JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—The 2004 Maguire State Mission Season of Prayer and Offering, observed in September, will provide Florida Baptists with a renewed opportunity to reflect on the anniversary of the Florida Baptist State Convention and the many ways God has blessed the state convention during the past 150 years.

Click Image for Related Coverage

In 1854, a group of committed Baptists gathered in Madison, Fla., to create a statewide organization of Baptists that could accomplish more by working cooperatively than independently.

A great challenge faced those pioneer Baptists as they sought to be God’s people in the state of Florida. Towns all over the Florida territory were springing up in need of a Gospel witness. The population was growing. New settlers were landing at seaports along Florida’s 1,197 miles of coastline and migrating across the northern border.

To meet this need, itinerant preachers traveled throughout the frontier establishing preaching points that later grew into congregations. As their spiritual work bore fruit, church facilities needed to be built, new believers needed to be taught and discipled. Expressing a missions’ heart for the state’s then two ethnic groups—African-Americans and native Indians—those Baptists exhibited a missionary zeal for foreign lands while caring for the home front. The state mission observance also will allow Florida Baptists to envision the great mission field set before them.

The missionary concerns of the pioneer Baptists mirror those of Florida Baptists today. The state is burgeoning with new residents. Many nationalities continue to flock to Florida’s shores in search of religious and economic freedom.

There are many more people to win to faith in Jesus Christ and new communities without a Gospel presence.

The theme of this year’s observance is “The Christ in You, the Hope of Glory, taken from Colossians 1:26-29.

In that passage, the Apostle Paul told of a plan perfected before the ages and revealed through Jesus Christ, the hope of glory. He urged the church to extend its proclamation, to be strong, pure and true, and to establish itself to do the work of Christ Jesus.

The Apostle urged all believers to share the “mystery” by telling every man, woman and child regardless of race, color or creed in every land—here in Florida and in other nations—of the glorious gift revealed in Christ Jesus. The Word of God must be made known and manifested in the lives of every believer.

This proclamation is the motivating force in the ministries supported through the Maguire State Mission Offering, whether the ministry is providing church-based health care; ministering in times of disaster; helping a church construct a building for worship; sharing the Gospel message in metropolitan cities; or through a camping program that develops believers and calls out Christians to a lifetime of service.

The funds allocated in the missions offering are earmarked for projects that spread the Gospel in the state through evangelism, new church site loans, developing believers and mission outreach ministries. The offering undergirds a missionary zeal seen in missions and ministry assistance to Florida Baptists’ missions partners, Haiti and Cuba, and pastoral salary assistance for partnership states, West Virginia, Indiana and Nevada.

This year’s offering goal is $1,389,000 and will benefit more than 20 wide-ranging ministries across the state—ministries provided by Florida Baptist churches to reach their communities with the gospel message. During the next six weeks leading up to the offering, The Witness will be carrying stories of several of the ministries that will receive funding.

In 2003, the Florida Baptists gave a record $1,025,828 to the offering. They are being asked this year to give even more generously in recognition of the mission enterprise that has been their hallmark for 150 years–and to help support the ongoing disaster relief efforts made necessary by the onslaught of Hurricane Charley.