Por Aaron Weaver
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — “The people of God cannot retreat…The people of God therefore must rise up.”
This was the charge from Baptist World Alliance Chair Rev. Karl B. Johnson during closing worship Friday at the 2026 CBF General Assembly in Jacksonville. Preaching from Revelation 2:12–17 and the letter to the church at Pergamum, Johnson challenged Cooperative Baptists to stand up and speak out through lives marked by forthrightness, fearlessness and faithfulness.
Johnson became chair of the Baptist World Alliance in July 2025, the first person from the Caribbean to hold the global leadership role. He is pastor of historic Phillippo Baptist Church in Spanish Town, Jamaica, and previously served for 20 years as general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union. An ordained minister since 1992, he is a graduate of the United Theological College of the West Indies.
Johnson brought greetings from the worldwide Baptist family and from Phillippo Baptist Church, the congregation where he was baptized and returned to serve as pastor in 2021. The more than 200-year-old church bears a visible connection to Jamaica’s history of slavery and emancipation, he said, with chains and other relics associated with enslavement buried in its churchyard.
“I am deeply aware of the history of my people. I am deeply aware of what that means on a day like this in a country like this,” said Johnson, referring to Juneteenth. “So I stand here not as an outsider. I stand here as one who has come from the lines of those who know enslavement.”
Johnson said the present world is missing “some key dimensions of civility, humanity, dignity and care.” He urged worshipers not to return home unchanged by their time together.
“As you leave here this evening…remember I challenged you,” he said. “Wherever you are, whichever state, whichever district, whichever community, whichever country you are from, you must stand up and speak out.”
Johnson said the church at Pergamum lived under pressure from the rulers and powers of its age but remained committed to Jesus. The first characteristic of that witness was forthrightness.
“You know what forthrightness is? Direct,” Johnson said. “You know what forthrightness is? Transparent. You know what forthrightness is? Honesty.”
“Forthrightness needs conviction,” he continued. “But more than that, or not only that, forthrightness needs courage.”
Johnson warned that relationships with political authority and power can weaken the church’s ability to speak clearly.
“One thing I will say is that when we get too close to power, we face the risk of contamination,” he said. “Because when we get too close to power, proximity to power can undermine our witness.”
The second characteristic was fearlessness.
“To stand up against forces of death requires one to be fearless,” Johnson said.
Fearlessness, however, should not be confused with reckless action, he said.
“Fearlessness without discernment is suicidal,” Johnson said. “So nobody is telling you to jump up without seeking the mind of God. For whatever we do, we must know it is God who is calling us to do it.”
Following Christ may carry real costs, Johnson said, pointing to Antipas, the faithful witness identified in Revelation who was killed but whose death did not cause the church to surrender.
“Martyrdom is actually victory,” Johnson said. “Why is it victory? It’s victory because the powers of this world could not get us to follow them.”
The third characteristic was faithfulness.
“Faithfulness is a commitment that admits no rivals,” Johnson said. “No matter what happens, I am going to acknowledge Jesus Christ as my Lord.”
Yet the letter to Pergamum also contained a warning about compromise within the church.
“Sometimes the greatest challenge of faithfulness is not outside,” Johnson said. “It is within the church, within the body of Christ.”
Johnson said repentance offers the church a path toward renewal.
“Repentance, my friends, opens the door to God’s grace,” he said. “Repentance opens the door to God’s grace and assures us of a bright future.”
He closed with Revelation’s vision of a new heaven and a new earth, a future in which destructive powers do not have the final word.
“It is that vision of a brighter tomorrow, a different day, not a big house, a new car, but a new world,” Johnson said.
“Let that vision spur you by the Spirit of God to stand up and speak out.”
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
Cooperative Baptists concluded the 2026 General Assembly around the Lord’s Table in a bilingual observance led by Laura Davis of CBF Virginia and Rubén Ortiz of CBF. .
“Voices around us seem to scream ‘there isn’t enough,’” Ortiz said. “Don’t share. Hold on to what you’ve got. Fend for yourself.”
“However, at the table, the simplest resources stand in as markers of God’s abundance,” Davis said. “Here, we are deeply loved and called to love deeply,” she added. “The kingdom of God is shaped by abundance and trust that God is good and will provide all that we need.”
The two invited worshipers to bring their fears, courage and internal conflicts as they received the bread and cup.
“Today we come boldly to the table of plenty,” Davis said. “Come,” Ortiz said. “Christ welcomes you at his table.”
Holy Ambition supports emerging leaders and racial repair
The service highlighted CBF’s 35th Anniversary Holy Ambition Campaign, a $3.5 million effort supporting emerging mission leaders, racial justice, reconciliation and repair, and other priorities for the Fellowship’s future.
CBF field personnel Alicia Lee shared the story of Emmanuel House, a family-style foster home in North Macedonia created through the calling of a young woman named Natalija. For six years, Natalija worked in England and invested her earnings in building the home one step at a time. Lee and her husband, Jeff, later supported her through relationships, encouragement and partnerships with CBF churches and individuals.
“We didn’t create her calling,” Lee said. “God had already placed it in her heart. It was our honor to come alongside her, affirming her call, and encouraging her as she lived into God’s call on her life.”
Emmanuel House later welcomed a 3-year-old boy Lee called Little Mo and continues providing safety and love for vulnerable children.
“Generosity creates the conditions for people to say yes to God’s call,” Lee said. “It allows us to walk alongside emerging leaders like Natalija and help them turn holy ambitions into lasting ministry.”
Lynn Brinkley connected the campaign with more than 30 years of relationship-building between Aiken’s First Baptist Church and Second Baptist Church of Aiken.
“What began with a simple pulpit exchange grew into shared worship, fellowship, and ministry,” Brinkley said. “They chose not just to talk about reconciliation. They practiced it.”
The churches worshiped, studied Scripture and served their community together while participating in racial justice and reconciliation cohorts through CBF South Carolina and CBF’s Pan African Koinonia.
“They discovered that racial justice is not simply a social issue,” Brinkley said. “It is Gospel work. It is the work of building a beloved community.”
“This is why the Holy Ambition Campaign matters,” she added. “Your generosity helps create opportunities for churches and leaders to engage in this transformational work.”
CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley reported that the Holy Ambition Campaign had surpassed $2 million toward its $3.5 million goal.
“Thanks to significant gifts received during the quiet phase of our campaign, before we even launched our campaign publicly, we were already halfway to the goal. We already had $1.7 million,” Baxley said. “The gift that put us there challenged you to join in a $200,000 matching gift, and your response to it means that as we gathered in Jacksonville this week, we had crossed $2 million.”
He invited Cooperative Baptists to help raise the remaining $1.5 million.
“We have from now until next year when we gather in Dallas, not just to meet the goal but to shatter it,” he said. “I want to invite you to prayerfully consider how you feel led to support this campaign.”
Recommitting to bold service
Following Communion, Matt Riggsbee, senior minister of FBC Southern Pines, N.C., invited Cooperative Baptists to consider where God was calling them to serve.
“What matters to God is not our ability but our availability,” Riggsbee said.
“These bold acts of faith and bold gifts are witness to our Holy Ambition as a Fellowship,” he said. “I invite each of you to consider your bold and holy ambition, your bold and holy re-commitment, your bold and holy gift.”
Henrietta Anderson, retired associate pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Hopewell, Va., offered the benediction, sending worshipers to carry that commitment beyond Jacksonville.
“We’ve breathed in and confessed our role in God’s kingdom, and now it’s time for that breath to be exhaled into a bold voice for life and health, wholeness and peace into God’s hurting world,” Anderson said.
“May we go and be that liberation, breathing new life into the world.”
Learn more and give to CBF’s 35th Anniversary Holy Ambition Campaign at www.cbf.net/holyambition.
Find news and video coverage of the 2026 CBF General Assembly at www.cbf.net/general-assembly-26.
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Led by the love of Christ, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship invites churches and individuals to partner in transforming God’s world, working together as a global community to spread good news, justice and hope through impactful ministries, missions and resources.