Letters to the Editor

This year, the Baptist Convention of New England is celebrating 50 years of Southern Baptist work in New England and 25 years as a constituted state convention. The celebration will culminate at our annual meeting with many special events and activities Nov. 13-15 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Marlboro, Mass. During our 50 years of ministry, God has used many people to plant churches, strengthen churches and lead people to Christ. We would like as many friends of New England as possible to join us for this historic celebration and we would like to be prepared for their coming.

If anyone who now resides in your state who has formerly served in New England would like to join us for this celebration, they may email us at bcne25@bcne.net to let us know of their intention. They can find further details at our website, www.bcne.net.

Even if they cannot come, we would be grateful to receive their updated address and e-mail information so that we can communicate with them about this special event. Thank you for allowing us to use this space to share the good news with our former New England ministry partners.

I am pastor of the Brazilian Baptist Church in Ocala. I am a church planter under the umbrella of the Florida Baptist Convention, partnering with Pastor Dylmo Castro of the First Brazilian Baptist Church in Jacksonville and the Marion Baptist Association.

We began our services in Ocala on Oct. 6, 2007 with three people using the building of Marion Baptist Association. On March 15 we moved to Wyomina Park Baptist Church, across the street. Pastor Bob King and his church gave a room for our worship service in the church facilities. Our body is now 26 persons and, as the people need more attention, I have moved to Ocala to be closer to the flock. Our goal is to reach the Brazilian community that live in that area, including Ocala, Belleview and Leesburg.

The question is—where are they? If you will, please note in the Florida Baptist Witness so people from that area may know that we have a Brazilian church in Ocala and help us find where Brazilian people are. Our service is every Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Thank you and may God bless your ministry.