Florida Missions Today

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ReVision Florida

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Church planting fervor. see page 3

“ReVision Florida” is a refreshing new movement of God taking hold of Florida Baptists.

It’s reviving their first love, renewing their commitment to the Great Commission and refocusing their vision on a glorious future. It’s reuniting churches around the urgent call to missions and evangelism and releasing the resources to accomplish the mission.

“ReVision Florida” was created by Florida Baptists for Florida Baptists to infuse life into the recommendations of the Imagine If…Great Commission Resurgence taskforce, which were adopted by messengers to the 2010 Florida Baptist State Convention.

The GCR recommendations suggested that a genuine Great Commission Resurgence must first begin in the hearts of individual believers and each Florida Baptist church.

Revival and renewal must accompany any true resurgence to ensure its success.

Clayton Cloer, pastor of Orlando's First Baptist Church of Central Florida, is spearheading the statewide “ReVision Florida” movement, challenging all Florida

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ORIDA ADERS RVING ORIDA

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Baptists to seek the face of God in a spirit of brokenness—to revive, to renew and to refocus.

In this movement, Florida Baptist churches are being asked to pray, seek, advance and give.

• pray by regularly interceding on behalf of all Florida Baptist churches for an extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit and brokenness among His people; • seek to spread the gospel with greater urgency and frequency; • advance by intensifying efforts in New Testament church planting; and • give to increase Cooperative Program giving by one quarter of one percent of undesignated receipts during each of the next four years.

For more information on “ReVision Florida” and to make a commitment, go to www.revisionflorida.org. Join the movement on Facebook at “revisionFL” and Twitter “revisionFL.”

Journey of renewal. see page 5

Pastor revolutionizes historic congregation with church planting strategy

New Testament church planting was a revolutionary idea in its day. It defied tradition, rebelled against religious practices, and resulted in persecution and death. Fulfilling the Great Commission came at great sacrifice to the saints of the Early Church.

While a strategy of church planting may not be as divisive in the 21st Century, there is still a cost to churches embracing such a mission in the release of resources and personnel.

This issue of Florida Missions Today features two Florida Baptist pastors who are leading their congregations to plant churches in the New Testament tradition, challenging them to a new vision to spread the gospel message to all people.

Other stories in this issue highlight churches as they lead their people to seek God’s face through prayer and brokenness to refocus their mission to bring revival and renewal.

Let's ReVision Together.

Mowing the lush green grass surrounding the community center where the fledgling congregation was meeting, the Jacksonville youngster was unaware that this would be the first of many churches he would have a role in planting.

The elementary school student three decades ago was determined to do his part to grow a church that had been planted in his family’s living room, even if it was a simple job of tackling the grass with his mower.

As a seminary student in Louisville, his green thumb in Pastor Jimmy Scroggins leads worship at First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach. planting churches again blossomed while launching congregations—La Iglesia Familiar and Family Church churches around the country and later planting in Abacoa. He also has two potential church plants on churches for Highview Baptist Church in that Kentucky city. the drawing board, one targeting the city’s Haitians and Perhaps church planting was in his spiritual DNA, another on the western end of the county where the because Jimmy Scroggins, now 40, has set his sights on population has grown exponentially. starting new churches in South Florida, where an It’s an ambitious task, but one Scroggins believes is estimated 6.6 million unreached people live. As the grounded in the Great Commission and fed by the pastor of the First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Holy Spirit which calls the New Testament church to he has set a goal of leading his church to start 100 new “preach the gospel to all kinds of people in ways they churches in the three-county region. understand,” he said.

In the past year the church has launched two new continued on page 2

ReVision Florida continued from page 1

Jimmy Fogleman, left, serves as campus pastor at Family Church at Abacoa.

Bill Keith, West Palm Beach First pastor of pastoral care, baptizes new Christian Bill Wiley.

Historic church adopts new strategy “South Florida is a unique place, located below the Bible Belt,” Scroggins explained “It is different— it’s more cosmopolitan, it’s more diverse, it’s more unchurched and it’s more under-evangelized.”

He set for himself the challenge to see “if a historic church can reach people where they are while simultaneously launching as many churches as we can.”

With an estimated one million people in Palm Beach County who do not profess a faith in Jesus Christ, Scroggins concluded that it would require a thousand new churches with 1,000 members each to reach the spiritually lost in that county.

“We can plant as many churches as we can for the rest of our lives and still not reach the lost here.”

“Family Church at Abacoa” was birthed on Florida Atlantic University’s Jupiter campus a year ago and now garners 200-250 in attendance each Sunday. The church was created after Central Baptist Church in Jupiter disbanded and merged with First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach in an effort “to leverage resources, talents, creativity, people, and stewardship,” Scroggins said.

The Jupiter congregation had dwindled to only a handful, said former Central church leader Bill Vorlicky. “The church was declining; we had lost our youth and our young families. We were so intentionally focused on just trying to keep the doors open, our energy was devoted internally instead of externally to spread the gospel.”

The church building was located away from the community’s explosive growth.

By disbanding and then merging with the West Palm Beach church to start the new church, members have “reached more people for Jesus Christ,” said Vorlicky.

First Baptist sent a campus pastor, worship leader and trained workers to cultivate the community, located about 15 minutes north of West Palm, and put into place activities to attract young families.

Scroggins preaches each Sunday morning, leaving downtown after his second service and allowing a teaching pastor to lead the third service.

“God has blessed us beyond our anticipation. It is exciting to see the work grow here” added Vorlicky as the new church reaches families, youth and students.

Ann Marie Simon and her family were drawn to the Abacoa church by signs posted in the neighborhood. “We hadn’t been at Family Church for more than five minutes when we knew we were in the right place and this would be our family.”

After attending the church for a little more than a month, Simon was injured in a life-changing accident that left her paralyzed above the waist, she said. “Not that we had any doubt from the first day, but the outpouring of love from this church and its parishioners, confirmed that we were truly among family and in a Bible-based church, which is clearly

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led by the Holy Spirit.”

The Hispanic congregation, La Iglesia Familiar, meets at First Baptist’s downtown location and has drawn between 100 and 130 in preview services, in preparation for the launch in October. The new congregation is led by Bernie Cuerto, who serves as campus pastor at Palm Beach Atlantic University and a teaching pastor at First Baptist.

This church starting strategy has been so successful, that Scroggins plans to replicate it when starting the new Haitian church in 2012 and new congregation in west Palm Beach County in 2013.

Exuberant worship at Family Church at Abacoa.

Al Fernandez, team strategist for Florida Baptist Urban Impact Ministries, has been working hand in hand with Scroggins in developing the church starting strategy for South Florida needs. “The amazing thing is that God uses these conversations and relationships for us to partner with churches to start new churches that can reach different people groups within the same community.”

He added, “Even the English speaking Jupiter church is reaching people that could not be reached at the downtown building. Church planting is simply the task of expanding the Kingdom of God.” Long-time First Baptist members have embraced Scroggin’s focus on church planting, said Bev Bonner, director of assimilation and church life. The congregation continues to flourish and reach people.

Since Scroggins’ arrival at the church in August 2008, 773 new members have been added.

Weekly worship attendance stands at 1,600.

The church’s strategy is focused on Biblical teaching, building families and birthing congregations, providing inward ministry through small study groups, training parents and children, and congregational events such as fellowships and tailgate parties.

The community impact has been

accomplished in neighborhoods through Easter Egg Hunts and Trunk or Treat activities. The congregation adopted a local elementary school providing backpacks, school supplies, school uniforms, student mentoring and tutoring, teacher and staff appreciation, encouragement and workdays around the grounds and facilities.

“Getting our church families involved with the communities around us is helping us to birth new congregations,” said Bonner.

Each week, baptismal waters are stirred with new converts, including 39 new believers who were baptized during a September ocean baptism.

Prior to his September baptism, Jacob Janicek, 21, was in and out of rehabilitation centers before he was led to the church by his mother who was also baptized there. Turning away from long-time substance abuse was only possible through divine intervention, he said.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the Lord. This church is the place where the grace of God can be found,” he said.

After receiving a terminally ill diagnosis, Bill Wiley and his wife, Shirley, who had been brought to the church by friends, were recently baptized. “My husband is afraid of dying,” said Shirley. “Praying to receive Christ took a lot of fear off of us. God is giving us a peace he is going to a better place.”

Whether Scroggins is cutting grass for a new church or leading a historic congregation on new paths, the lawn-mowing youngster from Jacksonville has consistently emulated Paul’s admonition— planting, watering and cultivating while relying on God to give the increase.

Let’s ReVision Together Florida Baptists from across the state were asked to share a personal testimony of “how God is at work in my life” which reflects a commitment to the Great Commission. Their responses demonstrate the many ways God is at work in the lives of His people.

Alma Surrency

Great Macedonia Baptist Church of the Northside, Jackonville “For the last years or so, I’ve had to trust in the Lord in decisions that I’ve made, and I’ve found that when I call on the Lord, He will hear me. He will answer my prayers. I just need to talk to Him and trust His decision, not my own. Because I can do nothing without Him.”

ReVision Florida

T.J. Ward, a 37-year-old church planting pastor in Winston-Salem, N.C., hasn’t had a paycheck since leaving his old church in Jacksonville, Fla., in December 2009, although he will start receiving a salary from New Church this coming January.

Over the past 18 months, he and wife, Wendy,— and their two little girls—have lived only on her Bank of America salary. They traded their dream home in Jacksonville for a “starter” home in Winston-Salem.

Ward attributes much of New Church’s early success as a church plant to its three main sponsoring churches and their pastors who are his mentors and advisers. The three supporting churches are Chets Creek Church, Jacksonville, Fla.; Avalon Church, McDonough, Ga.; and The Summit Church, Kernersville, N.C. Chets Creek Church lead pastor Spike Hogan not only gave Ward much counsel at the outset, but “he’s

refocus

A horse trough serves as a baptismal pool for church planter T.J. Ward.

need to know that the pastor is truly called to plant a church. We want confirmation that the planter’s wife is on board. We want to see a realistic but challenging five-year calendar and plan. We want a commitment to the Cooperative Program. We want to see evidence the planter has studied and prepared to plant a church. And we want to know that there is a core of members for the new church.

“It’s a mistaken idea that when you plant a new

Jacksonville church releases resources for Acts commitment When Ward decided to become a church planter, he had no idea where he would plant. He and Wendy just knew they would have to leave their large network of family and friends in Jacksonville behind.

The Wards began fasting, praying and studying a map of the United States. They examined demographics and church planting needs in other states before choosing Winston-Salem for their new church plant.

Launched last January, New Church—that’s the name of the church—now draws 150 people every Sunday, meeting in a local YMCA. New Church’s slogan is “It’s church . . . just different.”

“At New Church, we say we want to help people who are far from God experience new life in Jesus Christ,” Ward explained. “New Church is some people’s first exposure to church. Our vision is to reach them and people who maybe have been away from God for years.”

Since January, 62 people at New Church have made professions of faith in Jesus. Although they meet at a local “Y,” the facility lacks a pool. So Ward baptizes new believers—decked out in blue T-shirts inscribed on front with “I took the plunge at New Church”—in a horse trough. On Easter Sunday this year New Church drew an all-time high attendance of 244—its goal had been 300—and had 34 professions of faith, four over its goal.

Regarded as a church’s planter’s church planter, Spike Hogan preaches at Chets Creek Church in Jacksonville

been wonderful at providing encouragement along the church, you have to end up with half your membership way,” says Ward. moving across town or across the country, that you Hogan, highly regarded as a church planter’s give up tons of money and that the new church is church planter, came to Chets Creek as pastor in going to drain you dry,” said Hogan. “The answer is October 1999, patterning that new church after Rick not to dump a lot of money in the church plant. It’s Warren’s Saddleback Church in California. not about the money. It’s about leadership and New Church in Winston-Salem is only the latest surrounding yourself with good folks.” church plant financially supported by Chets Creek, Hogan relies heavily on Chets Creek Church’s mission which also has a hand in church plants in Las Vegas pastor Chris Price to help with their church planting. and Reno, Nev., Miramar and Tallahassee, Fla., and “Acts says church planting is the number one Martinsburg, W. Va. In all, Chets Creek has helped church priority—presenting the gospel to the world,” plant 13 new Southern Baptist churches since Hogan says Price. “It’s the church being the church, arrived 13 years ago—a new church each year. representing Christ. Churches are the delivery agent Chets Creek Church has seen tremendous growth. to accomplish the Great Commission. If we as a Starting with only 30 meeting in an elementary school, church are not doing our best to replicate and the attendance quickly climbed to 80 and in only three multiply what God is doing and the vision He has months, zoomed to 100. given us, we’re missing the mark as a church.”

“We set a goal to grow by 10 percent a year, and we have more than averaged that. Our other goal was to baptize 10 percent of average attendance each year,” said Hogan. “I’m convinced that God blesses and honors initiative when it’s reasonable and realistic.”

Chets Creek now draws 2,000 people in six services—three adult services, and services for Pastor, children, middle school, and high school Faithbridge Church, students. Today, the church operates out of a Jacksonville new church facility on a 10 1/2–acre campus adjacent to the very elementary school where “The church that I pastor, like many churches in our Convention, they launched 12 years ago. has struggled financially. But we “Our goal is to start one new church a have come to see those financial year,” said Hogan. “We support the church limitations as a gift. Because we are plant financially for three years and sometimes unable to throw dollars at our outreach strategy, whether it be extend to a fourth year if they need more help. marketing money or hiring additional staff, or bringing Money-wise, we give them $12,000 the first particular programs, we have instead, been forced back to a very simple and Biblical pattern of equipping God’s people for year, $9,000 the second, and $6,000 in the third works of service. And the fruit of that has been that more and year. We also show them how to get funds more of our church family have grabbed hold of the idea that from other sources.” they’re to be on mission Christians. As a result, we’ve had To even be considered as a Chets Creek enormous number of people coming to faith in Christ. In the church plant, Hogan said the church planter must past calendar year, we’ve had over 100 people baptized. “ do his due diligence.

“He must have specific expectations. We

Let’s ReVision Together Paul White

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ReVision Florida

Revelation of needs prompts missional gesture Looking beyond the fishbowl of his local church into the vast ocean of spiritual lostness in South Florida, the experienced and visionary Romanian pastor tossed out a lifeline of support to a young, struggling Anglo American church planter being pummeled by wave upon wave of crises.

The day that Florin Vancea, pastor of New Life Romanian Baptist Church, first met church planter Matt Peavyhouse, he knew he “wanted to help this young man with whatever I can.”

Peaveyhouse, his wife Amber, and three children, relocated from Brandon to South Florida in February 2010 with the vision to plant a church to reach the significantly unchurched population there. Vancea was the first pastor he met in South Florida.

The Romanian pastor, who immigrated to America in 1996 and moved to South Florida in 1999, “has a heart for church planting. He has a heart to see the ethnic church give to help others,” Hollywood Romanian pastor Florin Vancea, left, provides a place of worship for Matt Peavyhouse They have built decades-long careers here. They said Peavyhouse, a and Sojourn Church. have raised families here. They have heard and they “Nehemiah” church planter, have shared the gospel here. which is a program jointly Romanians, a sometimes-overlooked ethnic group, funded by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the Florida Baptist Convention. have put down deep and significant roots in Florida, Although he knew starting a church wouldn’t be easy, little did Peavyhouse anticipate the onslaught of first began arriving in the Sunshine State more than 30 challenges he would face. With an October 2010 launch date, Sojourn Church quickly welcomed about 60 people years ago. Many had immigrated from their homeland in southeastern Europe to settle first in the northeastern in its upbeat worship services. Yet, circumstances would quickly take a turn for the worse.

United States, and sometime later, to find their way to The owner of the facility being rented for the church plant unexpectedly cancelled the rental agreement, the warmer climate and better economic opportunities forcing the infant congregation to move out immediately. A major financial supporter for the church plant in Florida. Most Romanians come from an Eastern unexpectedly cut its support. When Sojourn Church began to meet in a home, the local police responded to Orthodox religious background. complaints of parking congestion on neighborhood streets. Sixty people dwindled to 20 in just a few devastating Today an estimated 125,000 Romanians live in weeks, and the attendance numbers threatened to go even lower.

Florida, with the highest concentrations of this ethnic group being found in South Florida, where an estimated “We were floundering. Everything seemed to be going against us,” recalled Peavyhouse.

17,000-18,000 Romanians live. In recent years the tide “The connections we had made through advertising, block parties and other efforts were lost; they were gone.” of Romanians immigrating to the United States has Just when the days seemed their most bleak and Peavyhouse was tempted to give up, pastor Vancea stepped in decreased significantly. with his spiritual and practical lifeline.

“We are the last generation of the first To Peavyhouse one truth is clear, “If it weren’t for New Life Romanian Church and pastor Florin Vancea, our generation,” said Florin Vancea, who arrived in the church may not even exist.”

United States in the mid-1990s and moved to Florida in 1999, where he has invested his life as pastor of a New Life Romanian Baptist Church is the recent result of a merger of two existing Romanian Baptist churches Romanian Baptist church. in the area—Bethel Romanian Baptist Church, where Vancea had served as pastor since 1999, and First Romanian The first Florida Baptist Romanian church to be Baptist Church. planted was the Romanian Church of Hollywood, which The merger of the two Romanian churches meant that one entire church facility was left unoccupied. was begun in December 1978 by Sheridan Hills Baptist What had originally started as an invitation for Sojourn Church to meet in the fellowship hall of Bethel Church. Teofil Talpesh served as pastor of that language Romanian Church on Saturday nights quickly became a generous gift of allowing the young church start to use the congregation for a number of years. Recently that church (renamed First Romanian Baptist Church of unoccupied church facility entirely rent-free.

Hollywood) merged with Bethel Romanian Baptist On Palm Sunday of this year, both congregations had a rebirth of sorts. New Life Romanian Baptist Church Church, also in Hollywood, to form New Life Romanian held its first service as a merged congregation in the former First Romanian church facility. Just a few miles away, Baptist Church.

Sojourn Church held its first service in the facility of the former Bethel Romanian church.

In 1988, ten years after the first Romanian Baptist Today Sojourn Church meets for corporate worship on Sundays in their new church facility. Then during the church in Florida was launched, 226 language week church leaders fan out into the community to take the gospel to where people are and to disciple those congregations were affiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention, including three Romanian-language who have made professions of faith. churches. Today, five Romanian churches are among Because such a high percentage of those who live in South Florida are unchurched and many live lifestyles Florida Baptists’ 829 language congregations. contrary to biblical teaching, Sojourn Church has learned to accept people “as they are, love them with grace, and pray that the Holy Spirit brings the change that only He can bring,” said Peavyhouse.

The church planter has been inspired and encouraged by the generosity of Vancea, and he continues to learn much from the experienced pastor whenever the two interact. “Florin has a real heart to reach the lost,” he said.

For Vancea, such assistance to a young Anglo church seems natural. “I wanted to be faithful to the Great Commission,” he explained.

An ethnic church, according to Vancea, is much like a fish bowl set down in an ocean. “The fish bowl has its own life but in many ways is isolated from the rest of the ocean. We can see the rest of the ocean but can’t impact it.”

One specific way for an ethnic church to impact the world beyond its own particular ethnic group is to partner with an Anglo church. Further, he said, “It’s only fair that we help English-speaking churches because Florida Baptist they have helped us.”

Children’s Home, With his feet firmly on the ground in South Florida, Peavyhouse also looks to Florida Baptists’ Urban Impact Jacksonville Center for advice, training and encouragement. The Urban Impact Center was established in South Florida as a “Before I became a Christian I had branch office of the Florida Baptist Convention in an effort to strengthen existing congregations to more a party life. When I became a effectively start new churches and evangelize their unique communities.

Christian I changed a lot because I “The connections made through Urban Impact have been profound,” he commented. decided I didn’t want to disappoint Far from the days when Peavyhouse was ready to give up on his vision to reach South Florida with the God anymore. I wanted to be an gospel of Jesus Christ, today his dream continues to expand. “One day I’d like to be a part of helping plant example for my family, because my two sisters were coming churches up and down the I-95 corridor.” over to live with me. I wanted them to know that God can change people.

Along that corridor are three South Florida counties—Miami, Broward and Palm Beach—comprising one of the most challenging mission fields in the United States with an estimated population of seven million persons—a figure What also helped me change my life was our foster parent, Mr. that includes undocumented foreign nationals—who represent more than 175 nationalities and dozens of languages.

Chris. He was a really good influence because he did Those individuals, said Peavyhouse, need desperately to hear the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. devotions every day and he let us know that God loved us no “The gospel changes things.” matter what. And, that we all have past sins in our life and we

Romanians: Finding a Home in the Sunshine State

Let’s ReVision Together Jenny

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can renew ourselves and repent to God and ask for forgiveness and He’ll forgive us.”

ReVision Florida

Journey of renewal leads to revitalized church For years, church member Vicki Welch sensed she might have a spiritual gift for teaching. Following a lay ministry weekend held at Crossway Baptist Church in Tallahassee, that gift was confirmed for her.Today she enthusiastically teaches an adult Sunday School class each week.

“I love teaching this class! The insights from the class members push us onward and upward. It’s a delight,” said Welch.

Helping church members to discover and use their spiritual gifts was just one benefit resulting from a Church Renewal Journey that the church began in October 2007 and continued in April 2008.

Since that time the church has experienced a renewed spirit of unity, grown numerically, expanded its children’s and youth programs and updated its facilities, according to pastor Josh Parker.

When a young Parker arrived at Crossway as its first full-time pastor just over five years ago, he sensed the church had a lot of potential but it “needed some direction,” he said.

Wanting to involve church members in setting that direction, Parker called on Florida Baptist Terry Land, a volunteer who helps coordinate Church Renewal Journey among Florida Baptist churches.

Church Renewal Journey is a lay-led process consisting of five weekends, which churches may schedule according to their own needs or priorities.

The five weekends focus on prayer, lay renewal, lay ministry, marketplace and Acts 1:8.

At Crossway the first lay renewal weekend involved church members in small groups getting to know one another on a level deeper than a Sunday morning greeting and handshake. That weekend was critical for the church as longtime members—many of whom were mature in years—had not had an opportunity to bond with newer and often younger members.

During that weekend, “The Holy Spirit led and guided us where He knew we needed to go,” recalled Parker. Trust and encouragement grew exponentially among church members, he said.

About six months later, the church scheduled another lay ministry weekend in which laypeople were reminded that “they are just as called and equipped by God” as ministers are, explained Land.

Denominational statistics reveal that less than five percent of Christians know their spiritual gifts, he said, and much of the second weekend at Crossway was spent in helping members discover their gifts.

The lay ministry weekend is always an “eye-opener; it’s fun,” said Land.

Church member Welch echoed Land’s sentiment, as she recalled group learning exercises in which fellow church members help one another identify spiritual gifts. “It’s enlightening and encouraging,” said the Sunday School teacher, who admitted that she never considered her “helpful” spirit of doing mundane tasks such as cleaning dishes as a spiritual gift.

Now she approaches these simple tasks with joy, she said.

Discovering spiritual gifts has led church members to a renewed spirit of teamwork. “Everybody is pitching in now,” said Butch Davis, who has served as the church’s chairman of building and grounds for years.

Those two weekends, according to Parker, “laid some foundational stones to get the church healthy and moving in the right direction.”

Looking back, with the perspective of four years to reflect upon, deacon chair Lamar Cox, who admitted he “wasn’t that hip on it (Church Renewal Journey) at the time,” agreed, “It changed the church for the better.”

Time and again, Church Renewal Journey has made a significant impact in churches across the Sunshine State, according to Florida Baptists’ lead evangelism group strategist David Burton, whose office helps support the experience.

“People get honest. Confession often occurs. Repentance takes place and God is allowed to move!” explained Burton, who added that his life was “touched years ago” through a lay renewal weekend.

Such weekends revive not only churches but also pastors who “are hurting today like never before, facing challenges like no generation before,” said Burton. In Florida, about 10 to 12 Church Renewal Journeys are scheduled annually.

Today, at Crossway Church, “The Spirit is alive and well, and Jesus is pushing us forward,” exclaimed Welch.

The once-struggling church is positioned at the south end of Capitol Circle, an area of future potential explosive population growth for the Capitol City. “It could be the church,” said the pastor.

“God can use Crossway to do something great.”

Let’s ReVision Together Eddie Blalock Pastor John Parker prays for new mission leaders at Tallahassee’s Crossway Church.

One unexpected “beautiful sign” for Parker during that weekend four years ago was when participants laid hands on and prayed for the young pastor and his family. Today that prayer time for the pastor continues each Sunday morning as deacons lay hands on and pray for Parker, “To me, it means, the world,” he said.

Affirming the pastor’s assessment, lay renewal leader Land observed,“The Holy Spirit used that first weekend to bring people together, to help them love one another and build relationships.”

Terry Land, left, walks with Tallahassee Pastor Josh Parker through a renewal journey.

Pastor, The Orchard Community Church, Lake City “For the past almost four years, God has given me the privilege to serve as a church planter. I’ve learned a lot in those four years, but maybe I’ve learned the most in the past year. We learned that my two-year-old grandson, Brody, had cancer. It was a shock to us. But God has taught us so very much. God has proven Himself faithful, over and over again. I’ve learned a very important lesson: Peace is not always the absence of pain; it is the promise of His presence. And when He’s present in our lives, when we know Him intimately, and care for Him deeply, He blesses us and He moves us in powerful ways.”

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Th FaF c ltoo rr i d a R eeV iC sP ion

Church leader Ron Anderson prays for needs of the Spruce Creek congregation.

Pastor Bernie Davis stresses renewal at Spruce Creek Baptist Church in Daytona Beach.

Solemn assemblies call churches to repentance and revival The sheet of paper looked innocent enough at first glance--a list with 152 entries, front and back, neatly organized in alphabetized rows.

But as members of Spruce Creek Baptist Church began to examine the list and their hearts, they felt a stirring inside and a calling to a brokenness many had never experienced.

Three weeks before the Daytona Beach church held a solemn assembly on Jan. 30, 2011, Pastor Bernie Davis distributed the list of 152 personal and corporate sins—anger, carnality, disobedience, evil thoughts, impatience, prejudice, and placing a host of things before God, such as money, career and alcohol. The ubiquitous list went on and on.

“We asked them to pray and asked God to show us what Spruce Creek was guilty of,” said Davis. “I was amazed at the way God revealed our corporate sins. When we tallied the sheets, God was speaking to all of us about the same sins. On the evening of the solemn assembly, I simply shared the corporate sins that were identified.”

After reading the results, the congregation spent the remainder of the evening “confessing and praying for forgiveness of those sins,” Davis recalled. “Our hearts were broken. Some cried before the Lord. It was a time of true repentance and calling out to God. A time of God's church to be revived.”

Davis said the church discovered their number one sin was apathy. “We were satisfied with the status quo.”

Church leader Ron Anderson agreed. “The apathy was so strong we were taking for granted our church, our pastor and where we can serve.

Since that time, we have had several 30-somethings volunteer to take on new roles.”

Anderson is one of a handful of men who gather at daybreak every Tuesday morning to pray for needs—both spiritual and physical—in the church. Spruce Creek has also held other corporate prayer gatherings to advance the movement. “As a result of our continuing prayer emphasis, the people are getting closer to the Lord,” Anderson said.

The church had taken on the solemn assembly

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as a result of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Day of Prayer emphasis. Several Florida Baptist churches, including Spruce Creek, seized the opportunity to call their people to a more extended time to seek the face of God. Members of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola participated in 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting in conjunction with the national Day of Prayer. Pastor Ted Traylor asked members to prepare their hearts in three ways.

“I asked them to spend extra time in prayer and examine fasting as they are led in their soul,” said Traylor. He offered suggestions on ways church members could fast, including giving up Sunday lunch after church.

He encouraged families to “refurbish and refresh the prayer altar within their home,” calling on the spiritual leader in each household to hold a prayer meeting for their extended family on Thursday nights.

Then on the Day of Prayer, members gathered at the church, meeting in connection groups and in the worship center for corporate prayer and worship.

“We experienced repentance, joy, confession,” said Traylor. Five men indicated a call to ministry.

As he looks back on the experience, Traylor said he believes the 40-day experience was the key to renewal.

“Since the solemn assembly we have seen a freshness in worship and an increase in baptisms.

One manifestation has been an increase in giving in this down economy. While we did not stress giving it has been a natural overflow of the obedience in the body,” he said.

“A remnant of our people has continued to pray and fast on a regular basis,” Traylor added. After a recent worship service to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, he recalled, “a church member said to me that our 9-11 service was one of the greatest days of worship he had ever experienced but it did not do for him what the Solemn Assembly Day had done.”

Rick Shepherd, team strategist for the Prayer

and Spiritual Awakening team of the Florida Baptist Convention, provides resources and assists churches who desire to go on a deeper level such as a solemn assembly, which he calls “God's Restoration Invitation.”

“This is a time for bringing back the joy of knowing Him. It is a meeting point for joyless hearts to return to Him in brokenness, repentance, with surrendered wills and renewed obedience,” Shepherd said.

The positive experiences of these two diverse churches located at opposite ends of the state, demonstrate the value of the solemn assembly as a way of bringing God’s people to a renewed and refreshed relationship with the Father, said Shepherd.

As Davis reflected on the past ten months since the solemn assembly, “I wish I could say that all of our corporate sin is gone but that would not be true.

“I can say that God is moving us from apathy to a desire to be about what He is doing: from forsaking the assembly to a greater attendance on Sunday morning; from withholding tithes to going through summer meeting our expenditures; from faith without works and hearing without doing to more becoming involved in the ministry of the church; from half-heartedness to an excitement in worshiping our Lord; from limiting God to trusting and expecting Him to do great and mighty things.”

God also called out new leaders in the solemn assembly, Davis said. For years, the church had been praying for a band. After the solemn assembly, a member came forward and formed a band that began leading worship in a month. And as proof of the congregation’s new attitude, no one in the congregation has complained about the band or the loudness of their music, he wryly admitted.

The congregation also realized that they were not caring for the Lord’s House, said Davis, and undertook a remodeling program inside the buildings and outside.

“We are still praying and confessing and looking forward to what God has in store.”

As polio victim Harvey Finkelstein drove his motorized wheelchair to the table laden with food, he was simply looking for a good meal. “I never turn down food,” the transplanted New Yorker laughed.

Invited by a friend to the church-wide picnic sponsored by First Baptist Church, Delray Beach, Finkelstein, a lifetime Jew, had no idea that the simple picnic would lead to a spiritual nourishment he had long lacked.

Over the next few months, church members, along with pastor Steve Thomas, built a relationship with Finkelstein, answered his questions, shared their faith and rejoiced when he made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. On Aug. 15, 2010, the two burly sons of Pastor Thomas gently lifted Finkelstein from his motorized scooter into the church baptismal pool. Two days later, the new Christian celebrated his seventieth birthday.

Recalling the joy of Finkelstein’s baptism, the pastor cannot help but point to the 2010 Coalition, a unique peer learning group of area pastors who hold each other accountable to “focus on the main priority of sharing the gospel.”

The group, he said, has reminded him to be aware in his everyday life of people with whom he can share a Christian witness.

The 2010 Coalition, a group of 12 pastors from churches in Palm Beach County, launched in January 2010 with “the singular vision of leading people to Jesus at a highly effective rate,” according to Dale Faircloth, pastor of First Baptist Church of Royal Palm Beach.

Faircloth, who completed his doctoral studies on the effectiveness of peer learning groups, led in the formation of the 2010 Coalition. He had been involved in an earlier peer learning group, “learned some essential do’s and don’ts from that experience and applied his learnings through the 2010 Coalition,” according to Bob Bumgarner, who leads Florida Baptists’ Church Leadership Development Group.

As Faircloth set out to develop the 2010 Coalition, he carefully recruited a balance of pastors, who could be evaluated objectively on varying levels of pastoral effectiveness. A pastor’s measure of success, he believes, is “not the level of involvement in associational committees and projects.” Instead, he said, “the measure of success is the Great Commission,” which can be determined by a church’s baptism ratio.

When he examined the baptism ratios of the churches in Palm Beach County, Faircloth admitted, “I was brokenhearted,” by the few people who had made salvation decisions.

Speaking to potential group members, Faircloth quickly shared that the overall goal of the coalition was to “demonstrate effectiveness in carrying out the Great Commission by baptizing at a 10:1 ratio or better.” That is, he said, for every 10 persons in average worship attendance, one person will make a profession of faith and be baptized.

With member pastors committed to the 2010 Coalition, “the group started with a clean vision

Let’s ReVision Together Craig Conner Pastor, First Baptist Panama City

“God has been stirring my heart in recent days. I mean, really working in my life, speaking to my heart about one vitally important thing. And that is, what truly is His design for the church? More importantly, what is God’s design for this church that He has called me to pastor. God is stirring me to make sure that I seek to lead the church that I pastor to glorify Him by focusing our efforts on evangelism. You know, as the darkness of our culture seems to be growing day by day, it’s the prayer of my heart that the brightness of the gospel might shine clearly through our churches that we might be able to make a difference in this world in which we live. And so my challenge to all of us as Florida Baptists is, let’s seek to lead our churches in such a way that God may be glorified as we reach out into a darkened culture and we reach it with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Harvey Finkelstein came to know Christ through evangelistic outreach at First Baptist Church, Delray Beach.

restore

ReVision Florida

Peer learning group in south Florida refocuses on changed lives

personal evangelism and each pastor’s church being held accountable for its baptisms has had a personal effect. Taylor confessed that he has “been convicted about my own responsibility to share my faith as a follower of Christ and, from a congregational perspective, we have been able to take some Pastor Dale Faircloth advice from our sister churches who are working in similar contexts and apply them where we are.” and has progressed for 18 months without Pastor Chris Hudson of the Haverhill Baptist difficulty,” explained Faircloth.

Church, agrees. “Because I’ve held myself Typically, pastors meet once a month over accountable to godly men with similar desires, I’ve lunch. Following prayer and casual had a greater focus and desire to witness conversation, discussion turns to a monthly personally and see more baptisms. I’ve learned and report shared by each pastor. The report is a implemented ideas that were gained from our statistical analysis of each church based on group.” attendance and baptisms, with the 10:1 ratio Since its founding in January 2010, the total being the goal. aggregate baptism ratio of the group has improved “Spontaneous praises are offered to those to 12:1 from 19:1; still the goal is for each church showing improvement,” said Faircloth. represented in the group to attain a 10:1 ratio.

Then, discussion continues for about an hour Beyond the numbers, as the baptism ratio with pastors whose churches have shown improves, lives are transformed by the saving significant improvement sharing about their gospel of Jesus Christ. intentional efforts and answering questions “I’m a better person,” said new believer from fellow pastors. Ideas, such as hosting and Finkelstein, who says he is quicker to forgive and sending invitations to baptism receptions, to help others in need. Although mobility is a emanate spontaneously from the group. challenge, he attends church each Sunday and most Such open discussion, according to Faircloth, Wednesdays. is similar to secular professional peer learning “I have changed a lot of my ways to coincide groups which are “no-nonsense and resultswith God’s teaching,” said the new convert who has oriented. Ideas flow and enthusiasm rises.” already read through the entire Bible.

With this approach, “a level of transparency Although Finkelstein’s family disapproves of exists that I find extremely healthy,” said his decision to follow Christ, he affirmed, “No Coalition 2010 member Rob Taylor, pastor of matter what, I am not going to turn back.”

First Baptist Church of Boca Raton.

With each pastor being accountable for his

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Florida Missions Today

ReVision Florida

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South Florida native returns home compelled by spiritual vacuum Bernie Cuerto is planting a Hispanic church, La Iglesia Familiar in West Palm Beach.

Let’s ReVision Together Remaining in Texas after pursuing his educational goals was not an option to Miami native Bernie Cuerto. Even stronger than the pull of family on his return to South Florida was God’s call to the vast spiritual lostness of his home turf.

“In the Bible Belt, there is a good church on every corner and PhD’s teaching Sunday school,” Cuerto recalled. “That’s not the way it is in South Florida.”

“We wanted to come back home and make a difference in a place that is one of two least churched areas in the country.”

Cuerto is campus pastor and instructor for Biblical and Theological Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University, where he “focuses on the spiritual culture” of the 4,000 faculty, staff and students. In addition to his role at the Christianoriented West Palm Beach school, he is growing a new Hispanic congregation, La Iglesia Familiar of First Baptist Church, West Palm Beach, where he also serves as a teaching pastor.

In November Cuerto will be the first Hispanic in Florida Baptist State Convention history to preach the Convention Sermon at the annual meeting.

The historic moment will be shared by Cuerto’s parents, who left thriving businesses and wealth in 1969 to escape Fidel Casto’s revolution in Cuba, fleeing to Spain before settling in Miami.

His parents “quickly accepted” that their life as Cuban exiles in South Florida would be far different from the one they lived as persons of means in their homeland, Cuerto said. Sacrifices were made and their children were expected to succeed in life as well as to educate themselves by paying their own way in college.

These expectations were realized in Cuerto who graduated from Florida International University and originally thought he would enter the law profession. But God had other plans and the 37-year-old continued his education at Dallas Theological Seminary where he received his Master’s in Theology and will earn his doctor of philosophy degree in December.

Cuerto and his wife, Ana—also from Miami—have three children, ages eight, six and three. Among the ways he plans to reach other Hispanics is coaching their children’s sports teams and involvement in other activities where he can witness to and build relationships with other families.

“It is a great way to be a light for a lot of people who would be uncomfortable to set a foot in a daunting church like First West Palm Beach.

They see us loving on their kids and their kids responding to us in a nonthreatening way.” The Cuerto family also hosts these families in their homes, just another way of creating relationships in a county where one million people do not profess Jesus as Savior.

Church plants are needed for the second generation Hispanics, he said, because they no longer speak the Spanish of their parents, yet continue to identify with the culture.

“Coming from a Cuban-American home has allowed me to see the beauty of God and His people in a creative avenue of culture and languages,” he said.

“I desire to be used by God to bridge gaps between the truth of God and the lives of needy people who desperately need to hear and see the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

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Herb Reavis

Pastor, North Jacksonville Baptist Church, Jacksonville “God has been stirring in my heart a fresh measure of revival, bringing me to a place of renewed excitement about ministry. I have never been as excited about preaching God’s Word as I am now. There’s just been something stirring within me. Something fresh. Just an unusual moving of the Holy Spirit. Just a new realization that the God who sent fire on Mt. Carmel and the God who sent fiery tongues on the day of Pentecost is the God that I serve.”

Darren Gaddis

Pastor, First Baptist Church, Ocala “Recently, we’ve been through some internal turmoil as a congregation. Yet we are seeing God bring a bright and brand new thing among us as restoration is taking place in the hearts and lives of our church members. We are seeing God touch lives. We are seeing people rise up to share the gospel in our community, in our nation, and around the world. We are truly a church that typifies this verse – ‘beauty from ashes’."

Mac Brunson

Pastor, First Baptist Church, Jacksonville “Over the years I have prayed for God to send a revival to my church, for God to send a revival to my people, even for God to send a revival to my denomination. But what God is doing in my life is that He’s teaching me that I need to pray, God send a revival to Mac Brunson. Let it begin in me. You know, pastoring this church for the last five years, I have faced crises and issues, the subject and intensity of which I’ve never faced before. And every single time, God seems to be saying, through this I’m trying to do something in your life. That’s what God’s doing in me.

He’s working in me to change me to be a man of clean hands and a pure heart. I want to be more like Jesus Christ. With every passing day, I want to look and sound and act more like Jesus Christ.”

Published by the Public Relations Division as a Cooperative Program ministry of the Florida Baptist Convention, e-mail: fmt@flbaptist.org; Donald Hepburn, executive editor; Barbara Denman, managing editor; Ken Touchton, photographer; Barbara Denman, Margaret Dempsey-Colson and Mickey Noah, writers; RLS Group, designer.