ORLANDO— Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, delivered a bold message during the closing of the morning session of the 2025 Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting at First Orlando.

Preaching from 2 Corinthians 5:11–21, his sermon, titled Call Up Ambassadors, reminded pastors and churches of their ultimate mission, to represent Jesus Christ and call people to be reconciled to God.

Scroggins began by reflecting on his lifelong connection to Florida, expressing gratitude for the pastors and churches spread across the state, from large cities like Miami and Orlando to small towns like Chiefland and Arcadia. “Florida Baptists are everywhere,” he said, before posing a convicting question: “What business are we in? What are we really doing here?”

He quickly answered his own question. “We’re not primarily a political movement, although politics matters. We’re not primarily a conservative movement, although being conservative matters. We’re not here to save Western civilization, though that matters too,” Scroggins said. “We are ambassadors for Christ­–working to see men and women, boys and girls, from every neighborhood and every nation reconciled to God by faith in Jesus.”

Drawing from Paul’s description of believers as ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5:20, Scroggins explained that Christians live as representatives of another kingdom. “An ambassador doesn’t set the policy,” he said. “He articulates it. He carries the authority of his home government while living in a foreign land.” All believers, he added, represent not just their church or family, but ultimately Jesus and His kingdom. “Your church is a little embassy,” he said. “Your family is a little embassy. Every Florida Baptist is a little embassy.”

Scroggins outlined four ways believers must live out their ambassador calling:

Call people to be reconciled to God

“We are not ambassadors for conservatism or political ideology,” Scroggins said. “Our job is not to implore people to vote for someone. It’s to implore people to be reconciled to God.”

He made clear that both liberals and conservatives alike are lost without Christ. “A Democrat without Jesus and a Republican without Jesus will both spend eternity apart from God,” he said. “Their greatest need isn’t political reform; it’s peace with God.”

Expounding on verse 21, he explained the concept of double imputation: “Our sin was charged to Christ’s account, and His righteousness was credited to ours,” Scroggins said. “That’s what makes reconciliation possible.”

Call people to love people like Jesus

Turning to verses 14–16, Scroggins emphasized that “the love of Christ” compels believers to evangelize. “You can’t be a good ambassador if you hate your mission field,” he said. “We’re not sent with a message of resentment; we’re sent with a message of reconciliation.”

He acknowledged how difficult it can be to love people in a polarized world but reminded listeners that it’s not their personal love that sustains them. It’s Christ’s love implanted within them. “We are not about pushing people down or pushing them out,” he said. “We are here to pull people in and lift people up and point them to Jesus.”

Call people to live as new creations

Quoting 2 Corinthians 5:17, Scroggins declared, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; the new has come.”

He described the transformation that follows salvation is not perfection, but genuine change. “I’m not the man I want to be, but I’m not the man I used to be,” he said. Sharing a story from Family Church Jensen Beach, he recounted how a teenage girl named Ruby came to faith through student camp, led her father Ryan to church, and eventually saw him surrender his life to Christ after realizing that “Jesus is the answer to all the brokenness in the world and in me.”

Call people to implore others to choose Christ

Scroggins closed with urgency. “We are ambassadors who beg people to be reconciled to God,” he said. “Heaven and hell are at stake.” He shared how legendary Jacksonville pastor Homer Lindsay embodied this truth, pleading with people to be saved because he truly believed eternity hung in the balance.

“Brothers and sisters,” Scroggins concluded, “we are ambassadors for Christ. Let’s not forget what business we’re in. Let’s implore people young and old, conservative and liberal, near and far, to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.”