FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2021
Contact: Brad Jurkovich, spokesman, Conservative Baptist Network
(318) 588-0819; [email protected]
Immokalee, Fla. – Today the Conservative Baptist Network announces the launch of its Florida state chapter. With more states soon to launch, the Network continues to expand as a localized, grassroots effort.
Leading the Florida chapter as a lead state coordinator is Timothy Pigg, lead pastor of Fellowship Church in Immokalee and Ave Maria, Fla. Pigg currently serves as a member of the Florida Baptist Convention’s State Board of Missions and as a church planting trainer for the North American Mission Board. He is a three-time graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Pigg also serves on committees and boards for his local association.
“I joined the Conservative Baptist Network for two reasons,” Pigg said. “One, because it seeks to give a voice to every local church by encouraging her to hold accountable the entities she supports, and two, because of its reliance on the sufficiency and inerrancy of God’s Word.
“I am grateful that the Conservative Baptist Network is unashamed to uphold Baptist distinctives as outlined in our cooperative confession statement, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.”
Pigg said that Conservative Baptist Network leaders in Florida look forward to championing the Challenge 2025 campaign as presented by Tommy Green, the Executive Director-Treasurer for the Florida Baptist Convention.
“The Florida state chapter hopes to bring a greater awareness to the vision that Tommy Green has put forth as a challenge to every Florida Baptist church to reach all of Florida with the gospel,” Pigg said.
Challenge 2025 goals include 75 church plants per year, 30,000 baptisms per year, giving $33 million a year to the Cooperative Program, and the revitalization of 100 churches per year.
“Having a Florida chapter of Conservative Baptist Network will provide an opportunity to champion great things happening across the state of Florida and help educate and re-engage all Florida Baptists who are committed to the sufficiency of Scripture,” Pigg said.
Joining Pigg as chapter leaders focusing on various parts of the state are Larry Brister, Chris Butler, Jonathan Elwing, David Gold, James Hunt, Geoff Prows, and Scott Shoffner. All Florida chapter leaders are local pastors serving faithfully across the Sunshine State.
“I hope the Conservative Baptist Network keeps the sufficiency of Scripture as a first order doctrine before Southern Baptists,” Pigg said. “If Southern Baptists ever walk away from the sufficiency of Scripture, our legacy as a denomination once strongly committed to the Great Commission would be history.”
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The Conservative Baptist Network is a broad-based grassroots movement of Southern Baptists of all generations who are committed to the sufficiency of Scripture for all facets of life and application. Its 55-member Steering Council includes pastors and laypeople from across America, including well-known figures such as former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, past SBC President Charles Stanley, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Vice President Tom Phillips, and immediate past SBC Executive Committee Chairman Mike Stone. The Steering Council can be found online at ConservativeBaptistNetwork.com.
