Ten years ago, part of Broadway Baptist Church’s buildings were boarded up when the 22 remaining members voted to merge with Highland Baptist Church in Florence.
Now the church — Highland’s Broadway Fellowship campus — is running more than 100 on Sunday mornings, and those boarded-up buildings are open and filled.
“The Lord has been leading us in this path to build relationships and see lives changed by the gospel, and it’s been so fun to follow Him to this point,” said Ryan Tyler, who serves as pastor of the Broadway Fellowship campus.
Both of Highland Baptist’s campuses — Broadway Fellowship and 7-Points — got together to celebrate the merger’s 10th anniversary April 16, and when they did, they celebrated a full-circle journey.
Highland Baptist’s original 7-Points campus planted Broadway Baptist as a mission church in 1948, except at that time it was called Weeden Heights Baptist Church. It grew over the years and changed its name to Broadway Baptist in the 1990s.
But around the church’s 65th birthday, its members knew they needed some help.
Joyce Reid, who was a member of Broadway Baptist at that time, said they were a “dying church,” and they reached out to the local Colbert-Lauderdale Baptist Association for help.
Simultaneously, Highland Baptist’s pastor, John Brock, had been driving around in the Weeden Heights community looking for a place to start a new ministry.
With the combined efforts of the association, Highland Baptist and Sammy Gilbreath, who served as its revitalization coach from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, the church began a revitalization journey, “and it gave us new life,” Reid said.
“We were a dying church, and we’ve grown from almost a dead church to a very unique family of believers where everybody feels welcome,” she said. “There’s love felt in the building.”
Brock said when the merger happened, Highland sent a core group to help, and they came in and changed things — from building renovations to worship style — but legacy members like Reid “have been in the middle of it, loving every minute of it.”
“It’s a tribute to their character that they cared enough about their church to make the decision to go this direction,” he said. “It’s been an amazing 10 years.”
M.J. Ligon, another legacy member of Broadway, said these efforts “mean that the life of the church that was planted in the early ’40s by Highland on this very corner will remain a light in the Weeden Heights community and the entire city of Florence for years to come.”
Terri Clark, director of children’s ministries at Broadway Fellowship, said they’ve seen the church grow so much over the years through relationships.
“There’s just an excitement among our members, and they’re talking about church in their workplace,” she said. “We’re seeing those families draw in families with conversations and relationships. It’s happened organically.”
It’s also meant the growth of the children’s ministry.
“We expanded our nursery. We experienced tremendous growth in our preschool this year,” she said.
Masterpiece
It’s made for a multigenerational masterpiece, she said, noting that another legacy member, 90-year-old Frances Wilson, is one of the most dedicated children’s ministry volunteers at the church.
Wilson said she’s “thankful for what’s happened over the past 10 years, the increase in young families who have become a part of our fellowship.”
She said she’s also thankful for new work, like food and clothing ministries, the opportunity to support a local school and an upcoming missions trip — the campus’ first.
Brock said that’s one of the things he’s most grateful for — the chance to watch Broadway Fellowship grow in ministry to the community and the world.
“It’s been amazing to see their missional commitment increase,” he said. “It’s nothing short of phenomenal to see that grow.”
Tyler said that’s been part of the fabric of the church since the merger and since his predecessor, Jim Trousdale, served as Broadway Fellowship’s first campus pastor.
“He built his ministry on building relationships with people,” Tyler said. “He did all the groundwork so when I came in, it was built on building relationships with people and speaking Jesus into their lives.”
That strategy is still bearing fruit, Tyler said. One couple, for example — Sabr and Jami Key — was driving by Broadway Fellowship’s block party 10 years ago and decided to stop with their boys.
Both of their sons decided to follow Jesus that day after hearing a gospel presentation. The next day, church members visited their home.
“Broadway has really just impacted our family with love,” said Sabr Key, who was recently ordained as a deacon there. “They have all loved on us and poured into our lives personally and spiritually. We are never alone — someone at the church is always pouring into our lives in some type of way.”
Tyler said that’s the goal for the future — to continue pouring into relationships, discipling others to lead and reaching outside their walls.
“We’ve asked the Father to give us five new families like Sabr and Jami — that 10 years later, they’re invested and are touching so many lives,” Tyler said. “We want to continue to work well as part of the Highland family and grow past where we are today as far as our place in the community and our mission in the world.”
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