Communication and openness are the keys to success at Roswell Street Baptist Church, Marietta

Perhaps you heard about the city council that voted to build a new jail. There were three steps involved. First, tear down the old jail. Second, build a new jail with the material salvaged from the old jail. Third, continue to use the old jail until the new jail was completed. Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta is not following the pattern of the Alabama city council, but the analogy is not completely dissimilar.

Ernest Easley became pastor at Roswell Street on Feb. 10, 2002. He followed Nelson Price, who led the church with distinction for more than 35 years. Some find it almost impossible to follow a legendary pastor with a long tenure of service in a church, but the transition has seemingly gone well for both Easley and the Roswell Street Church.

During his notable ministry Price led the Marietta church to become one of the most visible and viable congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention. The church's television ministry became one of the most watched live worship broadcasts in the state and the worship center that was completed in 1979 under Price's leadership was one of the largest church auditoriums in the metro area for years.

Aggressive leadership

Easley, however, has not flinched from the challenge of offering the church aggressive leadership and recently called for the church to adopt a building project estimated to cost $24 million.

The compellingly interesting thing about the project is that it will require the demolition of 110,000 square feet of floor space.

Among those areas targeted for being razed is the chapel, educational office and fellowship space. The decision to reconfigure the church's campus so limited the amount of usable space that the school decided to cease its operation at least during the interim period.

The casual observer can easily understand the difficulty of making these significant changes, but the church's leadership realized that patching existing buildings or stopgap measures would not provide the answers to long-range goals. A major overhaul was necessary if the church was to reach its potential.

Some of the buildings date back to the 1940s, the early years of the church, and are outmoded and no longer meet building codes and environmental requirements. Some of the buildings are not really functional and are characterized by narrow hallways, low ceilings and even raise safety issues.

So, by a 95 percent affirmative vote the church agreed to demolish much of the existing space and launch into a major building project involving the construction of 140,000 square feet of up-to-date, functional space that will modernize the entire church plant.

God's location

Initially, the leadership of the church discussed the possibility of a relocation, but that idea was soon dismissed when it became clear that the city fathers had proposed a plan for the redevelopment of downtown Marietta. With Roswell Street being strategically located as the gateway to the Marietta Square it was concluded that the church property was right where God wanted it to be.

Within the last two years eight additional acres of property adjacent to the church has been purchased. The church has adopted a master plan for developing the campus and is poised to build and grow so that they can continue to cast a major Christian influence on their part of a growing Cobb County.

With the normal emotional attachment church members have to such buildings as chapels and the disappointment some young parents must have had at the suggestion of closing the Christian school, how did the church manage to get such a positive vote on the demolition and reconstruction of much of the church plant?

Ready for change

Kent Jennings, church business administrator, said, "The great majority of the people were ready for a change; and the pastor gave them plenty of time to consider the proposed plan.

"He walked them through the process much like a father would walk his family through a major change in their lifestyle. He let the people help find the solutions to problems that existed in the proposed plan."

Jerry Bonner, who was chairman of the pastor search committee and a member of the building committee, commented, "The pastor's leadership helped us get a positive vote. He created an atmosphere of openness and ownership. He repeatedly said to the congregation, 'Partner with me on this. Whatever we do, must honor God and have Kingdom value.'

"Communication is the key," Bonner reasoned. "The pastor hides nothing from the congregation."

Impacting the church

Bonner added, "Ernest Easley has excellent people skills. There may be no pastor better at building relationships than our pastor. He makes the little people feel as important as the big people. In fact, his love for people has impacted the whole church.

"I think we all love one another better because of his example. He also is remarkably adept at helping people find their gifts and assisting them in putting those gifts to use."

Jennings explained, "Dr. Price and Dr. Easley have the same substance, the same Biblical DNA. They both are committed to preaching, teaching, reaching people, equipping and exaltation. The have the same Biblical message, but just differ in style."

The demolition of the buildings is scheduled to begin this month. The church has already started three Sunday School hours and two Sunday morning worship services to compensate for the loss of floor space until the reconstruction process can be completed, but the future looks bright for one of Georgia Baptists' most strategic churches.