Thoughts on an Historic State Convention

Florida Baptists dig deep to put their money where their mouth is.

by Rod D. Martin
November 11, 2015

The just concluded Florida Baptist Convention was historic, not just for Florida but for all Southern Baptists.

A few thoughts:

1. The 51-49 CP split is utterly unprecedented. The messengers’ unanimous decision to send a majority of Florida’s Cooperative Program funds to global ministry is unprecedented, anywhere in America. And Tommy Green’s vision to gradually move that to 60% or more was greeted with cheers.

Many younger pastors – and more than a few older ones – have long criticized our denominational entities for spending precious resources on too many bureaucrats and not enough ministry.

No one can say that now. And a lot of hard questions are about to be asked in every other state convention.

2. It’s actually a lot more than 51-49. By this I don’t mean just the deep staff cuts, or even the sale of the Baptist Building. I mean that Florida is now giving away much more out of far, far less.

The Convention had almost $40 million to work with before Barac…