Volume25, 27, Issue Issue 23 Volume
accelerate at the same rate when dropped. To test the theory, Scott, who was in a relative vacuum on the moon’s surface, predicted that a hammer that weighed almost 3 pounds and a feather that weighed slightly more than an ounce, when dropped simultaneously, would hit the moon’s surface at the same time. So he dropped the hammer and a falcon’s feather, and amazingly both objects fell at his feet at the same time. Galileo’s theory proved correct, which was a convenient truth in that the astronauts relied on that science to get them back to earth. Hurricanes Jose, Irma, and Katia as viewed from space on September 8, 2017. Photo by NASA/NOAA GOES Project.
The Science Behind Disaster Response By Ray Johnson Years ago, I was a skeptic about personality tests. When my wife and I were commissioned as missionaries with another denomination, we attended their monthslong orientation, prior to which we took the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI). “Hoo-hah,” I thought. My results indicated that I was an ENTP, an Extroverted, Intuiting, Thinking, Perceiver. We purchased a book on Myers-Briggs, Please Understand Me, by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates. In one section of the book, the writers observed that ENTPs tend to marry their exact opposite, ISFJs (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judgers). My wife, it turns out, is an ISFJ. I was converted. To me, the predictive value of a science is a measure of the science’s validity. So, for example, astronaut David Scott on the Apollo XV mission tested Galileo’s theory that objects, regardless of mass,
A few decades ago, the world’s climate scientists began to sound the alarm about the earth’s rising temperatures. Their science was not new. In fact, a Swedish chemist, Svante Arrhenius, calculated the impact of burning fossil fuels on raising the earth’s temperature in 1890! His calculations have proven remarkably accurate. Over the past thirty years, climate scientists have warned that hurricanes would become more intense (more heat in the atmosphere means more energy to feed the storms), that hurricanes would produce greater amounts of rainfall and greater storm surges (warm air holds more moisture), that low-lying areas would be increasingly subject to flooding, and that coastal areas would be subject to encroaching oceans. The scientists also predicted that while some areas would be at risk of increased flooding and rainfall, other areas would dry out due to prolonged droughts. Their predictions remind me of the words of the prophet Amos: “I kept the rain from falling when your crops needed it the most. I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another. Rain fell on one field, while another field withered away. People staggered from town to town looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord. (Amos 4:6-8 New Living Translation) The year 2017 saw three of the most destructive hurricanes ever to form in the Atlantic, viz., Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Harvey dropped an incredible 24.5 continued on page 7
Photo from US Coast Guard overflight of Jacksonville shows flooding after Hurricane Irma on September 11, 2017
In the wake of Hurricane Irma, many in St. Petersburg could be found doing two things: thanking God for the minimal damage and protection through the storm; and coming to the haunting realization that so many of our neighbors were facing a very different reality that could have easily been ours. In response to this truth, the folks of FBC St. Petersburg collected bottled water, food, and toiletries, and FBC members George Baulig, Mark Sharp, and Chris Culpepper (Pastor of Worship) drove a trailer load to CityGate Ministries in Ft. Myers. —Sara Hunt-Felke, Pastor of Youth and Young Adults at FBC St. Petersburg
Gardner-Webb students come to Jacksonville and Orange Park to muck out homes damaged by Irma’s flooding.
Gardner-Webb students carry flood-damaged furnishings from a home in Orange Park.
Students from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC, work on drywall in one of the many homes flooded by Hurricane Irma in Jacksonville and Orange Park.
CBF Florida
Disaster Response Efforts
A team from FBC Huntsville, AL, mucked out Cathy and Carol’s home in October 2017.
We are so grateful to everyone who came to work on our house after it flooded during Hurricane Irma. We are truly humbled by this experience. To receive is unbelievable when you are typically the giver. To say thank you doesn’t seem to be enough to express our gratitude.” —Jacksonville homeowners Cathy and Carol
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Students and leaders with the Second Story college ministry of First Baptist Church, Columbus, Georgia are still smiling after mucking out a home flooded during Hurricane Irma in Orange Park, Florida. Island View Baptist Church served as the host site.
Each group that has worked in our community has demonstrated, not just a willingness to work, but an abiding conviction about WHY they are here working. They lead by serving. They uphold the dignity of those with whom they work and engage in deeper conversations. They love like Jesus loved. It’s a tremendous encouragement to share these moments in ministry together. —Kevin Collison, Pastor of Island View Baptist Church and CBF Disaster Response Site Coordinator for Orange Park Thank you, Kevin, for serving as the site coordinator for CBF Disaster Response in Orange Park, FL, for assessing homes for incoming mission teams and for hospitably hosting teams at Island View Baptist Church.
Kenny Phillips is the Co-Pastor of Seeker Fellowship in Ft. Walton. Thanks Kenny for doing a safety an inventory check on the CBF Florida Disaster Response Trailer and helping to transport it for usage. Thank you, Kenny, for doing a safety and inventory check on the CBF Florida disaster response trailer and for helping to transport it for usage.
Art Mills is the Disaster Response Site Coordinator in Jacksonville, FL and Mission and Witness Committee Chairperson at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church. Thank you, Art, for assessing damaged homes in Jacksonville, hosting mission teams at HAB Church and for your follow up with local homeowners to be sure all their needs were met.
Thank You for Serving! Rachel Gunter Shapard (left) went to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria for a disaster response training with Alan Williams (right), CBF Disaster Response Coordinator, Eddy Ruble (back), CBF Field Personnel in Malaysia and Indonesia, Juan García (2nd from right), Pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Newport News, VA, and Jesus García (center), Pastor of Metropólis Baptist Church in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Disaster recovery will be ongoing for years. CBF Florida churches and individuals are encouraged to consider going to help with rebuilding efforts.
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After Castro, Baptist Cuban Churches Poised for Growth By Joe LaGuardia
Excerpt printed with Permission from Ethics Daily*
As a thriving island democracy, Cuba soon saw a breakdown in both politics and religion after the Castro revolution overthrew President Fugencia Batista in 1959. Christianity protested with the weight of its own armor and influence but ultimately drowned under the rushing river of atheism and anti-imperialist propaganda that followed communist victory in 1965. Now, nearly a year after Fidel Castro’s death, Christianity is learning how to swim again. While some Baptists still weigh down faith with the clothes of a type of Christianity imported from the United States, many others have cast off consumerist models of religion in search of a thoroughly Cuban Christianity. This is a daily, uphill spiritual battle. Where the atheists don’t resist Christian growth, the occult Santaria movement vies for more converts to its own cause. Where Christian missions try to recreate the megachurch mindset of North America and Africa, many Christian Cubans struggle to keep an indigenous faith that resists the shortfalls of capitalism and consumerism. The daily lives of Cubans exist somewhere in the middle of all of this. The Baptists that we worked with— those who make up a community of 40-plus churches known as the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba—try to blend an indigenous cultural beauty for which Cuba is known with a steadfast gospel that embodies Christ’s salvation, compassion and mission. It is not a Christianity weighed down with Western ideals, though
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it does borrow heavily from an incarnational model of missions that promotes social justice and the rhetoric of liberation that stems from Latino theologians, such as Oscar Romero and Justo Gonzales. Cuba’s Christian churches are trying to live by divorcing themselves from unhealthy models of Christian mission known for emphasizing otherworldly salvation at the expense of—or, at times, total abandonment of—community transformation. If anything, Baptist Cuban churches are poised for growth precisely because they have engaged in ministries that bolster the Cuban imagination, especially those that are profound in Christian protest
against systemic oppression, all while being sensitive to the deepest needs that exist in the local communities where the real spiritual battles are being waged. As one local Cuban pastor told me, this is not a forcing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “arc of history that bends towards justice,” but a long game that seeks total and utter reformation for the sake of Christ. This is not a reformation of their own making and in their own time, but in the “kairos,” cosmic time whereby God’s kingdom will imbue earth as it is in heaven. *To read the article in its entirety, go to: www.ethicsdaily.com.
Upcoming Engagement Opportunities CBF FLORIDA PASTOR’S RETREAT JANUARY 21 - 23, 2018 BAYSHORE BAPTIST CHURCH IN TAMPA The Pastor’s Retreat is for all pastors interested in gathering together for an informal discussion-based time of fellowship, self-care, and peer learning. Group conversations will be peer-led on topics related to the blessings and rigors of vocational ministry. The retreat will provide a safe place that inspires friendship, peer-based discussion, and sharing of best practices in ministry with much-needed time for self-care and reflection. CBF Florida will provide the food; Bayshore Baptist Church will provide the space, and the pastors who attend will provide the expertise. To register, go to: www.floridacbf.org/latest-news.
PIVOT PUERTO RICO February 15-19, 2018 CBF Florida and CBF Global will partner with Jesus García of Metropólis Baptist Church in Carolina, Puerto Rico, to lead a group of adults in the Pivot experience in Puerto Rico as scheduled but not as planned. The recent hurricane devastation requires that we be adaptable, so this endeavor will include disaster recovery. We will work, study, live, rest, pray and worship alongside our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico. Expect your traditional thoughts and beliefs about God’s mission in the world and our role in that mission to be challenged. From the mission preparation, on-site experience and pivoting back home, this experience will help train and equip leaders to think critically about mission engagement internationally, regionally and locally. All are welcome! This trip is geared toward adult lay leaders. Ministers are welcome when accompanied by members of their congregation. The deadline to sign up is January 5. To learn more or register for the trip, go to: www.cbf.net/ pivotpuertorico.
1 in 6 people and 1 in 4 children in Florida are affected by food insecurity. You can make a difference for those struggling with hunger!
CBF FLORIDA STUDENT MEAL PACKING EVENT SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2018 FROM 9 AM - 11 AM ISLAND VIEW BAPTIST CHURCH Cost: Each person must raise $85.00 to purchase the raw ingredients for the event. Every $1 given to Hunger Fight provides four meals to children and families. To register, go to www.floridacbf.org/latest-news.
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2017-2018 Ministerial Scholarship Students In 2009, CBF Florida received a generous gift from Lucille A. Smith. Mrs. Smith was concerned that the next generation of Baptist leaders be trained for more effective Christian ministry. The Lucy Smith Endowment for Theological Education provides scholarship support “for any educational endeavor that can be shown to enhance the recipient’s ministry within the Baptist community of faith.”
Tommy Shapard is a student at Southern Methodist University seeking a Doctorate in Pastoral Music. Tommy is in the second year of his degree program at SMU and plans to complete his doctoral degree in the summer of 2019.
Joseph Smith, III, is a second year student at Mercer University—McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, GA. He is enrolled in the pastoral track and expects to receive his M.Div. in the spring of 2019.
Teruco Tynes is a third year student at McAfee School of
SAVE the DATE!
Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia. She will complete her studies for graduation in May 2019 with an emphasis in pastoral care. Teruco’s home city is Nassau, Bahamas, and she is affiliated with CBF—The Bahamas. Her goal is to return to The Bahamas to serve as God directs her.
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CBF FLORIDA REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING ISLAND VIEW BAPTIST CHURCH IN ORANGE PARK FEBRUARY 23-24, 2018 CBF FLORIDA SPRING CELEBRATION ISLAND VIEW BAPTIST CHURCH IN ORANGE PARK APRIL 20-21, 2018
Thank You for the Gifts! Phoebe C. Delamarter in honor of Carolyn Anderson’s birthday Janis Moore in honor of Wanda Ashworth Valencia (Hurricane Irma) Velma Daniels in memory of Dexter Daniels Randy Ashcraft in honor of Bayshore Baptist Church Jan Bryant in thanksgiving of CBF of Florida Ministries
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trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana. That’s enough rain to cover the entire continental US with nearly a half inch of rain! Hurricane Irma, which made US landfall first in the Florida Keys and then at Marco Island before tracking up the spine of Florida’s peninsula, had the highest wind speeds (185 mph) of the 2017 hurricane season. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria, the tenth most powerful Atlantic basin hurricane in history virtually destroyed the island of Puerto Rico. At the same time that Houston was flooding from its third “500year flood” in three consecutive years and northeast Florida was awash with its second recordbreaking flooding in as many years, California and the Pacific northwest were aflame with wildfires burning an estimated 2 million acres by the middle of September. As I indicated earlier, science predicted this. NASA, the same agency that used science to go to the moon and back, predicted that Atlantic hurricanes would become stronger and more frequent, that “heavy precipitation events” will increase, that droughts (particularly in the southwest) and heat waves everywhere are predicted to increase. (You can read more online at https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/.) What is more difficult to predict, however, is the human cost and,
therefore, the missional costs of climate change. We know that right now tens of thousands of Americans have been displaced from their homes because of wildfires and flooding. In the Jacksonville area alone, homeowners in flooded areas are being given three options: elevate one’s home, bulldoze the home, or contest the government’s ruling. (See “Raise it or raze it? Federal regulations present hard choice for owners of flooded homes,” by David Bauerlein, at www.jax-cdn.com.) By the middle of October, Florida had seen more than 27,000 climate change refugees from Puerto Rico enter the state since Hurricane Maria. Remember the thousands of people from New Orleans who fled to Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Katrina? People are, as Amos said, staggering from one town to another, although they are now fleeing water as opposed to searching for it. All of this has, and will continue to have, tremendous costs, much of which will be incalculable. Children are kept out of school while a community’s infrastructure is not operative; people who survive these intense, terrifying weather events suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder; communities are stressed by the sudden influx of migrants; economies suffer because people move away or goods are difficult to come by; trash piles up
and disease sets in; mission efforts and resources from churches and other non-profits are re-directed from traditional ministries toward disaster response. In fact, CBF Florida has received almost $30,000 to respond to hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. If science is telling us anything, it’s telling us that we will see more pictures and read more stories such as those found inside this newsletter. We’ll discover more partners, like Brother’s Brother, who helped us bring water and supplies to Ft. Myers, and the Miami Dolphins, who sent volunteers to Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church. We’ll train more site coordinators as we did in Jacksonville, San Juan, and Miami for the long-term work that remains to be done. We’ll send and receive more teams, transport more shower and supply trailers as we did in Jacksonville and Orange Park. We’ll provide more funds for disaster response in places like Cuba, Acklins Island, Puerto Rico, Miami, Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Houston, the Florida Keys. And maybe, just maybe, along the way we will listen to the science, learn the folly of our ways, return to the Lord, and begin to take care of this world and all that is in it.
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Coming to Florida in 2018: Theological Studies with Baptist Seminary at Richmond BTSR’s Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies includes 6 courses and a total of 18 credit hours. Participants will complete one course in each of the following areas of study: Old Testament Bible, New Testament Bible, Theology, Historical Studies, Practical Theology and Spirituality. All courses are eligible to transfer in to a degree program if a student chooses. Tuition costs may vary slightly but the estimated cost should be about $6,200 for the total program and the cost per year at about $3,100.
Goal: Provide a theological education package for ministers and/or lay leaders in Florida who desire basic theological study without relocating or committing the time and financial resources for a full degree program. For more information on the Graduate Certificate in Theological Studies, contact CBF Florida’s office at 863682-6802 or email Melissa Rodriguez at mrodriguez16@floridacbf.org.
2017 Third Issue Volume 27 - Number 3 Contact CBF Florida at: P. O. Box 2556 Lakeland. FL 33806-2556 217 Hillcrest Street Lakeland, FL 33815
CBF FLORIDA FINANCIAL REPORT SUMMARY January 1 – October 31, 2017
Toll-free: 888•241•2233 contact@floridacbf.org www.floridacbf.org
Staff Ray Johnson Coordinator Rachel Gunter Shapard Associate Coordinator Melissa Rodriguez Administrative Assistant Pat Herold Financial Secretary
GENERAL OPERATIONS Receipts Individuals Churches Mission Development (B) All Other Total Income Expenses Net
Actual YTD Oct 2017 $40,732 $149,715 $45,941 $40,045
% of budget 94% 80% 100% 108%
Budget YTD Oct 2017 $43,333 $187,000 $45,941 $36,949
$276,433
89%
$311,723
($307,469)
99%
$311,723
($31,036)
Serving and connecting churches and individuals in their calling to be the presence of Christ
Florida Fellowship News is published by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida, Ray Johnson, Coordinator. P. O. Box 2556, Lakeland, FL 33806-2556. Postage paid at Jacksonville, Fla. Phone (863) 682-6802. Toll free (888) 241-2233. Fax (863) 683-5797. CBF-Florida’s e-mail address is contact@floridacbf.org; Web address is www. floridacbf.org. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE: 1-800-435-7352. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.