{"id":48205,"date":"2024-10-17T08:13:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T12:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/?p=48205"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:22:32","slug":"better-together-how-one-florida-association-is-partnering-together-for-gospel-proclamation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/better-together-how-one-florida-association-is-partnering-together-for-gospel-proclamation\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Together: How one Florida association is partnering together for Gospel proclamation"},"content":{"rendered":"

PALATKA, Fla. (BP) \u2014 Southern Baptists are better together. That\u2019s not just a slogan for the churches in the St. John\u2019s River Baptist Association (SJRBA) in the St. Augustine and Palatka area of Florida \u2013 it\u2019s a reality that\u2019s fueled their shared mission of spreading the Good News about Jesus.<\/p>\n

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Volunteers from the churches of the St. John\u2019s River Baptist Association hold a VBS training.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cGod has opened the windows of heaven. I have seen more people saved in the last two years just through witnessing to them than I ever did on the mission field,\u201d said Asa Greear, the associational mission strategist (AMS) for the association. \u201cI can\u2019t explain it. It\u2019s all God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greear, a 46-year ministry veteran, served as an International Mission Board missionary before becoming the executive director\/AMS of the association in 2007.<\/p>\n

The SJRBA is one of more than 1,100 Southern Baptist associations throughout the United States that Southern Baptist churches will specifically pray for this Sunday, Oct. 20, during the Day of Prayer for Associational Missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local association is like boots on the ground for us,\u201d said Ted Owens, the founding pastor of Petra Baptist Church in St. Augustine. \u201cWe know a lot about the Southern Baptist Convention and the Florida Baptist Convention, but the local association is what connects us to those resources. It\u2019s been there for us during tough times, like the economic collapse (of 2008-2009) and COVID, and we\u2019ve been able to use those resources to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The St. John\u2019s River Baptist Association holds a deacon training event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The evangelistic movement Greear mentioned began at the Putnam County Fair almost two years ago. The SJRBA organized a weeklong ministry booth where they offered Bibles, Gospel tracts and Christian literature. Volunteers from local churches rotated through the booth, sharing the Gospel using tools like the EvangeCube \u2014 a visual aid that helps explain the story of salvation to both children and adults.<\/p>\n

During the 2023 fair, 50 people committed their lives to Christ.<\/p>\n

A few months later,\u00a0tragedy struck<\/a>\u00a0one of the churches. A deacon\u2019s daughter from Trinity Baptist Church, a young, growing congregation in the association, was struck by lightning while out hunting with her father. The teenage girl had been a dynamic witness for Christ, sending Bible verses to her high school friends and inviting anyone she met to church.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of all that, the kids began to come to the Lord,\u201d Greear said. \u201cThey realized that death is imminent, and they weren\u2019t ready. In one meeting, where we had about 600 kids, we saw 65 of them give their hearts and lives to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Asa Greear, associational mission strategist for the St. John\u2019s River Baptist Association, believes the revival among the association\u2019s churches can be attributed to intentional evangelistic outreach, like this booth the association hosts at the Putnam County Fair, where volunteers shared the Gospel with fairgoers. \u201cGod has opened the windows of heaven,\u201d Greear said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Several other pastors from local churches were at the event to help counsel the youth who attended. Many of those youth were plugged into Trinity Baptist in Palatka, while others were connected to other churches in the association.<\/p>\n

Two weeks after the girl\u2019s death, 172 middle and high school students were baptized. Many of those new believers said they were personally impacted by the girl\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

Greear pointed to a number of ways the local churches are partnering to share the Gospel, including a popular block party trailer that provides resources for churches hosting evangelistic events in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

The SJRBA also purchases as many as 600 turkeys for local churches to give away during Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our turkey giveaway, we\u2019ve had to pull money out of savings and spend more than we budgeted at times,\u201d Greear said. \u201cBut to make an impact locally for the church, we say, \u2018Hey, we have turkeys. The churches fill the baskets, take it to this person, and give it to them.\u2019 We\u2019ve actually heard stories of people being saved through that ministry. Churches have told us about people who started coming to church because of these turkey giveaways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The association invites North American Mission Board and IMB missionaries to missions connections where churches can get to know them and learn about their ministries.<\/p>\n

The SJRBA also helps to support pastors by standing alongside them during difficult times in their ministries, including health problems, church crises and family struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being with pastors \u2013 that is such a key,\u201d Greear said. \u201cI believe in associational ministries: walk with your pastors. Don\u2019t be afraid; you\u2019re going to get into their stuff. They\u2019ll tell you if you are, but walk with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, when Pastor David Shull had open-heart surgery earlier this year, Greear preached for him for a few weeks and mobilized the other churches to pray for him. Shull says Greear does a great job of \u201cpastoring pastors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can get a little lonely out here if you\u2019re by yourself,\u201d Shull said. \u201cBeing a part of the association means knowing someone has your back when you need help. That\u2019s been a huge blessing for me and my church over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southern Baptists are better together. That\u2019s not just a slogan for the churches in the St. John\u2019s River Baptist Association (SJRBA) in the St. Augustine and Palatka area of Florida \u2013 it\u2019s a reality that\u2019s fueled their shared mission of spreading the Good News about Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":48206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-region-east","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48205","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\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67794,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48205\/revisions\/67794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}