This week on the CBF Podcast Conversation, we’re coming to you live from the Gathering Place at CBF’s General Assembly in St. Louis, Missouri. Host Andy Hale sits down with four inspiring leaders shaping the future of Cooperative Baptist life and ministry. Rev. Rubén Ortiz, CBF’s Latino Field Coordinator, shares how vibrant Latino congregations across the country are redefining abundance through creativity, calling, and community. Rev. Sharon Felton, CBF’s Congregational Advocacy Officer, invites churches to move from passive concern to active love—reminding us that faithful advocacy is part of our discipleship.
Ellen Sechrest, CBF’s Director of Mission Engagement, helps congregations reimagine what mission looks like today—connecting local churches with global partners to build relationships that transform both communities and hearts. And Dane Jackson, CBF’s Manager of Mission Service, challenges us to create pathways for calling as he lifts up the next generation of mission leaders. From planting churches to serving neighbors to advocating for justice, these conversations reveal how Cooperative Baptists are embodying God’s mission in the world with courage, creativity, and compassion.
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CBF’s podcast shares stories from across the Fellowship and innovative practices of those working to renew God’s world. The vision is to share ideas, stories, and innovations from ministers, authors, and practitioners.
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Sponsorship
This podcast is presented by:
- Baylor’s Garland School of Social Work: Social workers can be found addressing the full scope of the human experience in churches, schools, prisons, government agencies, senior living centers, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies.
- Baptist Seminary of Kentucky: BSK equips leaders through their Homegrown Initiative, offering ministry leaders training and growth that fits into their busy schedules.
- The Gardner-Webb School of Divinity: The Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity aims to equip, nurture, encourage, and support men and women for their very best service in the Kingdom of God.
- The Center for Congregational Health: Strengthening congregations through consulting, leadership coaching, and intentional ministry.
- The Baptist House of Studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary: Exists by God’s grace to educate, inspire, and support generations of bold, faithful servant leaders as they seek actively to participate in God’s mission in the world.
- Community Transformation Center: Through educational opportunities, community conversations, and research initiatives in collaboration with universities and local leaders, PBACTC is at the forefront of integrating spiritual care into holistic community development.
- Creation Justice Ministries: Creation Justice Ministries equips churches to turn conviction into faithful action with Scripture-based resources, worship guides, and community support to pursue environmental justice and care for God’s creation.
- Dawnings: Through prayerful discernment, storytelling, and collaborative visioning, Dawnings helps churches rediscover their calling and imagine their next chapter—guided by trained facilitators and grounded in God’s ongoing story.
- Congregational Ministries Team of CBF Global: Through coaching, resources, and collaborative support, CBF’s Congregational Ministries Team helps churches and ministers cultivate the five traits of thriving—Rooted Relationships, Compelling Clarity, Holy Tenacity, Strategic Agility, and Dynamic Collaboration—for faithful and flourishing ministry.
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Andy Hale is the creator and host of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Podcast. Hale is the Associate Executive Coordinator of CBF North Carolina. He’s also served as CBF’s Church Start Specialist, the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Clayton, and the senior pastor of University Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. Follow on Twitter @haleandy.