SBCV celebrates 25 years of church planting at annual homecoming
By Timothy Cockes
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (BP) — The Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia (SBCV) celebrated 25 years of church planting during its annual homecoming at London Bridge Baptist Church Nov. 10-12.
Brian Autry, executive director of the SBCV, spoke to nearly 1,200 messengers and guests about how the concept of churches planting other churches has been a crucial part of the convention’s ministry philosophy from the beginning.
“Since 1999, over 400 churches have been planted through the partnership of SBCV churches,” Autry said. “For 25 years now, SBCV churches have been sending and planting churches as they advance the gospel of Jesus Christ together.”
Autry said more than 100 of those church plants have started within the last five years. He reminded attendees the SBCV is simply working to fulfill a mandate from God.
“Loved ones, churches sending people to our neighbors and the nations is not our idea,” Autry said. “It’s the very idea of God. It’s a Holy Spirit movement. This evening we come together to thank the Lord that He has made us, His people, to be His plan A, plan B and plan C. We must never forget that we are a sent people.”
In celebration of the convention’s legacy of church planting, the theme for the 2024 annual homecoming was “Advancing the Gospel Together.”
The convention celebrated another record year of giving and other significant financial milestones.
SBCV churches gave record totals to the Cooperative Program ($9,905,189) and the Annie Armstrong Easter offering ($1,385,530). Additionally, $3,646,718 was given towards the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.
All-time SBCV giving to the Cooperative Program has now surpassed more than $217 million since the convention’s inception in 1996.
Upon recommendation from the executive board, messengers approved the proposed Ministry Investment Plan (MIP) of $10,750,000 for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year, which is a slight increase from the 2024 Ministry Investment Plan.
Of the total adopted Ministry Investment Plan amount, $10.3 million comes from SBC of Virginia churches giving related to Cooperative Program contributions. The adopted plan will be distributed with 51% going to national Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Cooperative Program ministries and 49% distributed to state level SBC of Virginia Cooperative Program ministries. This is the same percentage of allocation as previous years.
Upon recommendation, 32 churches requesting partnership with the SBCV were approved by messengers, and 18 new church plants were announced.
This marks a combined total of 50 new SBCV churches, bringing the total number of affiliated churches to 864.
Current SBCV President Rob Pochek, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, Va., was unanimously approved by messengers for a second term.
Messengers then unanimously approved a new slate of officers to serve with Pochek.
James Taylor, senior pastor of Red Lane Baptist Church in Powhatan, Va., was named first vice-president. Jim Booth, senior pastor Staples Mill Road Baptist Church in Glen Allen, Va., was named second vice-president. Daniel Palmer, lead pastor of North Roanoke Church in Roanoke, Va., was named secretary.
Keynote speakers at the homecoming included Dondi Costin, president of Liberty University; Shane Pruitt, Next Gen director for the North American Mission Board (NAMB); Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS); and H.B. Charles, pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.
Pochek closed out the homecoming on Tuesday morning (Nov. 12) by reminding messengers of the imperative of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28.
“We spent the better part of two days thinking about what it means to advance the gospel together,” Pochek said.
“Some of you may have come here hoping to find some new thing that you can take back to your church to take your game to the next level. I want to go back to the basics. I want to go back to the original marching orders that we received from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Pochek encouraged pastors and ministry leaders in the room to remember that they are not alone as they seek to continue to advance the gospel and fulfill the Great Commission.
“SBCV, we exist to make disciples. It is a daunting task before us with 7 million people in our state who are apart from God, but thanks be to God that we are not doing this alone,” Pochek said.
“We do not pursue the Great Commission in our own strength, and we do not pursue the Great Commission by coming up with a better plan.
“You are not alone not only because you are surrounded by brothers and sisters in the SBC of Virginia, but because Jesus Himself promised that as you and I advance the gospel through the local church, He is with us.”
The 2025 SBCV annual homecoming will take place on Nov. 9-11 at First Baptist Church of Roanoke, Va.
Ohio celebrates achievements in 71st year
By Karen L. Willoughby
NEW ALBANY, Ohio — Cooperative Program (CP) giving is up in Ohio churches, as are baptisms, new church plants and affiliations.
At the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio’s (SCBO) Nov. 12 annual meeting at Jersey Church, messengers celebrated a 1% increase — $48,000 — over last year’s CP giving by churches. This maintains a 50/50 split in CP giving that began in 2016: half remaining in Ohio; half leaving the state for missions and ministries across the Southern Baptist Convention and its global missions thrust. The approved budget is $4,848.000.
“Since our beginning in 1954, Ohio Baptists have given more than $183,000,000 to missions through the Cooperative Program to not only reach the neighborhoods around Ohio, but the nations around the world,” Executive Director Jeremy Westbrook said.
Following Monday’s pastors’ conference, the Tuesday proceedings drew 79 guests and 254 messengers for the state convention’s annual gathering.
“The highlight of our annual meeting was hearing reports of increased giving to the Cooperative Program, a 96% increase in baptisms over the past two years, and 41 new churches in the state convention this year: 28 plants, five replants and eight new affiliations through our Send Ohio partnership,” Westbrook said.
The worship team from Lifepoint Church in Mount Vernon, Ohio, led messengers in worship, and all but one speaker was from an SCBO church or entity.
Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin addressed the messengers, and Westbrook brought his executive director’s report; Adam Purcell, pastor from Lifepoint Church in Mount Vernon, gave his president’s message; and Frederick Clement, pastor of One Family Church in Dayton, presented the annual sermon.
Disaster Relief (DR) Director John Heading reported Ohio DR deployed 15 times outside Ohio and seven times inside Ohio between January and September involving 30 teams, 68 gospel conversations, 34 Bibles given and six professions of faith.
Then came late summer rain and windstorms — hurricanes — up and down the East Coast. Volunteers on 42 Ohio teams deployed 27 times by the end of October.
Other staff and association reports can be found in the Book of Reports on Ohio’s website: scbo.org.
Business of the state convention included a discussion on policy related to a motion made at the 2023 annual meeting regarding the budget. Messengers were told the Executive Committee determined, “The Mission Council is required to release the budget to the messengers of the SCBO at least two weeks prior to the annual meeting every year.”
Messengers approved a constitution and bylaw amendment that removed the position of “Historical Secretary” from the list of SCBO officers.
There was also a resolution “On the Lordship of Christ over all political powers” with six “whereas” statements and five “resolved statements,” each backed up by Scripture.
Officers reelected to a second one-year term: President Adam Pursel, pastor of Lifepoint Church in Mount Vernon; First Vice President Dave Welsch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Heath, and Second Vice President Karlie Hale, pastor of One Love Community Church, Cleveland, were reelected to their positions for a second year without objection.
Officers elected to a first, one-year term: Recording Secretary Charity Betts, a member at First Baptist Church in New Lebanon; and Assistant Recording Secretary Kay Arnold, a member at First Baptist Church of Lancaster.
“God is at work in our state. He’s at work in our midst,” Westbrook told his listeners. “This is a time to praise the Lord.”
The 72nd annual meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio is set for Nov. 10-11, 2025, at Lifepoint Church in Mount Vernon.
Stephanie Heading contributed to this report.
New England Baptists consider how ‘Multiplication Matters’
By Dan Nicholas/BCNE
MANCHESTER, Conn. (BP) — More than 200 representatives of New England Baptist churches, mission partners from Southern Baptist entities and interested guests were enthusiastic about multiplication when they gathered Nov. 1-2 at First Baptist Church of Manchester for the Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE) annual meeting.
“Multiplication matters because more people need Jesus, more Christians need to be discipled, more leaders need to be developed, more churches need to be started and more financial resources need to be developed to reach New England with the gospel,” said BCNE Executive Director Terry Dorsett.
Basing his remarks on Luke 19:10, which says that Jesus Christ “came to seek and to save the lost,” Dorsett reported that in 2023 “New England Baptists set a new record by baptizing 2,075 new believers, which is cause for great celebration. Sadly, though, 170 of our churches baptized zero.”
Rather than blame pastors and churches that have not baptized anyone in several years, he challenged attendees to consider “what we have to do to make sure that doesn’t happen over and over and over again.” He outlined online and in-person training options that will help churches and pastors experiencing tough times.
“What are we doing wrong? Aren’t we supposed to be helping them figure out a way to evangelize their community? What can we do to help a church that has a zero year, year after year after year after year?” he asked. “Imagine what would happen next year if those 170 churches who baptized no one last year, just baptized one each.”
“Brothers and sisters, we know what we need to do,” concluded Dorsett, whose 10th anniversary as executive director will be April 1, 2025. “Do we have the courage to do it … or will we be afraid to say yes to the possibilities?”
Leadership training was also on the agenda. Workshops were held on numerous topics including “Reaching your second-gen neighbors,” “Starting gospel conversations,” “Event planning that impacts” and “Effective fundraising.” In response to the ethical crises in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), a workshop was held to update participants on sexual abuse issues, and each participant received a packet of information on the topic.
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Lierte Soares Jr., a Brazilian “reverse missionary” to New England, was re-elected to a second one-year term as BCNE president. He is pastor of two Boston-area churches and director of the BCNE’s Multiplication Center. David Um, senior pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, Cambridge, Mass., was re-elected vice president.
On Jan. 1, Joe Souza, the BCNE’s ethnic ministry and Boston area regional coordinator, will begin a new role as the associate executive director for pastoral networks. He will continue to lead the Boston regional and immigrant church ministries while also guiding the team of other regional coordinators and associational leaders.
Regional coordinators and associational leaders shared the stage for a panel that highlighted the state of New England Baptist ministry. Participants this year included (for the first time) Steve Georgeson, executive director of the Massachusetts Baptist Association; he is also lead pastor of Rice Memorial Baptist Church, Northborough, Mass.
Messengers approved a $2,988,700 balanced budget and welcomed 24 new churches and church plants. The amount staying in New England to fund local and regional ministry is 80%; 20% will be forwarded to national and international SBC causes. Both the budget and the Cooperative Program (CP) allocation remain unchanged from last year.
Sharon Haller, the BCNE partnership director, updated attendees on several state and associational partnerships and introduced Tim O’Carroll, representing the Treasure Coast Baptist Association (TCBA), Fort Pierce, FL. He expressed appreciation for the “mutual encouragement” being developed between his association and Connecticut Baptists. Haller then gave TCBA a $1,045 gift from the BCNE to help them recover from the recent hurricane damage.
Next year’s meeting will be Nov. 7-8 at First Baptist Church of Marlborough, Mass.
Oklahoma Baptists ‘Invested’ in gospel advance
By Baptist Messenger Staff
MOORE, Okla. — On Nov. 11-12, 885 Oklahoma Baptist registered messengers, plus guests, from 400 churches, attended the 118th annual meeting of Oklahoma Baptists, hosted at First Baptist Church in Moore.
The meeting began with a time of worship led by the renowned singing group Native Praise Choir, which is celebrating its 25th year of ministry and has performed around the world.
That evening, Todd Fisher delivered his annual executive director-treasurer’s address.
Fisher shared key ministry updates for Oklahoma Baptists, strategic ministry priorities of supporting and serving pastors and churches. Fisher also unveiled plans to add one more regional ministry partner in 2025 with plans to add a sixth ministry partner in the future.
He also shared an update on the move of WatersEdge, Oklahoma Baptists, Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children and Baptist Village Communities to the newly acquired Sonic Building in Bricktown. It is anticipated that WatersEdge staff will relocate this month, with the others to make the move in coming months. Several videos throughout the meeting highlighted the many benefits for this strategic office move.
Fisher then shared a powerful and emotional testimony of how God saved his life during a serious automobile accident last July and how the prayers of others have carried him on his journey to recovery.
He detailed how, in providential timing, two men came along and provided life-saving care for him immediately following the crash until medics could be on the scene.
Fisher encouraged those in attendance who are going through any kind of struggle, with what the Lord has taught him throughout the crash and recovery process.
“God sees you. God fights for you. And He is always ultimately at work for our good even when we may not realize or understand it,” Fisher said.
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Messengers elected Michael Butler, pastor of First Baptist Church Chickasha, to a second one-year term as president. Owen Nease, pastor of Emmaus Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, was elected as first vice president; and Randy Hurt, director of missions for Atoka-Coal Association, was elected second vice president.
Messengers also approved the Cooperative Program (CP) giving objective for 2025 of $24.5 million and looked forward to celebrating the 100th anniversary of the CP next year. The budget total is the same as last year. It is allocated as follows: 60% for missions and ministry in Oklahoma (45% to Oklahoma Baptists ministry and 15% to its affiliates); and 40% forwarded to national and international SBC causes. Last year’s National CP allocation was 43%.
“What an amazing Oklahoma Baptists annual meeting we had,” Fisher said. “Incredible attendance and so thankful for the unity, love for one another and focus on advancing the gospel our churches and pastors have. What a joy to be part of these dear people and serve them. Grateful!”
The 2025 Oklahoma Baptists annual meeting is set to take place on Nov. 10-11 at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.
