Imperative 1: Evangelizing and Baptizing More Each Year
The first imperative keeps the Great Commission at the forefront: we must evangelize and baptize more people every year.
All around us are people who need to know Jesus, His love, His cross, His resurrection, and His invitation to new life. As we share the gospel and baptize new believers, we experience visible evidence that God is still changing lives and that the Spirit of God is moving among us.
In 2024, Florida Baptist churches celebrated 30,701 baptisms, surpassing a longstanding goal. Together, we pray that number continues to grow as we reach more people with the life-changing message of Christ. Every baptism reminds us that the gospel still lifts souls from sin and that our churches remain faithful proclamation points for new life in Jesus.
Imperative 2: Calling Out and Discipling More God-Called Leaders
The second imperative focuses on leadership multiplication: we must call out and disciple more God-called believers to fulfill the Great Commission.
The advance of the gospel depends on people who answer God’s call and are equipped to serve: pastors, missionaries, church planters, and lay leaders. When we invest in training those leaders, we ensure that the mission continues through future generations.
Across Florida, churches are developing pipelines for ministry preparation. Baptist Collegiate and NextGen Ministries are discipling students deeply, while Florida Baptist missions mobilization provides hands-on opportunities for service. Each of these ministries helps prepare the next generation of leaders who will step forward when God says, “Go.”
Imperative 3: Planting and Revitalizing More Churches
The third imperative emphasizes where gospel witness takes root: we must plant new churches and revitalize existing ones.
New churches reach new people. Revitalized churches become renewed lights in their communities. Through Send Network Florida, our 50/50 partnership with the North American Mission Board, we are starting about 60 new churches each year. Yet with Florida’s rapid population growth, the need only increases. The fields around us are ripe, and new congregations are needed to gather the harvest.
The local church remains God’s primary means for gospel advance. Every strong, healthy congregation serves as a liftoff site for mission, equipping believers to share the gospel in their neighborhoods and sending them to reach the nations. When we plant and strengthen churches, we extend the reach of the gospel to people who might never otherwise hear.
Imperative 4: Giving More Generously to Support Our Shared Mission
The final imperative is about resourcing the work: we must give more generously each year to sustain and expand our mission together.
Every dollar given through the Cooperative Program strengthens our shared capacity to send missionaries, plant churches, and reach the lost. Giving isn’t merely about balancing budgets; it’s about fueling ministry so the gospel can go farther than any one church could take it alone. Generosity becomes the spiritual fuel that powers every part of our shared mission.
When Florida Baptists give, we participate in a partnership that spans our state, nation, and world. We give not simply to maintain what is but to launch what can be, with new ministries, new missionaries, and new movements of God’s Spirit.