The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC) has selected 10 NC Baptist churches from across our fellowship for the first Shared Learning Cohort of the new Helping Churches Thrive initiative. Shared Learning Cohort churches will journey through a nine-month process of exploration, empowerment and experimentation in an opening retreat, monthly calls with notable authors… The post 10 Churches Selected for First Helping Churches Thrive Cohort appeared first on Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina ..read more

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC) is excited to announce that Rev. Amy Lee Gallaher has been hired as the new Programs Support Manager. She currently serves as the Minister of Missional Engagement at Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC. She will continue to work in dual ministry roles serving the local church… The post Gallaher Named Programs Support Manager appeared first on Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina ..read more

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC) has selected 11 NC Baptist churches from across our fellowship for the first Shared Learning Cohort of the new Helping Churches Thrive initiative. Shared Learning Cohort churches will journey through a nine-month process of exploration, empowerment and experimentation in an opening retreat, monthly calls with notable authors… The post 11 Churches Selected for First Helping Churches Thrive Cohort appeared first on Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina ..read more

Numerous CBF North Carolina congregations have embraced the “Encourager Church” model to support Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel in our state and across the world. I am happy to say that North Carolina Cooperative Baptist churches lead the way with the number of Encourager Churches across the whole of the CBF! At the same time, I believe we can do more to ensure that every congregation in CBFNC knows about this missions model and gives it serious consideration. The Encourager Church model of missionary support goes hand-in-hand with the support churches give to all field personn ..read more

First Baptist Hillsborough turns opportunity and need into Welcome House ministry By Randall Austin Member of First Baptist, Hillsborough and coordinator of Welcome House Hillsborough   Unique opportunity and desperate need merged to prompt First Baptist Church in Hillsborough to convert its former parsonage into a Welcome House, providing safety and comfort to more than 100 refugees to America. The opportunity emerged a decade ago, when the church met Kim and Marc Wyatt, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel based in nearby Raleigh. On a Wednesday night in 2014, the Wyatts expla ..read more

CBFNC’s Ministerial Transitions Team hosts regular Zoom conversations as shared learning experiences for representatives from search teams across our state. Each conversation offers support to search teams by focusing on a specific topic related to minister searches, whether your church is searching for a senior pastor or another pastoral staff position. Conversations are typically held on Mondays each month at 6:30 p.m. (ET) with a specific topical focus. These calls are designed for 2–3 members of a given search team to participate. Please do not plan to have your entire ..read more

To encourage and support student events to commemorate the legacy of the “Greensboro Four,” CBFNC’s Racial Equity & Justice (REJ) ministry team offered new grants this year to partner colleges.  The modest February 1 grants were provided to help partner colleges offer educational events about the four college freshmen from what is now North Carolina A&T University (Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., later known as Jibreel Khazan, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond), who had the courage to sit down at the whites-only Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter on February 1, 1960 in peaceful ..read more

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC) has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Helping Churches Thrive program, which intends to foster congregational vitality across the state.   The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to encourage the flourishing of congregations by helping them deepen their relationships with God, enhance their connections with each other and contribute to the vitality of their communities and the world. It is CBFNC’s second grant ..read more

Lydia Tatum, CBNFC’s new Welcome Network director. The CBF of North Carolina (CBFNC) Coordinating Council recently voted to call Lydia Tatum as its first Welcome Network director, a newly created position for CBFNC. She currently serves as the associate pastor of Missions and Ministry at Trinity Baptist Church in Raleigh, where she has served in many capacities since 2010. Lydia will have two major responsibilities as Welcome Network director: administrative leadership of Welcome House Raleigh and general leadership of CBFNC’s state-wide Welcome Network. She will spend approximately hal ..read more

Lou Ann Gilliam, CBFNC’s new ministerial equipping director. The CBF of North Carolina (CBFNC) Coordinating Council recently voted to name Lou Ann Gilliam as Ministerial Equipping Director (MED). Previously, she served as the director of Church and Community Relations at Chowan University in Murfreesboro. While at Chowan, she supported the work of campus ministry, coordinated the Ministerial Board of Associates and served as the denominational, church and community liaison for the University. In her new role, Lou Ann will serve on the staff team to coordinate CBFNC’s ministries to equip ..read more