Sydney Baptist Church is about to begin a new chapter as a church for first responders.
Late last year, no one was quite sure what the future of Sydney Baptist Church would look like. The church’s pastor departed in November and, though the Rev. Dr. Dan Middlebrooks jumped right in for interim pulpit supply, it was clear that there needed to be some change if the church was to make it to 121 years and beyond.
It was the opportunity Middlebrooks had prayed for — the opportunity to reach some of the most underserved people in the community.
“I take it from a concept of military.. they will usually deactivate a unit, then reactivate them for a different mission,” he said. “What we were looking at with Sydney was taking them and reactivating them toward a mission and a ministry that no one’s reaching out for right now.”
Starting next month, the church will undergo its transition into First Call at Sydney Baptist Church and style itself as a home for all first responders: military, police, fire, EMS and security. People, Middlebrooks said, whose experiences have discouraged them from attending traditional church services.
“I’ve asked them, ‘Why don’t you go to church?’ Most of them, predominately, would give me these reasons,” Middlebrooks said. “One, ‘schedule’s not conducive to my shift.’ Secondly, ‘I don’t feel like I fit in.’ Third, ‘people just don’t understand what I have to do.’ Fourth, ‘my life is messy and I’m not sure people could handle the mess.’”
If anyone can identify with their struggles, it’s Middlebrooks. He served 26 years in the United States Army and, having spent much time as a chaplain, is perhaps most comfortable preaching in unsafe lands to people who show up to church service with their guns slung across their backs. He’s also been chaplain for with Plant City Fire Rescue, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Hillsborough County School Board security officers, and launched Chaplaincy Care, Inc. in 2017 as a way to reach out to even more first responders.
Being a chaplain is not as simple as just showing up when you’re needed, saying a prayer upon request and disappearing until the next crisis. It’s being on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and being prepared to be a steady presence in the uneasy life of a first responder. The church will model that ideal, but give it a brick-and-mortar foundation for people to come to and be surrounded not by civilians who couldn’t begin to fathom what they’ve gone through, but by people who can relate because they’ve been there, too. That, Middlebrooks said, will help first responders tremendously.
“Now we have safe places that bring together our first responders, give them a safe place to talk, to share, to hurt and, most importantly, to worship,” Middlebrooks said. “Strengthening their faith helps them to encounter and engage with any fire that will ever be in front of them.”
In addition to serving first responders, Middlebrooks also wants First Call to become a training ground for future chaplains to sharpen their skills as iron sharpens iron. Webinar broadcasts, conference calls and other multimedia methods are in the works and the plan is to implement a program with eight to 10 modules.
It’s a radical transition for a civilian church like Sydney Baptist, which passed a vote among its members in December to make the change in 2019. The church will start its big conversion in March and spend the month finding its bearings, then launch officially in the first week of April with a special Sunday service and brunch. The church is located in Dover at 1510 Cre Road, just north of Keith Waller Park and the Sydney Dover Trails.
Though churches across the nation are no strangers to first responder outreach, with some even serving police or firefighters or other specific groups, an all-encompassing ministry model like this isn’t nearly as common. Middlebrooks believes First Call may be the first church or among the first churches of its kind.
“My prayer is we begin to start successfully and succinctly developing a ministry model that not only becomes successful where we are, but that thousands of them will start springing up all over the place,” he said. “My blueprints are free.”
