing area. We do the research and find that we have a concentration of members within a 15 minute drive of the church campus.
After a season of prayer within our elder team, we decide to enter into an agreement with this church that we would replant this church with 200 of our members, 2-3 full time staff members and a team of ministry leaders and lay elders. To get this off the ground, we assume them as a mission of our church taking on the maintenance of the building and grounds as well as continuing to pay for the staff members and ministry.
As a critical part of this process, we all agree that the church needs to be rebirthed under a new name. Because our church family has walked through a similar process, we are ready to guide this church through this new process. The 200 members, staff, ministry leaders and elders begin to meet and pray months before the launch of this church.
The big day comes, and the church is rebirthed in their first worship gathering! Leading up to the first worship service they reach out to the community and advertise, and on that first day, they have over 300 people in worship! After a few years, the giving of the church is normalized so that they are able to handle the facilities and staff within their own budget. At this point, the church ceases to be a mission of our church and covenants together with their own constitution and bylaws to be autonomous.
From beginning to end, this is a 3-4 year process. It started in 2028 and came to fruition in 2032.
Why are we considering a new name? Because I long to do this for the rest of my life. This is what our elders want to give themselves to. I pray it’s what you want to give yourself to as a member.
Church, let’s lift our eyes beyond just a name change to the vision God’s calling us to as a church.
Dr. Spencer Plumlee
Senior Pastor
- 11/17/24- Town Hall Meeting. Potential change was introduced followed by discussion.
- 12/1/24- Members Meeting. Potential Change presented again followed by discussion.
- 1/1-3/1/25- Life Group Q&A. Elders will reach out to Life Groups for more direct question and answer sessions to take place on Sunday mornings during their Life Group hour.
- 2/2/25- Members Meeting. Name Change Idea will be presented again followed by an opportunity for discussion.
- 3/2/25- Special Called Members Meeting. Elders will present the proposed new church name followed by time for discussion. This will be the only agenda item at this meeting.
- 4/27/25- Members Meeting. Vote will be taken on “Doing Business As” the new potential name. Elders have determined that this must meet the ⅔ threshold to pass.
As we lead up to this important moment, I would like to bring back an old practice- the church newsletter. I don’t know if this will happen weekly, but on a regular basis I will share more of the heart behind the name change in our weekly email.
To start, I’d like to talk about the vision for the future.
Vision for the Future
Over the next 10 years, thousands of churches will close their doors across America. Church attendance in our country is declining and many churches are struggling. This will not be a phenomena our region is immune to.
We want to position our church family to be ready to replant dying churches. Faithful christians have invested millions of dollars in facilities and real estate we want to honor. Moreover, these faithful christians have invested their very lives in these places and spaces. They’ve met God in these buildings. They’ve seen people come to Christ in these worship centers. They’ve seen their kids and grandkids baptized in these baptistries. We long to see these places restored and redeemed for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Here’s a crystalized statement of vision our Elders look at regularly. This is a statement we’ve presented at different points to the church, but this seems like a good time to review it:
We long to be a Hub for Health in the Southern Part of the Metroplex that sends disciple-making members, leaders, staff and elders to plant and replant churches.
The phrase “Hub for Health” captures much of what we long for. We want to be a healthy, sending station that invests in other churches for decades to come. The mission God has called us to of “guiding people to multiplying impact for Christ’s kingdom” is designed to overflow into a sending culture. We want to see members become disciple-makers, “multiplying” their impact. From those disciple-makers, we want to see ministry leaders raised up investing in kids, students and adults in powerful disciple-making environments. From those leaders, we want to see staff members called to serve vocationally and godly men called to serve as elders.
This pipeline of Disciple-Making is the engine we long to create so that a steady stream of kingdom minded believers who want to see this entire region impacted are sent out.
Vision and a Name Change
What does this vision have to do with the name change?
After a season of prayer, our elders believe we need to focus on outreach and growth. In order for this disciple-making pipeline to continue, we need to reach new people. This is why we’ve termed 2025, “Advance.” Leaning into a culture of invitation and evangelism is our top priority this year.
In the process of discussing invitation and evangelism, we discussed potential barriers. One barrier to invitation all of us have faced over and over again is our name. The name, “First Baptist” was at one time a very effective tool for invitation. Fifty years ago, people had a high sense of denominational loyalty and when they moved to a new area would always try to find a church in their “tribe.”
Those days are behind us. Yes, there’s a percentage of people who still look for the Baptist church when they move to town, but it's significantly smaller.
The bigger barrier though is not just the shifting denominational allegiances in our culture, but our specific reputation in this community. As I’ve mentioned in other places, the church has endured three splits: 1998, 2003, and 2015. In one sense, it’s a sign of God’s favor that we are healthy and as vibrant a church as we are considering much of the turmoil we’ve walked through.
But the fact remains that many in this community associate the name “First Baptist” with dysfunction. The hardest part of this perception is that this is not true! We are a healthy, disciple-making, Jesus exalting church! I’m 100% convinced that if many of the people in our community who have a negative association with us actually attended a worship service and life group, they would leave with a much different impression. Sadly, we never get that chance most of the time.
An even greater challenge is this: this association with dysfunction has the potential to impact our ability to be a hub for health. If our ability to engage new people with the gospel is impacted by our name, I believe we must change our name. If our ability to invite new people into what God is doing in our church family is impacted by the name, I believe we must change our name.
The name change is not just about a fad or being trendy. It’s not even about trying to distance ourselves from “Baptist.” It’s about closing a chapter of our church’s life that has been associated with dysfunction and stepping into a new season of growth and outreach. If a name change helps just 20% of our church invite more people, it’s worth it because of the vision for the future. We want to invite more and more people into the Hub for Health vision for the future, and we believe a name change is an important next step to see that become a reality.
Urgency in Vision
By 2030 we’d like to plant or replant a church in our region. Just five years from now, we’d like to be in a position to send out disciple-making members, leaders, staff and elders to start a new church or to rebirth a struggling church. The ONLY way we do that is if we grow. We must reach new people to position the church to do this work. I am convinced one of the ways we will grow is through a culture of invitation and evangelism. And I am further convinced a name change will help us engage in this work.
Why are we tackling the name change in 2025? Because we want to plan/replant in 2030.
Imagine this:
In 2028, we are connected with a struggling church 15-20 minutes from us. The church has dwindled down to 20-30 people, but they own a building and property in a growing area. We do the research and find that we have a concentration of members within a 15 minute drive of the church campus.
After a season of prayer within our elder team, we decide to enter into an agreement with this church that we would replant this church with 200 of our members, 2-3 full time staff members and a team of ministry leaders and lay elders. To get this off the ground, we assume them as a mission of our church taking on the maintenance of the building and grounds as well as continuing to pay for the staff members and ministry.
As a critical part of this process, we all agree that the church needs to be rebirthed under a new name. Because our church family has walked through a similar process, we are ready to guide this church through this new process. The 200 members, staff, ministry leaders and elders begin to meet and pray months before the launch of this church.
The big day comes, and the church is rebirthed in their first worship gathering! Leading up to the first worship service they reach out to the community and advertise, and on that first day, they have over 300 people in worship! After a few years, the giving of the church is normalized so that they are able to handle the facilities and staff within their own budget. At this point, the church ceases to be a mission of our church and covenants together with their own constitution and bylaws to be autonomous.
From beginning to end, this is a 3-4 year process. It started in 2028 and came to fruition in 2032.
Why are we considering a new name? Because I long to do this for the rest of my life. This is what our elders want to give themselves to. I pray it’s what you want to give yourself to as a member.
Church, let’s lift our eyes beyond just a name change to the vision God’s calling us to as a church.
Dr. Spencer Plumlee
Senior Pastor
1 Comment
This vision is a wonderful example of the way the church is meant to work together as a body to further the gospel and make disciples! I'm excited to be a part of our church, and I am looking forward to seeing what God has ahead for us.