Brook Hills College – Blog

  1. BH:College Ministry (Fall 2010)

    August 26, 2010 by Britten Taylor

    I have said this every year for the past 3 years of leading College Ministry here at The Church at Brook Hills, and I think this year I feel it the most…it is hard to believe Fall Semester is already upon us! Seriously, I blinked and summer is gone!

    I sure hope your summer was well spent and know that we are looking forward to reconnecting with many of you this Fall.  This blog post is intended to encourage each of you college students this fall to be fully devoted to the mission Christ has called each of you to… “make disciples of all nations!” Every ounce of effort as a college ministry at Brook Hills is spent on encouraging and equipping college students to be fully committed to His mission in the context of His Church!

    As most of you know, our College Ministry, as well as our entire church, is built on a Ephesians 4:11-12 model of ministry. What I mean by that is we are not going to be hosting a ton of events, running some crazy programs, and trying to get as many students into our venues as we can. That is not the win for us. The win for us to equip and encourage as many college students as we can to commit their lives to the Disciple Making Process here at The Church at Brook Hills. We do this so, that by God’s grace, we can accomplish our goal, which is total world impact!

    Our main focus as a College Ministry is Disciple-Making Small Groups. These small groups occur on or around campuses here in Birmingham. God’s Word teaches that discipleship happens in relationship. Therefore, the goal of college small groups is to see God form biblical community among college students that is marked by great mercy for each other, for people in Birmingham, and all nations.

    Disciple-Making Small Groups at The Church at Brook Hills are not just social gatherings, but are means by which Christians grow in their walk with Christ and see the Gospel multiplied in others’ lives. College Small Groups meet on or around College Campuses in dorm rooms, coffee shops, apartments etc. Small Group ministry is not an optional program driven by staff, but is a necessary component in the life of every believer. In the end, we are all on mission with Christ. And the mission of Christ should never be disconnected from biblical community!

    Look forward to all Christ has for us this fall!

    Britten Taylor | College Minister

    Category: Church, Uncategorized Comments (0)

  2. The Word is Good…S.C.A.N

    by Britten Taylor

    A great post by Mr. Blogger himself, Justin Taylor, which summarizes the core doctrines of Scripture that we hold so dearly.

    If you want a quick and easy way to memorize the traditional four attributes of Scripture, just put them in the order of S.C.A.N.:

    • the Sufficiency of Scripture
    • the Clarity of Scripture
    • the Authority of Scripture, and
    • the Necessity of Scripture

    Below are some definitions and thoughts from Wayne Grudem (Systematic Theology) and Timothy Ward (Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God).

    Sufficiency

    Ward: “Because of the ways in which God has chosen to relate himself to Scripture, Scripture is sufficient as the means by which God continues to present himself to us such that we can know him, repeating through Scripture the covenant promise he has brought to fulfillment in Jesus Christ.” (p. 113)

    Grudem: “The idea that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at stage of redemptive history and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.”

    Clarity

    Grudem: “The idea that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who read it seeking God’s help and are willing to follow it” (p. 108).

    Ward: “Scripture is the written word of the living Word, God’s communicative act, and the Spirit who authored it chooses to continue to speak most directly through it. Therefore we are right to trust that God in Scripture has spoken and continues to speak sufficiently clearly for us to base our saving knowledge of him and of ourselves, and our beliefs and our actions, on the content of Scripture alone, without ultimately validating our understanding of these things or our confidence in them by appeal to any individual or institution” (pp. 126-127).

    Authority

    Grudem: “The idea that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.”

    “The phrase ‘the authority of Scripture’ must be understood to be shorthand for ‘the authority of God as he speaks through Scripture.’ . . . The authority of Scripture is a statement about what God did in authoring Scripture, and about how he continues to act in relation to Scripture” (p. 128).

    Necessity

    Grudem: “The idea that the Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will, but is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about his character and moral laws.”

    Ward: “Necessity sits right at the heart of the ways in which sola scriptura is explicated and defended. If Scripture alone is claimed to be the supreme authority in Christian thinking and living, that is because both its content (the verbal revelation) and its form (the written Scriptures) are indispensable” (p. 102).

    Category: Gospel, Uncategorized Comments (0)

  3. Serve The Next Generation

    August 11, 2010 by Britten Taylor

    As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace

    1 Peter 4:10

    Preschool Ministry Team

    Preschool Ministry Team is looking for those individuals that God is calling to serve as Small Group leaders on Sunday mornings. We are currently recruiting and training leaders to teach ages birth-5 years for both the 9:00 am and 11:00am services.  Promotion and start date is August 15th 2010. For more information, please contact Diona Hightower, dhightower@brookhills.org, or 313-7806.

    Children’s Ministry Team

    Children’s Ministry Team is looking for those individuals that God is calling to serve as Small Group leaders on Sunday mornings. We are currently recruiting and training leaders to teach 1st – 5th graders for both the 9:00 am and 11:00am services.  Promotion and start date is August 15th 2010. For more information, please contact Jordan Anderson, janderson@brookhills.org, or 313-7805.

    Student Ministry Team

    There are a variety of serving opportunities in Student Ministry from serving in the cafe to teaching a small group Bible study. For more information, visit http://www.brookhills.org/serving and scroll down to Student Area or email us at students@brookhills.org.

    Category: College Life, Uncategorized Comments (0)

  4. Institute for Disciple-Making

    August 9, 2010 by Britten Taylor

    What is it….

    The Institute for Disciple-Making at Brook Hills seeks to align itself with and support the Vision, Mission and Goal of this faith family.

    • We seek to glorify God by loving Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind (Matt. 22:37). His character, will, and ways are infinitely worthy of our reverent and serious contemplation.
    • We seek to make disciples by teaching the Word of God. Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples by baptizing and teaching (Matt. 28:19-20). Disciples are sanctified by the truth; God’s Word is the truth (Jn. 17:17).

    Why do we do this…

    We are persuaded by God’s Word that the best context for the training of God’s people to fulfill God’s mission is the local church. This training includes the preparation of church leaders in numerous capacities—small group leadership, worship leadership, pastoral ministry, missionary service, and much more.

    God in his grace has so gifted the church with evangelists, pastors, and teachers that His bride is able to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13). Therefore, we seek to provide high quality biblical and theological training in the context of the local church.

    We seek to make disciples of all nations by learning for the sake of others around the world (Matt. 28:19). Our efforts here are intended for world impact.

    What classes are offered and how can I sign up…

    Fall 2010 Offerings
    Class Day Time Room Registration
    Teaching the Bible 

    Dr. David Platt

    		 Sunday 4:00-6:00pm M17 Click Here
    Christian Theology I 

    Dr. Bart Box

    		 Sunday 6:00-8:00pm M17 Click Here
    Intro to the Old Testament 

    Dr. Bart Box

    		 Wednesday 6:30-8:00pm M17 Click Here
    How to Read the Bible 

    Dr. Bart Box

    		 Thursday 9:00-11:00am M17 Click Here

    Category: Church Comments (0)

  5. Is everyone called to Missions?

    August 8, 2010 by Britten Taylor

    One core conviction in our College Ministry at The Church at Brook Hills is that EVERYONE is commanded to engage in frontier missions! By frontier missions, I mean Gospel Ministry zeroed in on those individuals who have little to no access to the Gospel.  And there are over one billion of them in that category. ONE BILLION.

    Yes, Christian missions is about seeing as many as possible repent and turn to Christ before His glorious return. But it is not JUST that. It is also winning some individuals from among all peoples of the earth!

    For those who are saying, “Wha, Wha, What?!?”… check out our Pastor’s sermon, “Global Gospel: Engage the Lost.”

    The reality is that we are all commanded to engage in frontier missions! Now, before some of you get in a hizzy, let me clarify.

    We believe everyone of us are commanded to engage in frontier missions. Some of us are specifically called to pack our bags, buy a one-way plane ticket, and board a plane to some part of the 10/40 Window. But not all of us. Some are called to stay here, work diligently, and live in contentment to free up resources to send others. Either way, we are all under the same command to “make disciples of all nations”, or as John Piper has said before, “Go, send, or disobey”.

    Category: Mission, Uncategorized Comments (0)