Editor’s Note: Eric Mitchell is one of the featured church planters in 2025 Maguire State Mission Offering resources. The statewide 2025 offering goal of $1 million is earmarked to help reach the 16.7 million Florida residents who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, with 100% of all receipts designated to help launch church plants in the state.

PACE–“By God’s grace, we aim to push back the darkness and shine the light of the gospel in our city of Pace, Florida,” said Eric Mitchell, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church.

“This journey began more than two years ago with seeking clarity and confirmation of the calling,” said Mitchell. Prayer has remained the focus and foundation for the church plant set to launch in 2026. Mitchell and other leaders meet weekly to pray over one another and seek the Lord for strategic decisions, the development of a core group and understanding how to engage their community in a unique way.

Developing a tightknit group ready for ministry has been a key component in preparing to plant with all core members seeking to understand and develop their spiritual gifts and how they can serve in areas of worship, hospitality, outreach and preschool ministries.

In 2023, Mitchell and Stewart Kirksey, fellow church planter and associate pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, were brought together through serving their connect group at Hillcrest Baptist Church. Both men, feeling burdened for the local community, began to pray specifically about timing, location, and others to walk alongside them in ministry.

They took steps forward in obedience to the Lord by seeking counsel from mentors and church leaders, practicing discipleship with a micro-group of core members, researching the needs within their local community, and attending the SEND Network church planting assessment and training.

Sending church comes alongside church plant

Every church plant needs a sending church to provide initial support financially and administratively. Hillcrest Baptist Church has a focus on multiplication and a nearly 10-year history of partnering with church plants around the country.

“We have been waiting for the right opportunity to partner with a church in our own state and as it turns out, God was preparing one of our own church members to take a bold step of faith to start a new work in neighboring Santa Rosa County,” said Doug Kimsal, executive pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church.

“New churches less than three years old tend to create 10 new believers per 100 attenders in a year. Congregations three- to 15-years-old produce five new believers per 100, and those over 15 years old drop to three new believers per 100 attenders each year,” said Kimsal. “Small grows faster than big, and we’ve seen that play out in our small group ministry as well as church plants.”

‘Joy to see God work in and through His people’

Following the biblical mandate to “go and make disciples,” leaders at Cornerstone Baptist Church seek to “encourage and excite” others to reach lost people in Santa Rosa County. The church has developed a solid vision to “be a congregation where every member is Christ-centered, love-oriented, and missions-motivated.”

The mission of Cornerstone Baptist Church is clearly stated “to glorify God by making disciples who are devoted to Christ, His great commandments and His Great Commission.”

“I’m really excited to see the work that the Lord will do through His church,” said Kirksey. “There are so many people moving to Pace, and I’m excited to reach them with the gospel and see more people come to know Christ and grow in their faith. What a joy it is to see God work in and through His people,” said Kirksey.

‘Let the Word shape you’

Using 1 Peter 2 as a guide, the leaders desire to be “tethered, saturated, controlled and guided” by the Word of God. The preaching and teaching style will be expository with Mitchell stating, “Don’t let the world shape you, let the Word shape you.”

Mitchell and Kirksey hope the church will be a mosaic representation of every tribe and tongue, unified in Christ, and a place where people who may not feel that they fit in can come and be accepted. “We have a vision of a congregation steeped in Scripture, shaped by love and reflecting the beautiful tapestry of nations envisioned in Revelation 5:9-10,” said Mitchell.

As a recipient of the Maguire State Mission Offering, Cornerstone Baptist Church will direct funds to essential costs associated with meeting at Sims Middle School, outreach materials, signage, and sound and media equipment purchases. The church hopes to establish a welcoming and functional space for worship and ministry while utilizing an accessible and visible location within the community.

Crystal Mitchell and Kristy Kirksey will serve alongside their husbands and co-lead the children’s ministry.

Others can help by praying for the leaders and church as they prepare to launch and consider if they sense God is leading them to be a part in some way by giving financially or through acts of service.