Tommy Green, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention (FBC), has challenged Florida Baptist churches to see public schools as a mission field for their local church. There are over 4,000 public schools in Florida and roughly 3,100 Florida Baptist churches. “Imagine the impact our churches could make if each of them adopted one school,” said Green.

The Write Beside You Initiative is the FBC’s way of resourcing churches to partner with public schools in their communities.

The event, attended by 125 pastors and leaders, was done in partnership with The Urban Alternative’s Adopt-a-school initiative, a branch of Tony Evans Ministry, and the staff from The Urban Alternative facilitated the training.

Bill Collins, vice president of The Urban Alternative, challenged church leaders to make public school ministry a priority. “If your church shuts the doors, would the school even know it?” The staff emphasized the importance of building relationships with the school to be able to make positive impact in the lives of students, teachers, staff and families to ultimately share Christ.

“Community ministry is vital and will be vital until Jesus comes,” said Gary Townsend, north Florida regional catalyst of the FBC. “So we have to go into the field where the next generation is and make a difference as mentors and just have a presence, come right beside them and let them know we are there for them.”

Brandon Denmark, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Keystone Heights, attended the conference along with executive pastor, Scott Stanland. “I attended the Write Beside You conference in hopes of gaining some practical insights on how I can further our church’s relationship with our local schools,” said Denmark. “The wisdom and material shared in these sessions has given me a number of ideas I plan to pursue in the near future.”

Some ways churches can help include:

• Mentoring
• Tutoring
• Serving faculty and staff by providing breakfasts and lunches
• Helping set up classrooms
• Doing beautification work on campus
• Providing pre-game meals for sports teams
• Setting up a backpack feeding program

The Florida Baptist Convention will host one more “Write Beside You” adopt a school workshop with The Urban Alternative in 2019. That event will be held in Miami on May 16. Find out more about that event here.

By Billy Young, Florida Baptist Convention, February 26, 2019

Earlier this year the Florida Department of Education reached out to Tommy Green, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention with a simple plea: “We need Florida Baptists’ help.”

So Green has challenged every Florida Baptist church to adopt a school near them. Churches can be equipped with resources to help them know how best to partner with schools through the Write Beside You initiative. Church leaders gathered this summer to find out more about how they can get connected with a public school and were able to hear from the Urban Impact Initiative, which has a goal of seeing every public school in the nation partnered with a church.

Young facilitated a panel discussion with three ministry leaders who are currently partnered with schools in their communities. David Tarkington, pastor of First Baptist Church in Orange Park, Corey Sanders, pastor of The Movement Church in Homestead and Phillip Whitten, director of engagement for One More Child, all have established relationships with public schools. Young took the opportunity to ask these pastors some questions about how the partnerships got started and how it’s working.

Young: How did you get started?

Tarkington said he is blessed to live within a school district that is very open to church involvement. He said he came to the principal, who wasn’t a believer, and was very honest with her to tell her that they wanted to serve her school and were not looking for anything in return. “I’m not trying to build a relationship so I can find a sneaky way to put VBS flyers on the front desk,” he said. “If we’re going in to build numbers it’s disingenuous and marketing.”

Young: What are you doing with your school right now?

Whitten said Idlewild Baptist Church has partnered with One More Child to serve area schools. They started by having a meeting with school district leaders and asking them where they could best be used. The district partnered them with a Title I school, taking it from an F school to a B school over the course of seven years. They adopted willing classrooms, mentored kids, provided school supplies and provided meals through a backpack feeding program.

Young: How has it benefitted your church?

Sanders said the benefits to the church won’t be in increased numbers or tithes but in relationships built. He has seen families they’ve connected with at school come to a movie night event the church hosted. He said there are not often immediate benefits but the deepening relationships with community partners has been a blessing.

Don’t forget to find out more about Write Beside You and how your church can get involved!

Thus began the Write Beside You initiative to equip churches to partner with schools in order to make a difference in the lives of students across the state. Today nearly 200 church representatives are gathering at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz to learn about ways to engage the culture through public schools, making a difference in the lives of students, their families and the communities in which they serve.

“The Write Beside You meeting is the first step in encouraging our Florida Baptist churches to engage in our public schools,” Green said. “We have been requested to provide volunteers to mentor and serve Florida students.”

Ken Whitten, senior pastor of Idlewild, said churches have the opportunity to be a bridge between God and their communities as God has mandated that we take the gospel to our communities.

“It’s not about insulation where we stay in our own huddles and it’s not isolation where we abandon them – it’s infiltration, where we are salt and light and have a message of hope,” he said. “It’s part of the calling of God on our lives.”

Freddie Hinson, pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Hudson, is one Florida Baptist pastor attending the training. He said part of being a Great Commission church is understanding and meeting the desperate need for the presence of God in our schools. He believes that by impacting students, Florida Baptists can reach into families and ultimately impact communities for Christ. He said being able to meet them where they are, in school, can have eternal implications.

“We have the opportunity to build relationships where they know they can come on our campus,” he said. “Statistics tell us if we’re not winning kids by the time they’re out of elementary school it becomes very difficult to reach them.”

Hinson added that this is a great opportunity for the local church to be equipped to respond to the invitation being offered by the Florida Department of Education.

Jeffery Singletary, Florida Baptist Convention Catalyst for Central Florida, said this is an opportunity for churches to speak truth and love into some of the issues that plague our communities. And while the approach will be different, the message is ultimately the same. Singletary acknowledged that while the laws that separate church and state have hindered the ability of some to be salt and light in this environment, Florida Baptists now have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children and ultimately families.

Some ways churches can help include:

• Mentoring
• Tutoring
• Serving faculty and staff by providing breakfasts and lunches
• Helping set up classrooms
• Doing beautification work on campus
• Providing pre-game meals for sports teams
• Setting up a backpack feeding program

With today’s training, Singletary hopes to “remove the fear” for churches.

“We want to train them on how to operate in that space,” he said.

Whitten said a key component is understanding the rules of engagement, not creating problems for school administration but simply serving them.

“We’re not creating churches or a Sunday school class inside the school,” he said. “This is us meeting them where they are with the governance they’ve been given and asking them – what is your greatest need?”

Green is eager to provide training to churches, helping them understand the important role they can play to advance the gospel in our state.

“My prayer is that our Florida Baptist Churches will adopt schools in their area of ministry and begin impacting these campuses as requested,” he said.

If you missed today’s training, you can still find out how to partner with a school near you. Contact Next Gen Catalyst Billy Young for more information.

By Nicole Kalil, Florida Baptist Convention, August 9, 2018