By By Karla Worley

It’s Friday night in Brentwood, Tennessee. Businessmen are loosening their ties. Fans are filling high school stadiums. Families and friends are buying movie tickets or meeting at the mall.

Or going to church.

On Friday?

If you’ve ever felt like shouting "hallelujah" at the end of a long work week, here’s your opportunity. At Brentwood Baptist Church, you can worship at either of two Sunday morning services or the recently added Friday night service.

Brentwood Baptist’s pastor Mike Glenn admits that at first it was a little strange for church members to have a choice of which day to go to church.

"All of us recognize our culture has changed drastically. Christianity has long since lost its primacy in determining social thoughts and trends. Sunday is not just another day in a seven-day week. We may not like this, but this is the reality of modern society. People shop, work and play - all on the day we used to consider set aside for worship. This leaves us with an interesting choice. We can talk about how bad things are in our society, or we can try to offer an alternative."

That alternative is 6:00 Bible study classes for all age groups and a 7:00 worship service which Brentwood now offers on Friday night, in addition to its three Bible study hours and two worship services on Sunday mornings. Mike Glenn admits he was more than a little afraid of the response to Friday night.

"I thought it might just be me and a few of my close friends," he laughs.

It was more than that. Over 400 attended the first Friday Bible study and worship on August 18, and the number has continued to grow steadily. For a church whose sanctuary seats just a little over 800, that’s great news. In fact, overcrowding was a major factor that led to the addition of another Bible study and worship hour. Brentwood Baptist is building a 2200 seat facility just around the corner at a new site, but that won’t be ready for two years. Right now, even with the addition of portable buildings and classes meeting off-site, the church is bursting at the seams.

"The reality is, we couldn't put anymore people through our building or our parking lots on a Sunday morning," says Minister of Worship Dennis Worley. "We had to look at another day of the week."

Surprisingly, neither Mike Glenn nor Dennis Worley made the decision to add Friday night worship. The recommendation was made by a lay task force who volunteered for the assignment. After studying the demographics of their community, the task force made several observations: 1.) There was no other Protestant church offering Friday night services in the community. 2.) Brentwood has a high number of retailers, restaurants and health professionals who work on Sundays. 3.) The community has a large percentage of wealthy residents who can afford weekend getaways and season tickets to college and professional sports. A Friday night service offered them the opportunity to attend Bible study and worship, but still get away for the full weekend. Dennis Worley stresses that Friday night might not be right for every community.

"One of the things we did as research was attend churches who offered Friday and Saturday night services. The task force visited The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham AL, which has offered a successful Friday night schedule for years. And it felt right to us. Their demographic was similar to ours. We saw that it could work in our community."

Worley points to several reasons he feels the new Friday night schedule has met with success and relative ease in transition:

"First, we did our homework. We looked at our community’s needs and lifestyles. We didn’t just copy someone else’s model; we did what was right for us. We researched all areas of impact: childcare, discipleship, worship. We got the input and the backing of the staff members and lay leadership who would have to make this happen.

"Our commitment from the beginning was that everything offered on Sunday had to be there on Friday night, too."

Mike Glenn emphasizes that the basics don’t change, no matter what day you meet.

"Every believer needs three experiences - worship, study and service. Choose one of our three services where you can come and focus on the person of God. All of us need a time to study, and we have a number of opportunities to gather with other believers and focus on the Scriptures and their meaning for our lives. And finally, find a place to service. Teachers, greeters, ushers, worship leaders - all are needed both on Friday and Sunday."

A second key to the success of Friday nights at Brentwood Baptist was member involvement.

"This was not a staff decision," Dennis Worley explains, "although the staff has long felt the need for additional Bible study and worship times because of overcrowding. Then members began coming to us individually and suggesting we offer services on another night. We sensed a ground swell of interest and support. The turning point came when a key lay leader, Rendy Lovelady, offered to head the planning and implementation of an alternate meeting night. It was Rendy’s passion, and he put the energy into making it happen. So no staff member was overburdened, and the members had ownership in the process."

For several months, the staff informally surveyed the congregation by posting a banner in the church foyer. Anyone interested in attending an alternate worship night was encouraged to sign the banner.

"We were looking for just 200 people who would commit to this endeavor," say Mike Glenn.

They got it.

The second step was to hold an open meeting for anyone interested in this new opportunity. Teams were formed to address issues including meeting time, Bible study, nursery and pre-school care, worship, outreach, and publicity. Several key Sunday school teachers and their classes committed to move to Friday nights. A start-up date was set for Friday night, August 18.

"The start-up date was crucial," says Worley. "This is the time of year when families settle into their fall routine."

Newspaper ads and direct mailing were also crucial. Two direct mailings were made to homes in the community, and members began wearing stickers bearing the logo, "Thank God. It’s Friday."

"People would look at my sticker and say, ‘It’s not Friday; it’s Tuesday!’" explains one member. "That gave me the opportunity to tell them about our new service."

Similar quarter page ads in local newspapers began running daily for two weeks prior and two weeks following the start-up date. It was an investment that paid off. They got the community’s attention, including newspaper and television news reports.

Finally, prayer was an integral part of the process from the beginning. A team was formed at the initial planning stages simply to pray for the other teams who were at work - and for the community members who would be drawn to the services. Congregational prayer meetings were held on the two Friday nights prior to the start-up date.

Although it is more relaxed in atmosphere, Friday night worship is not a "contemporary" or "seeker-driven" service. On both Sundays and Fridays, Brentwood’s style is a blend of hymns and choruses, with an emphasis on lyric content and fresh musical settings.

"The primary distinction between Friday and Sunday worship," says Worley, "is that we are not as constrained by time on Friday nights. However, we still aim for 1 hour 15 minutes to an hour and a half."

Both Worley and Glenn are pleased with the cross-section of ages and lifestyles represented on Friday nights.

"It looks much like a Sunday congregation," says Dennis Worley. "There are families, singles, youth, senior adults. We are surprised at the number of people who’ve thanked us for having church on an alternate night, because they work on Sundays. Some of them haven’t been able to attend Bible study and worship for years."

Another surprising result is that Sunday morning attendance is still up, just not as jam-packed.

"What this tells us," explains Mike Glenn, "is that what we suspected was true: people were coming to visit our church, finding it overcrowded, and leaving. Now visitors have a place to park, a place to sit, and a nursery that can accommodate their children. We never want anyone to feel there is no room for them here."

Will Friday night services continue when the new, larger building is completed?

"Absolutely, " says Glenn. " We have found a need in our community, and we are going to continue to meet it. Getting people together with God is what we’re all about."

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