QUICK READS: NEWS STORIES FROM ACROSS THE FELLOWSHIP

QUICK READS

Snead Perez N.C. MINISTER DR. DAYNETTE SNEAD PEREZ NAMED AS CBF DISASTER RESPONSE LEADER

The Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead Perez, an innovative pastor, intercultural ministry entrepreneur and experienced disaster recovery specialist from North Carolina, was named May 3 to provide leadership to the long-term domestic disaster relief and recovery work of CBF. She succeeds Rick Burnette who serves as CBF field personnel in Fort Myers, Fla.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September 2018, Snead Perez joined the CBF Disaster Response team as a local response coordinator, mobilizing congregations and resources across the country to help the people of Trenton, N.C., rebuild their community.

She has held multiple ministry roles including associate pastor of First Chin Baptist Church in New Bern, N.C., a Burmese refugee congregation, and leads an intercultural-focused ministry she founded called DIASPRA, which equips pastors and congregations for community discipleship outreach and missional success through diversity and inclusion awareness and skills.

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Green SOUTH CAROLINA PASTOR RICKEY LETSON JOINS CBF DEVELOPMENT STAFF; LONG-TIME FIELD PERSONNEL NELL GREEN SHIFTS SERVICE TO OGM

Seeking to better serve congregations, CBF announced April 20 the addition of two strategic staff roles in the Fellowship. Rickey Letson, a pastor active in CBF life with more than 20 years serving congregations in a variety of settings, was named as CBF’s Congregational Stewardship Officer. Letson joins the CBF staff to serve as a resource to congregations to help strengthen their financial health and to develop and cultivate partnerships as congregations seek to live out their passion for mission and ministry alongside the Fellowship. He will also work with CBF state and regional organizations, CBF staff and governance bodies to further develop and implement CBF’s annual giving program for churches.

Nell Green, who has ministered in cross-cultural missions since 1986—for the past 27 years as CBF field personnel—has shifted her focus as field personnel to serve as CBF’s Offering for Global Missions Advocate. In this role, Green is engaging with field personnel, CBF fund development and identity and communications teams, ministry partners and churches to strengthen the Offering for Global Missions.

Funding for both positions was part of the budget approved by the CBF Governing Board in October 2020.

Kieve JAY KIEVE NAMED TO NEW ABUSE PREVENTION AND RESPONSE ADVOCATE POSITION

To continue its commitment to preventing abuse in congregations and advocating for abuse survivors, CBF has named CBF South Carolina Coordinator Jay Kieve to serve in the newly created position.

In this part-time role, Kieve will be the Fellowship’s point person for connecting churches to resources for the prevention of clergy sexual abuse and clergy sexual misconduct, and will work alongside the Clergy Sexual Misconduct Task Force and CBF-partner GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment). He will also support congregations seeking prevention training, developing abuse prevention policies and establishing a culture that protects children and vulnerable adults from abuse. Additionally, Kieve will be available to support survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including receiving allegations and recommending church response. He will continue to serve as coordinator of CBFSC.

Kieve is one of the founding members of the Clergy Sexual Misconduct Task Force launched five years ago jointly by CBF and Baptist Women in Ministry.

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Perez

Aho CBF CHURCH BENEFITS WELCOMES BETH ROBERTS AND ANNOUNCES THE FINANCIAL WELLNESS INITIATIVE

At the March 2021 meeting of the CBF Church Benefits Board (CBB), the board voted to welcome Beth Roberts as the new Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer and to affirm the launch of the Financial Wellness Initiative.

The board’s actions come as CBB’s assets under management now exceed $102 million. CBB remains focused on lower fees, improving service and leveraging economies of scale for participants and congregations.

Roberts comes to CBB after serving for 22 years as Associate Administrator with Adventist Retirement, a similar 403(b)(9) church retirement plan. Adventist Retirement serves over 46,000 active and retired participants, with defined contribution assets under management of $1.9 billion and $1 billion of assets in their frozen defined benefit plan.

CBB also announced the receipt of a multi-year grant to launch the Financial Wellness Initiative in October 2021. The Financial Wellness Initiative will build on the success and learnings of CBF’s Ministerial Excellence Initiative by offering individual ministers the opportunity to receive financial relief grants, financial education experiences, financial planning incentives and financial wellness packages.

JAVIER PEREZ BEGINS WORK IN STRATEGIC GLOBAL MISSIONS POSITION; CHRISTOPHER AHO NAMED TO THRIVING CONGREGATIONS ROLE

CBF announced March 23 the addition of two staff members to new strategic positions.

Javier Perez began a new strategic role in CBF Global Missions as Director of Global Missions Programs and Impact. Perez most recently served with Buckner Children and Family Services as the regional director of strategic initiatives and program design for Latin America and the Caribbean. In this role, he provides strategic direction for Global Missions programs and strengthens organizational impact in accordance with CBF’s Mission Distinctives.

Christopher Aho, former pastor of Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C., joined the CBF staff in May as Director of Thriving Congregations. CBF announced in October 2020 that it had received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish a Thriving Congregations Initiative across the Fellowship. The aim of the national initiative is to strengthen Christian congregations so they can help people deepen their relationships with God, build strong relationships with each other and contribute to the flourishing of local communities and the world.

In this position, Aho will oversee the Thriving Congregations grant and work to adapt learnings from the grant for use in CBF churches. As a part of the grant and his work, he will seek to integrate techniques and skillsets from innovators across many emerging fields of study into congregational life.

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Stamey CBF HONORS NORTH CAROLINA AND MISSISSIPPI MINISTERS FOR OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AT VIRTUAL CHURCHWORKS CONFERENCE

Two Cooperative Baptists were honored March 1 during ChurchWorks, CBF’s annual conference for CBF clergy and CBF networks, which was held virtually in 2021. It focused on the Design Thinking process and dreaming creative solutions for congregational or personal thriving.

During the event, Amy Stertz, Minister with Children and Families at First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C., was honored with the 2021 Jack Naish Distinguished Educator Award for outstanding leadership and achievement in Christian education. Stertz is a creative and passionate educator with a passion for holistic faith formation, approaching programming with stages of faith, age-appropriate developmental needs and current context in mind.

Courtney Stamey, Senior Pastor at Northside Baptist Church in Clinton, Miss., was also honored with the 2021 CBF Young Baptist Leadership Award for demonstrated ministry to peers and colleagues across generations. Stamey leads her congregation to be engaged in their community, state and beyond. Northside partners with Delta Hands for Hope and is soon to become an Encourager Church to Mike and Lynn Hutchinson, CBF field personnel in Togo, West Africa. She is a former CBF Fellow and currently serves on the CBF Nominating Committee.