Craig Webb

Assistant Executive Director for Assist – Dr. Craig Webb HPBC 2021 Annual Meeting Report for November 2020 – November 2021

Thank you for the privilege of serving Hawaii Pacific Baptists. As I work alongside the HPBC staff team, my primary areas of focus include leadership development, theological training, pastor development, church revitalization, pastor and family support, and communications.

Leadership Development, Revitalization, Pastor and Family Support The Pastors Forum for Hawaii Pacific Baptist Pastors met via Zoom on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of February, March, April, May, July, August, September, October, and November at noon Hawaii time. We provided training for pastors related to discipleship, finding/developing leaders, spiritual development, Sunday school/small groups, Church bylaws, and preaching. It was a joy to meet with pastors from the multiple Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Samoa, Bangkok, Manila, Japan, and South Korea. Twenty-twenty five senior/lead pastors regularly participated. This Pastors Forum supported our strategy to build and sustain a stronger Kingdom network of like-minded churches and ministry partners to facilitate God’s Kingdom through Hawaii Pacific Baptists.

As part of our strategy to provide excellent resources for Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches, Ken Braddy, led a virtual small groups/Sunday school training in May. The training centered around, “How to Launch or Re-Launch Small Groups/Sunday School this Fall.” We had strong participation at this event.

While we have had few in-person events in 2021 due to pandemic restrictions, we were able to host Dr. Warren Haynes for a pastors’ breakfast for fellowship and equipping at Waialae Baptist in July. Twenty Oahu pastors participated.

As Dr. Robert Miller reported in his staff report, we have been working together to provide support, encouragement, resources, and training for pastor-less churches. Robert and I developed a training resource for Hawaii pastor search committees and have used it to provide training/counsel to multiple pastor search committees. We are doing this as part of our strategy to provide excellent resources for Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches

As we fulfill our strategy to leverage the SBC network in positive Kingdom relationships and position Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches to be engaged and influential in the areas God calls them, we have continued to work with our partners at the International Mission Board. Brian Smart, the HPBC team, and I have worked in significant ways to collaborate with key partners for virtual missions experiences, virtual prayer gatherings, and other important projects.

Communications: One of the key values of our vision is strong communication. We will do this as part of our strategy to provide excellent resources for Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches. In the February 2021 Executive Board meeting the HPBC Communications Committee notified the HPBC Executive Board of two major communications related projects, which we completed at the beginning of August 2021.

First, we completed and deployed our new HPBC Logo and rebranding which are reflected in our refreshed website, social media, videos, and print communications.

Second, we deployed new Sue Nishikawa Offering and Week of Prayer content and videos for 2021. I am grateful for our partners at Innovative Faith Resources for their assistance and guidance in these projects. This is part of our strategy to provide excellent resources for Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches.

I’ve also been pleased to work with Pastor Larry Hale, the HPBC Arrangements Committee, and Dawn Akutagawa to produce the Friday evening Annual Meeting Celebration video as well as to provide support for Thursday’s Annual Meeting business session via Zoom.

Other key parts of our communication include regular updates by e-mail and social media, six great editions of our Pacific Connector Magazine (https://www.hpbaptist.net/pacificconnector), and our “52 Sundays” resources (https://www.hpbaptist.net/52sundays).

As we look to the end of 2021 and to 2022, we are enthusiastic about implementing our HPBC Initiatives in the areas of theological, leadership, and missional development. We already have planned events with our partner seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to have several of their administration travel to Hawaii to meet with pastors to find ways forward in expanding theological education. We also have a 3-day in-person Missions and Globalization course planned for the end of February 2022.