In 2019, when we came in View of a Call to Nettleton, Katy and I knew there was something special here at the church. We had no idea the amazing things God had in store for us when we got here. We also were very unprepared for the challenges we would face. Those challenges have included severe weather such as tornadoes and winter storms, navigating through the COVID pandemic, and hiring staff. God has been so faithful in the midst of it all. We are now facing our next great challenge, the challenge of a growing church and limited space. With the support of our staff and our Leadership Team, we’re excited to present to you God’s next plan for Nettleton Baptist Church: Sowing Generously Together. Psalm 78:4 says “Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done.” This verse was chosen as our theme verse because it incorporates our ultimate desire for expanding our campus: to have the opportunity to plant seeds and sow the Gospel into the hearts of the lost. The title for our campaign is a combination of two of our Core Values: Generous in All Things and On Mission Together. We feel that these two values appropriately describe the motivation behind this vision casting for our church. Our prayer for the church is that our hearts would be aligned with God’s Word, in humble obedience, to continue fulfilling the Great Commission and making disciples of all nations. May we continue to be a church that is All About Jesus!

We’re thankful that our church is a giving church, who has helped bring our debt from $10 Million down to the current $5.5M balance. While our ultimate dream would be waiting to start a campus rebuild with a zero-debt balance, the chances of us being able to continue to grow at our current rate for another 5 years with no debt would be near impossible. The current estimate for the total build is $8M. Our prayer is that we continue to seek the Lord’s will and trust that He will provide for us financially, as He has done in the past. We’ve seen how He has made clear a path for us to take (such as moving to an empty fairgrounds location) and has also made our financial abilities known. The best for Nettleton Baptist Church is still to come, and we’re confident that God will continue to guide and direct us through our next steps.

When we moved to this location, we wanted to make sure that we were open to the surrounding community and willing to use our property for activities outside of the church. That additional income has aided us to aggressively pay off our remaining debt. However, as we continue to grow, we are rapidly getting closer to permanently using the open space that we’ve been able to rent out over the past few years. As a result of the financial growth we’ve had outside of rental income, we believe that our current rate of giving will even out to what we had for income in years past.
Our mortgage is currently being paid off in a healthy rhythm, as we’ve incorporated half of our mortgage into this year’s budget and have prepared to absorb the second half in the budget for 2023. With this in place, we’re confident that our debt will continue to subside at a healthy rate.

Removing the partitions was a temporary solution for us for crowded services, such as Easter. That was provided as a worst-case scenario option, which we’ve now had to utilize for two years. The listening environment from that part of the room is painfully difficult and results in a poor chance to hear the Gospel clearly. While we opened those up for larger services, it has not proven to be a viable or permanent option for us in the future. 
In addition to not being able to hear clearly, it also poses an issue with the Bay when it is used for Kid City events on Sunday Mornings, Groups Connect Sunday, or On Mission Together celebrations. While those are also infrequent events, if we were to open the partitions permanently for more seating, we would not be able to use the Bay for those activities anymore, thus resulting in another space issue.

Yes! We’re fortunate to have two empty bays that will eventually become our brand new Worship Center. That will be the start of Phase 1. From the Architect’s blueprints, the back wall of the new Sanctuary will not touch the back wall of our current Sanctuary. This means that while they construct the brand new Worship Center, we will still be able to host our regular Sunday Morning Worship Services in the Sanctuary!

We’re proud to be a pastorally led, committee-advised, and congregationally approved church. This means that major decisions which impact the church as a whole are all voted on by the members of Nettleton Baptist Church. The process for Sowing Generously Together began with Pastor Brady, who began to recognize the dire need for improved space. This was then given to the Leadership Team, who have worked directly with Pastor Brady for the past two years. After being approved, it was proposed to the church to begin the process of collecting pledges, which would help determine how much of our total project we can begin.
On October 2nd, we will ask Nettleton Baptist Church to prayerfully consider giving to Sowing Generously Together through a total pledge to be given over the course of three (3) years. This may be given in any frequency at the individual’s discretion (weekly, monthly, one-time, etc,.). After the total pledges have been collected, that number will be given to the Leadership Team, who will decide how much of the total project we can begin. After much prayer and consideration, the first phase of our construction project, including cost, will be presented and proposed to the members of Nettleton Baptist Church for a vote of approval. The date of this vote will be announced soon and clearly communicated to our members. For more information on the different construction phases, please refer to the Sowing Generously Together booklet, found online under “A Renovation for Years to Come” or you may pick up a printed version in the Main Lobby.

Our current building would not be here without the help of those who have given specifically to the building fund. We extend a warm thank you to all who have committed over the last three years to help get to where we are now! As of 2022, we have incorporated half of our current debt into our general budget and used the second half to be paid by gifts from the Budget Fund. By God’s grace, we are able to incorporate our debt entirely into the budget for 2023. This means that families and individuals who have given to the Budget Fund have the opportunity to roll their previous monthly gift into Sowing Generously Together, if they so choose. Previously scheduled gifts will not be rolled over automatically and must be moved at the discretion of the giver. For further questions on how to move your monthly gift from the Budget Fund to Sowing Generously Together, please contact our Finance Secretary, Donna Wells, or our Executive Pastor, Mike Hart.

This is a great question. Our desire to sustain the current build from years past has never left; however, with the help of some outside resources, we’ve determined that soundproofing our current sanctuary is simply not practical. With the help of Master’s Plan, professional sound engineers and acousticians came on-site to test our sanctuary and give us an estimate on the overall cost it would be to improve the soundproofing. After their thorough review, several red flags came up regarding this theory. First, soundproofing would make our sanctuary significantly smaller due to the need of increasing the wall thickness for insulation (essentially, building a room inside of a room). Secondly, this would be a multi-month construction project which would displace us from the sanctuary and keep us from being able to use it for Sunday services. The room would need to be deconstructed and reconstructed to accomplish the task appropriately. Lastly, this would be incredibly expensive, almost as expensive to make a brand new Worship Center. The project became illogical to spend seven figures on new walls and lost seating space when those finances could be better invested into a brand new Worship Center, with improved seating space, better stage structure, and keep us from displacement. Building a new Worship Center in the bays would allow us to continue using our current sanctuary, leaving us with a simple location transfer from one Sunday to the next once construction is complete. This is why we have proposed a renovated Worship Center that will be sound insulated and will be expanded to accommodate space for guests in years to come.