Two Florida Baptist churches were recognized recently for their faithfulness in giving to GuideStone’s Mission:Dignity, a ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention that provides financial assistance to pastors, their wives and/or widows during their retirement years.
Concord Baptist Church in Chiefland and Elizabeth Baptist Church in Monticello were both recognized with onsite visits and encouragement from GuideStone staff. Members of these churches are part of the many people who give to Mission:Dignity each year.
Together, we are truly making a difference in the lives of these retired pastors and their spouses or widows who faithfully served Florida Baptist churches.
Concord Baptist was awarded the John and Teresa Ambra Award, which celebrates the top-giving smaller church — those with up to 100 in attendance — for its financial support of Mission:Dignity. John Ambra led Mission:Dignity for more than two decades, and the award is named in honor of him and his wife Teresa.
Pastor Jamie Brock of Concord Baptist said his church began giving to Mission:Dignity about four years ago and has given between $20,000 and $25,000 each year. Aaron Meraz, director of Mission:Dignity, presented the award to the church in March, and Brock and the church were recognized during GuideStone’s winter board meeting.
“Everybody was on board with giving,” Brock said. “We started taking up an offering and telling folks they could start giving over a period of time to this offering. And then we just give one big offering.”
“The Lord moves you to do what is important to Him,” he said. “I believe those saints have served him well over the years, and we want to support them. We don’t want them to have to struggle. We want to be obedient to what God is telling us to do.”
While it was nice for the church to receive the award, Brock said it’s not really their style to want to receive any recognition.
“We’re the kind of people where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. But we realize it’s not about what we’re doing but what the Lord has done through us.”
Brock said his church is an older congregation, whose members are age 50 and older.
“We have a lot of folks who may not be capable of doing the work, but we are willing to give to the work. And that makes a difference. God has tremendously blessed us with resources.”
Meraz, director of Mission:Dignity, said Concord is only the second church to receive this new award. He said it was a pleasure to meet the Brocks and members of the church.
“They are a wonderful group of people, very evangelistic, very generous and very welcoming,” he said. “Jamie does an incredible job of leading the church, and he’s quite the preacher, too.”
Smaller churches like Concord that do most of the giving to Mission:Dignity, Meraz said.
“I think it’s because of the connection they have with pastors and previous pastors,” he said. “They often know someone who qualifies for Mission:Dignity.”
Denny Gorena, manager of donor relations at GuideStone, visited Elizabeth Baptist and spent time with Pastor Glenn Canup and members of the church, thanking them and congratulating them for their faithfulness. Over the past 26 years, the church has given more than $70,000 to Mission:Dignity.
“They give a monthly gift which is amazing for a church that size,” Gorena said.
Canup said the church started giving to the fund after one of its members was serving on the Florida Baptist Convention’s State Board of Missions and heard about it and knew the church would want to support it. They have been contributing ever since.
“Every month our men’s ministry takes up a collection and will give a special gift to Mission:Dignity. I just think it’s great to support the Lord’s work like this,” Canup said.
Supporting ‘soldiers of the cross’
In 2024, Mission:Dignity gave out $11.5 million to 2,800 recipients. This financial support enables the recipients to live out their retirement years with dignity and allows them to be contributing members of their churches and their communities. All funds raised go directly to the recipients.
Last year, there were 182 recipient households helped in Florida.
Mission:Dignity calls these recipients “soldiers of the cross.” These are retired pastors and their wives, or widows of pastors, who spent their lives in ministry, often pastoring at smaller churches which had smaller budgets and were unable to contribute toward any type of retirement fund.
“Most of our Southern Baptist churches have less than 100 people and are unable to provide any type of retirement. We come alongside these folks and faithfully help them with financial assistance,” said Gorena.
Individual recipients receive $275 to $400 a month while couples can receive $500 to $750 a month, depending on their need. Most recipients are 65 or older with the average age being 85. Currently there are seven recipients over the age of 100, including one who is still teaching Sunday School.
“What a blessing,” Gorena said of that person. “That is a reminder that we don’t really retire in the church. We just transition from one ministry to the next as the Lord leads.”
Florida Baptist partnership
Florida Baptist Financial Services began partnering with Mission:Dignity and GuideStone in 2022 when the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund was launched following the sale of the Florida Baptist Retirement Center in Vero Beach. The Shepherd’s Fund provides a 13th check each year to all Florida Baptist retirees and their spouses who receive assistance from Mission:Dignity.
In addition to direct support from churches and the 13th check, Florida Baptist Financial Services provided more than $40,000 in emergency grants last year to Mission:Dignity recipients in Florida.
“We are grateful to provide these funds from the Florida Baptist Retired Shepherd’s Fund,” said Rick Wheeler, president and CEO of Florida Baptist Financial Services.
“Together, we are truly making a difference in the lives of these retired pastors and their spouses or widows who faithfully served Florida Baptist churches.”
To encourage continued giving to this cause, Mission:Dignity produces a new promotional video each year, which features widows and retired pastors expressing thankfulness for what the extra income means to them. Churches can share these videos and other promotional material to encourage giving during to Mission:Dignity.
To learn more about how you or your church can support Mission:Dignity, go to https://www.guidestone.org/mission-dignity/.
