ORLANDO–During the 2024 Pastors’ Conference annual meeting held Nov. 10-11 at First Baptist Church, Orlando, three Florida Baptist pastors were elected by acclamation to lead the 2025 Florida Baptist Pastors’ Conference.
President – Eric Stitts, pastor of First Baptist Church Daytona Beach, was nominated by Paul Purvis, lead pastor of Mission Hill Church in Temple Terrace, to serve as president of the 2025 Florida Baptist Pastors’ Conference. Stitts succeeds Aaron Burgner, senior pastor of Lakes Church, in Lakeland.
Stitts has served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach since March 2018. During his tenure there, Stitts led the church in a relocation project to 235 acres of land and building a new campus. He also has directed the congregation toward local, national and international missions, overseeing seven international mission projects in 2024 and planting nearly 150 churches in Togo, Africa, in 2023. He leads efforts for spiritual renewal in each ministry at the church, with the goal of “making disciples who make disciples.”
Stitts served on Florida Baptists’ committee on order of business 2019-22, serving as chair in 2022.
In his nomination, Purvis said that Stitts is an “encourager. I’ve discovered that Eric is an encourager to his wife. … to his family of four children … to his church as its pastor … and to pastors like me.” He is a pastor who encourages other pastors when they are discouraged, Purvis said. Stitts grew up, he said, with a pastor-father who taught his children, “Stitts don’t quit,” a lesson that Stitts has carried forward in his life.
First vice president – John Marsh, lead pastor of Bella Vista Baptist Church in Edgewater, was nominated by Steve Loy, associate director of missions for East Central Baptist Network, to serve as first vice president of the 2025 Florida Baptist Pastors’ Conference.
Marsh has served on the Florida Baptist State Board of Missions since 2019, serving on the administrative committee, denominational committee and loans committee during that time and serving as chairman of the loans committee in 2023 and 2024, a role that he “loves” because it helps churches, Loy said. He recently served on the search team for Florida Baptists’ new executive director-treasurer. Marsh also serves as moderator for East Central Baptist Network.
In his nomination, Loy said that Marsh, an incredibly intelligent man, is also very humble. Bella Vista, he said, is a “church that loves its pastor,” and Marsh is a “pastor who pastors his church. He is a man who loves Jesus and loves his family.”
Second vice president – Conrad Westbrook, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Geneva, was nominated by Brian Stowe, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Plant City, to serve as second vice president of the 2025 Florida Baptist Pastors’ Conference.
Westbrook has served in fulltime Christian ministry for approximately 20 years.
In his nomination, Stowe said, that in Westbrook’s six-and-a-half year pastorate at First Baptist Church in Geneva, he has led the church in a revitalization process. “God really is working, showing up and doing some great things,” Stowe said. The church has experienced numerous salvation decisions, renovated its worship center and doubled in size under Westbrook’s leadership. Westbrook “has an encourager’s heart, a pastor’s heart,” said Stowe.
The 2025 Pastors’ Conference meeting will be held Nov. 9-10 in conjunction with the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting at First Orlando.