Equipping the Saints on Getwell Road
Broadway Baptist Church sits along Getwell Road in Southaven, Mississippi, just south of Memphis, and everything on the campus flows from a single sentence drawn from Ephesians 4:12: to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. That verse is stamped across the church's logo and stated as plainly in the lobby: Every. Member. Equipped.
The conviction behind the motto shapes how Broadway organizes its week, how the staff is hired, and even how members are funneled into the life of the church. Sundays are organized around Sunday School, a fellowship break, and a single morning worship service; Wednesdays pair a fellowship meal with age-graded ministries and an adult Equipping hour. Outside of those weekly anchors, the church runs a full preschool through high school discipleship track, an intergenerational Home Groups network, men's and women's D-Groups that meet in restaurants and living rooms across DeSoto County, and an affiliated K-12 school called Northpoint Christian School.
What a Sunday Looks Like at Broadway
Long before the sermon begins, the building is alive. At 9:00 AM every Sunday morning, classes for every age and stage meet across the campus. Children in first through fifth grade meet upstairs in the Kids' Wing; sixth through twelfth graders gather for The Gospel Project, a three-year Bible survey that runs through the whole story of Scripture with a constant focus on the gospel; young adults, median adults, and three different senior adult classes fill rooms across the second floor; and a separate men's and women's multi-generational class round out the morning.
At 10:00 AM the Worship Guide moves outside the classrooms and into the hallways, where members grab donuts and coffee before the service. The 10:30 AM worship gathering is the main weekly event of the church: a blend of contemporary songs and classic hymns, congregational prayer, the public reading of Scripture, and an expository sermon. Visitors are told they can grab a pew Bible if they need one, and the page numbers for the day's passage are announced so that anyone - regardless of familiarity with the Bible - can follow along.
On the second and fourth Sundays of each month, first through fifth graders are dismissed after the announcements for Kids' Church, a program called Broadway Kids. The kids eat donuts, play games, and head up to the sanctuary balcony for the remainder of the service with clipboards and sermon note sheets. On the first, third, and fifth Sundays they stay in the service for family worship, a pattern the church defends from Psalm 78, Joel 2:16, and Ephesians 6 as a way for children to learn what it means to be a Christian by sitting alongside their parents and grandparents.
Wednesday Nights: The Fellowship Meal and Adult Equipping
Midweek at Broadway centers on two things: a shared table and an hour of teaching. At 5:15 PM the Fellowship Hall opens for dinner - a pay-what-you-can meal with a suggested $5 per plate and a $20-per-family maximum. The meal gives the night its connective tissue, since preschoolers, kids, students, and adults all spill out of the kitchen line and into the same room at the same time.
At 6:00 PM the building splits. Preschoolers head to their wing for Wee Kids Praise, where from September to May they learn songs and memory verses and occasionally sing in the Sunday service. Kids in first through fifth grade gather in the Kids' Wing for games, worship, and Bible study. Students in grades 6 through 12 split into small groups for teaching and discussion after a time of games and worship in the Youth Wing. Adults stay for the Equipping hour, a rotating slate of classes taught by the pastoral staff on subjects ranging from evangelism and biblical theology to parenting and discipleship. Periodically, the Equipping classes are paused and the adults gather together for a church-wide prayer meeting.
Preschool Ministry: Births Through Kindergarten
Broadway runs a year-round preschool ministry for children from birth through kindergarten, with a check-in system and parent/child security tags issued to every family. The preschool wing uses Lifeway's Bible Studies for Life curriculum on Sunday mornings at 9:00, reinforces the lesson at 10:30 with a snack, an indoor "park" room, and a "Worship for Life" segment for pre-K and K classes, and continues throughout the week with Wee Kids Praise on Wednesdays at 5:30 PM, where the children learn a monthly memory verse and songs.
All preschool volunteers have been members of the church for at least six months, are interviewed, background-checked, and trained in abuse prevention. A written Child Protection Policy is available for any parent to read.
Broadway Kids: First Through Fifth Grade
The Kids ministry is built around three rhythms. Sunday School at 9:00 opens with games, moves into prayer, reviews the New City Catechism questions already covered, and then breaks into age-graded small groups where teachers walk through the lesson and apply it. Kids' Church on the second and fourth Sundays dismisses first through fifth graders to eat donuts, play games, and sit together in the sanctuary balcony during the sermon with clipboards and notes. Family worship on the other Sundays keeps children in the main service with their parents.
Safety is taken seriously: every Kids volunteer has been a Broadway member for at least six months, has been interviewed, has been background checked, and has completed sexual abuse prevention training. Fire drills, tornado drills, and active shooter drills are run periodically through the year.
The Kids ministry also runs a packed calendar of events - Father/Daughter Nights, Mom & Son Camp-Ins, an annual Vacation Bible School called "Emerald Crossing," and a multi-day Kids Summer Camp - with a monthly event cadence in between.
Students: Grades 6 Through 12
Broadway Students, the youth ministry for grades 6 through 12, is shaped around three defining verbs: Gather, Grow, and Go. Gather focuses on unity and community across school district lines; Grow is built on regular Bible study, discipleship, and conferences; Go is the outreach and evangelism arm of the ministry. On Sunday mornings the students move through The Gospel Project at 9:00 and are expected to sit with the church in the 10:30 worship service. Wednesday nights add a 5:15 PM fellowship meal and a 6:00 PM youth gathering with games, worship, teaching, and small group application. Annual events include Disciple Now weekend, summer camp, pool parties, and a New Year's conference called CROSS Con.
Home Groups and D-Groups
Beyond the weekly schedule, Broadway invests heavily in smaller communities. Home Groups are multi-generational groups that meet in members' homes after Sunday worship to share a meal, discuss and apply the sermon, and pray for one another - a deliberate mix of children, teens, adults, seniors, marrieds, and singles living life together. New terms kick off in the fall and again in early spring.
In parallel, the church runs men's and women's Discipleship Groups - called D-Groups - that meet across DeSoto County throughout the week. Men's groups gather at 6:00 AM on Tuesdays at Chick-fil-A in Olive Branch, 5:00 PM on Tuesdays at a home in Olive Branch, 7:30 AM on Thursdays at the Southaven Waffle House, 7:00 AM on Fridays at Chick-fil-A in Southaven, 7:00 AM on Saturdays at Coffee Central, and 4:30 PM on Sundays in the North Connections Room. Women's groups meet at 9:00 AM on Tuesdays at Broadway, bi-weekly on Tuesday and Thursday nights at homes in Olive Branch, on Thursday afternoons in the South Connections Room, and on Sunday afternoons in the South Connections Room.
Vision for a Healthy Church: The Nine Marks
Broadway's vision statement borrows directly from 9Marks Ministries. The church describes a healthy church as one that practices expository preaching, holds fast to biblical theology, preaches the gospel faithfully, calls people to biblical conversion, takes evangelism seriously, practices meaningful membership, exercises church discipline, disciples its members into Christlikeness, and is led by a plurality of godly, qualified men. The members' process mirrors those nine marks through a five-step pathway: Attending, Beginning @ Broadway, Covenanting, Discipleship, and Equipping - leading, the church hopes, to Fruitfulness.
Beginning @ Broadway is the membership class, a four-week class that meets during the Sunday school hour at 9:00 AM, with new classes starting the first Sunday of most months. The class is open with no pressure or commitment.
What the Church Believes
Broadway affirms the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as the summary of its convictions. The Bible is described as God's revelation, without error, fully trustworthy, and centered on Christ. God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church holds to the historic Baptist understanding of salvation: regeneration by the Holy Spirit, justification by faith, sanctification as a lifelong pursuit, and ultimate glorification. The church practices believer's baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper as ordinances. Offices of pastor and deacon are reserved for men meeting the scriptural qualifications. Marriage is understood as the lifelong covenant union of one man and one woman, and children are treated as a blessing from the moment of conception.
Leadership
The pastoral team is led by Dr. Mark Livingston, who has been the church's Lead Pastor since July 2020. Mark and his wife Amanda have four children, and he holds a Master of Divinity from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Covenant Theological Seminary. Dr. Brady Hanssen serves as Connections Pastor (joined November 2021, MDiv and PhD from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary); Justin Smith serves as Family Pastor (joined the staff as Ministry Director of Youth in February 2023, pursuing an MDiv at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary); Jackson Smith serves as Missions & Middle School Pastor (joined July 2023, working on a bachelor's at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary); and Alex Inman serves as Worship Pastor. Timothy Durham is the Media & Communications Director, Celeste Waldron is the Preschool Director, and Lauren Hanssen is the Children's Ministry Director. The diaconate includes Nathan Albonetti, Will Burford, Brandon Boozer, Adrian Epps, Dennis Epps, Daniel Hart, Stephen Johnson, Adam King, Brian Schultz, Carl Sookraj, Joey Sullivan, and William Whittington.
Music and Worship
The worship ministry at Broadway is committed to congregational singing of both contemporary worship songs and classic hymns. A curated playlist on Spotify and Apple Music is updated each week with the four or five songs the congregation will sing the following Sunday, giving visitors and members a chance to listen ahead of the service. The Broadway Hymnal playlist also includes the broader rotation the church draws from. Sermon recordings are released each week as podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, and the 10:30 AM service is livestreamed.
Northpoint Christian School
Broadway is affiliated with Northpoint Christian School, a K-12 Christian college-preparatory school that shares the 7400 Getwell Road campus. The school is governed by a board that includes representation from the church and is staffed by a separate leadership team. Members of the church serve on the deaconate for Northpoint Christian School, and the school is treated as the educational ministry arm of the church's vision to equip members for the work of ministry across every age.
Connecting and Giving
Giving to Broadway is handled through ShelbyNext, with a single gift form supporting the general fund and recurring giving. The church also collected for a short-term Debt Reduction Campaign and, by God's grace, entered the 2024-25 fiscal year debt-free.
A mobile app called The Way serves as a digital hub, streaming the live service, listing events for sign-up, and delivering sermon and podcast content. A New to Broadway section provides helpful information for first-time visitors.