happy 100

What a day yesterday was in the life of my church! We celebrated 100 years of ministry. Broadway was formed in 1908 as an off-shoot of State Street Methodist. This month also marked the one year anniversary of the opening of our multi-site Greenwood campus. During our celebration we remembered how we came from a multi-site and are a multi-site again. If you’ve not noticed…I love my church.

My family first moved to Bowling Green in June, 1987 when I was going into the 8th grade. My dad pastored Broadway until I just after I graduated high school. Eventually my immediate family of four all ended up back in Bowling Green and at our beloved Broadway Church.

Just in time for our Centennial Celebration our MAC (Ministry & Activity Center) received a make-over that is fantastic! My dear friend, and worship pastor, Louis did a fabulous job with this facelift. You can see before and after photos and time lapse video of the whole process at his blog, Luigi’s Blog.

We’re continuing in our Soul Life Series and this week’s spiritual discipline is CELEBRATION! The praise choir was part of the worship team yesterday – there were about 12-14 vocalists on stage and our worship time was amazing. During the song Glorious One I had goose bumps (or Holy Spirit bumps?) all over. Even on my face. A young girl of about nine or ten read scripture before we sang this song. Then stepped back and sang with us. I think the entire praise choir wished we could have watched her as see sang along. It was an incredible time of worshiping Jesus.Between our rehearsal and church I ran home to pick-up Dad so he wouldn’t miss the celebration. We found one of the church’s wheelchairs so Dad wouldn’t have to do much walking with his fractured food. Everyone was so kind and loving to Dad and concerned about him. We had a few people who helped us get him around and up and down the ramp and to the car.

Later in the afternoon we had a picnic at the Graham’s Photography at Jennings Creek pavilion (The Graham’s are church members). Graham’s photography has done the school pictures for Bowling Green/Warren County for as long as I’ve known. They did every school picture I had made from eighth-twelfth grade, including my senior drape pictures. They have a beautiful facility and we were really blessed to be able to have our gathering at there. There was BBQ from Roy’s (if ya ain’t had Western Kentucky style barbecue you ain’t been livin!) and it was smack yo mama good! We had live music and a great time as a church family. Mom and I made it out there a little late since we needed naps between church and the picnic after a long morning (practice, worship, getting Dad to and from church). By the time we got there some people had left and by the time we finished eating things were starting to wrap-up. But I got a few photos.At the end of the service yesterday we watched a video of photos from over the years. There were a few photos of my dad – including one of him in his grey pulpit robe sitting on a low stool with a group of kids during a children’s sermon. It was probably taken around 1989. A few photos later was a picture of me singing in the cancel choir when I was about 16 or 17 years old. There were so many photos of dear, sweet people who have sharpened my life – a few of which are no longer with us. The video was set to the Twila Paris song, “How Beautiful” and I boo-hooed my way through most of it. I could probably write a book about what my church means to me and how Broadway has influenced my life and shaped the person I am.

The last few verses of “How Beautiful” speak it loudly....

How beautiful the radiant Bride who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes. How beautiful when humble hearts give the fruit of pure lives so that others may live. How beautiful how beautiful. How beautiful is the Body of Christ.

How beautiful the feet that bring the sound of good news and the love of the King. How beautiful the hands that serve. The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth. How beautiful how beautiful how beautiful is the Body of Christ.