Although the makeup of its membership is currently skewed toward an older population, Oak Valley Baptist Church in Franklin, Tennessee, is undergoing a facelift of sorts to attract a more “intergenerational” demographic.
Bill Higdon, who oversees operations and serves as an elder at Oak Valley, shared how the church in 2016 formed Vision Team 2020 to make recommendations on ways to grow and become more impactful to the local community.
“We presented the Vision Team Report [to the congregation] in late 2020, which one part of that was a change in leadership structure from kind of a single pastor, lead pastor, senior pastor model to a plurality of pastors,” Higdon remarked.
Higdon said before the pandemic, the church averaged nearly 280 people on a typical Sunday morning; that number dropped significantly to about 175 after the pandemic. Consequently, Oak Valley’s first move as part of their new vision was to bring in a new – and younger – pastor.
Mission accomplished.
Ben Pate became lead pastor in November 2022, after serving in a similar role at Royal Palms Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona. This and other Vision 2020 recommendations have positioned the church for future growth.
“We’re making inroads into some of the communities that surround our church, trying to live out our Vision Statement. We’re in a really good trajectory right now,” Higdon said.
GATHERED: Men from Oak Valley Baptist Church attend a men’s event on the church property.
“We have a team underway looking at how do we repurpose some of our property and be prepared to grow – not that we’re ready to build or do anything like that anytime soon. But we are anticipating that we’ll continue to see some growth because we are attracting younger families and people who are still looking for what I would call somewhat of a traditional Baptist church,” he said.
Regardless of whether a church considers itself traditional, contemporary, or a mix of both, they all need a plan for the financial side of ministry. Oak Valley Baptist Church is no different. And that is where WatersEdge enters the picture.
Following several discussions and meetings in 2023, the church signed up with WatersEdge Ministry Accounting for help in providing them with various accounting functions and payroll.
Higdon acknowledges that one of the immediate benefits Oak Valley has realized from their partnership with WatersEdge is a shift from having a small-church mentality for many of its members, especially when it involves budget expenditures and other financial decisions.
“It’s actually going to change the paradigm of our church from we’re a small church and we’ve got to have answers on every little dollar that we’re spending. I think there’s a trust that’s been built with us, and WatersEdge has helped us to accomplish some of that paradigm shift, too.”
After receiving what he described as “glowing responses” from other similar-sized churches regarding their own interactions as WatersEdge clients, Higdon said those references helped Oak Valley feel more comfortable with their migration from their own financial operating system to WatersEdge accounting services.
“It’s been a good decision, good relationship for us to make this change. Quite honestly, I don’t know if we would ever go back to bringing it in-house,” he said.
By Harve Allen
