JACKSONVILLE–During a Florida Baptist State Board of Missions virtual meeting Jan. 26, board members heard a brief message from Aaron Burgner, newly elected board president, and celebrated the forward progress of Florida Baptists’ missions and ministries efforts.
Burgner, senior pastor of Lakes Church in Lakeland, focused on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and urged attendees not to “quench the Holy Spirit” in their lives.
Tommy Green, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, shared with the board that Florida Baptist churches gave $29,180,689 through the Cooperative Program in 2022, representing $30,000 above the $29,150,000 goal. Of that, the convention sent $14,778,599, or 51% of actual receipts, to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program. The state retained $14,402,090 for missions and ministries efforts in Florida.
The executive director-treasurer expressed gratefulness for the “incredible generosity of Florida Baptists.”
Green reported that in the final quarter of 2022 the Florida Baptist Convention provided a total of $51,417 to assist 95 pastors through its Pastor Financial Assistance Program.
Additionally, Florida Baptists gave $939,238 in 2022 to the Maguire State Mission Offering, representing a $302,125 increase over the previous year and the highest state mission offering since 2008. The 2022 total represented 114% of the offering goal of $820,000. The entire offering is designated to fund church planting initiatives in the state.
Two large gifts were received for the 2022 Maguire State Mission Offering. One gift was the inaugural distribution from Florida Baptist Financial Services’ Florida One Fund with a core commitment to support church planting. Additionally, a Florida Baptist church that voted to disband in 2022 made a substantial donation to the offering though its final disbursement of assets.
The board voted to designate $640,000 in 2022 net surplus funds as follows: Pastors’ Financial Assistance Fund, $150,000; MissionDignity, $40,000; The Baptist College of Florida, $50,000; pastors’ theological education scholarship, $50,000; capital improvement fund, $100,000; Challenge 2025 gathering in 2024, $100,000; multicultural events, $50,000; and Disaster Relief church assistance fund, $100,000.
In additional business, the board approved the appointment of Brian McDougal, executive pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa to temporarily fill a vacancy on the board, serving until the next annual meeting of the Florida Baptist State Convention in November 2023.
Attendees received reports from four Florida Baptist Cooperating Ministries: The Baptist College of Florida, Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, Florida Baptist Financial Services, and Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center.
The next board meeting will be March 30-31 in Jacksonville.