This August pastors from North Florida will travel to South Florida to connect with area church planters to discuss ways they can partner to advance the Gospel in South Florida.
This Send South Florida vision tour is a partnership between the Jacksonville Baptist Association, North American Mission Board, the Florida Baptist Convention and local associations and churches. Jeff Stockdale, pastor of The Point at St. Johns Park in Jacksonville, has been a key organizer of this event. All proceeds from the Maguire State Mission Offering will fund the Send South Florida initiative.
“We are looking forward to making much of Jesus and this opportunity allows Northeast Florida churches to plan mission activities,” wrote Stockdale in an email.
“This trip represents what Southern Baptists are all about, partnerships and cooperation,” said Rick Wheeler, lead missional strategist for the Jacksonville Baptist Association.
Space for the August 6-9 trip is still available and Wheeler expects between 10 and 20 pastors to sign up. Pastors who sign up for the trip will have the opportunity to connect with planters in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Last year’s trip in July resulted in five new partnerships between Jacksonville and South Florida churches.
“We want to connect pastors and churches in Jacksonville with church plants and church planters in South Florida to help them and to learn from them,” Wheeler said.
More partnerships are needed to help bring the Gospel to the people of South Florida of whom 96 percent are lost or unchurched, according to statistics by NAMB [https://www.namb.net/send_city/south-florida/].
“I hope we are a blessing to church plants in South Florida but I expect that we will also be blessed,” said Wheeler. “We will learn much about the cultural undercurrents of what we will experience in North Florida in a not too distant future.”
By Keila Diaz, Florida Baptist Convention, July 5, 2018