{"id":42565,"date":"2023-04-04T11:56:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridabaptist.wpengine.com\/?p=42565"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:15:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:15:49","slug":"state-board-celebrates-looks-to-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/state-board-celebrates-looks-to-future\/","title":{"rendered":"State Board celebrates\/looks to future"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE\u2013An atmosphere of celebration and looking to the future permeated the Spring 2023 meeting of the Florida Baptist State Board of Missions<\/a> in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Aaron Burgner, State Board of Missions president, encouraged Florida Baptists to \u201ckeep working\u201d as he focused on Luke 19:11-13. \u201cJesus is King,\u201d Burgner proclaimed. The King, he said, has given us all the same resources while \u201cHe is away,\u201d just as the king in the parable provided resources to his servants. Believers today have the resources of the Holy Spirit and Scripture. Florida Baptists \u201chave good reason to engage,\u201d he continued, because we have been changed, have been commanded and have a fertile field. Burgner, senior pastor of Lakes Church<\/a> in Lakeland, concluded that the hope of Florida Baptists and all believers is that the King is returning.<\/p>\n

During the State Board of Missions meeting, Tommy Green<\/a>, Florida Baptists\u2019 executive director-treasurer, proclaimed that the work of Florida Baptists is \u201cunfinished,\u201d as he focused on 2 Timothy 4:24. Calling on Florida Baptists to \u201crejoice in what God is doing everywhere,\u201d he also focused on how to strengthen the work of the church in the present and future. There is a critical need for partnership, he said, explaining, \u201cIsolation is never healthy for your church or your personal ministry.\u201d Further, there is a critical nature of purpose. \u201cSometimes we need to show up and show up big,\u201d he said, giving all for the glory of God. Finally, there is a critical necessity of priority, stating, \u201cWe must come together because the work is unfinished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Purvis, Florida Baptist State Convention<\/a> president, called on State Board members to focus on the kingdom of God: \u201cWe must do everything we can to help others experience the kingdom of God \u2026 to help others experience the joy of kingdom living \u2026 to expand the kingdom.\u201d Purvis, senior pastor of Mission Hill Church<\/a> in Tampa, announced the theme of the Nov. 12-14, 2023, Florida Baptist State Convention Annual Meeting at Idlewild Baptist Church<\/a> in Lutz will be \u201cIt\u2019s Still the Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial snapshot<\/b><\/p>\n

Florida Baptists\u2019 financial report revealed that the Convention received a total of $29,180,689 toward the 2022 Florida Baptist Convention Cooperative Program<\/a> budget. Of the total receipts, 51% was forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee for distribution denomination-wide, and 49% was retained in Florida.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Board members learned that the year-to-date total for Florida Baptist CP budget receipts is $169,816 above projections. Additionally, during the first two months of 2023, Florida Baptists have given $4,363,974 in designated gifts.<\/p>\n

The Board approved a distribution of 4% from the CP Endowment Fund, established in 2000 to create an income stream to supplement CP giving, to the convention\u2019s 2023 CP budget.<\/p>\n

After reporting that $939,238 was received for the 2022 Maguire State Mission Offering,<\/a> the Board recommended a 2023 goal of $880,000, earmarked exclusively for the Florida Send Network for church planting. Florida Baptists are moving toward a Challenge 2025 goal of $1 million for the Maguire State Mission Offering in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Board learned that a total of $27,817 was provided in financial assistance for 59 pastors January-February 2023.<\/p>\n

Denominational matters<\/b><\/p>\n

During the meeting, Florida Baptists\u2019 State Board of Missions, acting ad interim on behalf of the Florida Baptist State Convention, unanimously approved a resolution<\/a> March 31 expressing deep concern with the utilization of Guidepost Solutions or its subsidiary Faith Based Solutions in Southern Baptists\u2019 sexual abuse response initiative.<\/p>\n

The Board also approved a recommendation<\/a> for the\u00a0Florida Baptist State Convention\u00a0to establish an affiliate relationship with the\u00a0Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention<\/a>\u00a0\u201cfor the primary purpose of training\/resourcing Florida Baptist churches in the areas of child protection, abuse prevention and response.\u201d<\/p>\n

The affiliate relationship with ECAP is a \u201cvery positive and proactive step to help churches excel in abuse prevention,\u201d said Green.<\/p>\n

Personnel changes<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/a>
Patrick Coats, East region catalyst<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The State Board of Missions approved numerous personnel changes, including new catalysts for the North and East regions of Florida. Following the March 31 retirement<\/a> of Craig Culbreth as East region<\/a> catalyst, the Board approved naming Patrick Coats to fill the position. Coats has served as Black multicultural<\/a> church catalyst for Florida Baptists since 2017 in addition to serving in numerous other ministerial roles in Florida for close to 20 years. In anticipation of the retirement of North region<\/a> catalyst Gary Townsend on June 30, 2023, the Board approved Florida Baptist pastor Phillip Herrington to assume the role. Herrington has served as senior pastor of First Baptist Church<\/a> of Live Oak since 2005 and served the church as associate pastor of students and children 2000-2005.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Board approved the transition of the Board-elected positions of Black multicultural catalyst to a consultant\/contract position, with Erik Cummings named to the role. Cummings will continue to serve as pastor of New Life Church<\/a> in Carol City. The Board also welcomed Pablito Lucas to serve as Florida Baptists\u2019 Asian-American multicultural<\/a> consultant. Lucas will continue to serve as pastor of Philippine International Christian Fellowship<\/a> in Lakeland. The Board also approved renaming the Hispanic<\/a> and Haitian<\/a> church catalyst positions to Hispanic and Haitian multicultural catalysts.<\/p>\n

Other business<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Phillip<\/a>
Phillip Herrington, upcoming North region catalyst<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Board members learned that the Florida Baptist Convention signed on to an amicus brief with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/a> in support of Florida\u2019s current 15-week abortion ban which is being challenged in the Florida Supreme Court. The Florida Legislature is currently considering a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks gestation.<\/p>\n

The Board approved the recommendation to change the official name of Florida Baptist Children\u2019s Homes to One More Child<\/a>. The name change requires affirmative votes by messengers at two consecutive Florida Baptist annual meetings.<\/p>\n

The State Board of Missions will next meet Aug. 24-25 at the Baptist Building in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An atmosphere of celebration and looking to the future permeated the Spring 2023 meeting of the Florida Baptist State Board of Missions in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":42571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,46,18,19,45],"tags":[227,223,221,150],"class_list":["post-42565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asian","category-black","category-multicultural","category-news","category-statewide","tag-ecap","tag-evangelical-council-for-abuse-prevention","tag-sbc-executive-committee","tag-state-board-of-missions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67620,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42565\/revisions\/67620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}