By Aaron Weaver
ST. LOUIS — A Wednesday afternoon plenary session at the 2025 CBF General Assembly offered a dual focus: a renewed call to bold witness from Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley and an engaging exploration of traits that help congregations thrive.
CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley reflected on the “obvious uniqueness” of the Fellowship’s witness and called on Cooperative Baptists to renew the bold spirit that birthed the CBF movement 35 years ago during his report to attendees at the Wednesday afternoon plenary session of the 2025 General Assembly.
Baxley began his report with a focus on CBF Global Missions.
“It is now more evident than ever that Jesus is calling us to a unique way of participating in global mission,” he said.
This week the Assembly is thanking 13 field personnel who are concluding decades-long assignments. “Some of them have served 20, some 25, some 28 years,” Baxley noted. “If you do any research these days, you would find that it is increasingly unique for people to give their lives for that kind of service—and for a denominational community to remain committed to that kind of long-term presence.”
The future remains bright, Baxley said. “The 31 field personnel who will be serving our Fellowship starting July 1 are absolutely remarkable. They are a demonstration of the experience and gifts and convictions of a group of field personnel who are still committed to the transforming witness of Jesus Christ.”
Baxley contrasted CBF’s strategy with trends elsewhere.
“At a time when more and more mission organizations are retreating into short-term engagements, our Fellowship is doubling down on the conviction that the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, and it requires a renewed commitment to long-term presence,” he said. “Do you know how unique that is?”
Turning to domestic ministry, Baxley said CBF is “discovering more and more new ways to organize the resources of our denominational community to serve and strengthen congregations.”
He pointed to the new Thriving Congregations traits being discussed across the Assembly and to ongoing initiatives such as Dawnings, scholarships for theological education, and partnerships with states and regions.
“We still believe—because we’re really Baptist—that any denominational community exists primarily at the will and for the benefit of local congregations,” he said. “I can report to you that we are growing in that capacity, and I can report to you that our Fellowship is growing in generation, geography and language.”
Pre-registration for St. Louis, he added, was the highest since before the pandemic. The gathering’s diversity offers “a witness of the power of God to bring people together” in a polarized world,” he said.
Baxley framed 2025 as a gateway year. “Thirty-five years ago this August, about 3,000 Baptists gathered in Atlanta for what was then called a Consultation of Concerned Baptists,” he recalled. Instead of retreating, those pioneers “decided to invest in a new kind of cooperation.”
“Thirty-five years from now, when people look back on us, what will they say came from this moment?” Baxley asked.
“We’re at a gateway moment,” he said. “The world needs this kind of witness more than ever. The question the Spirit places on my heart for you is: Are we all in?”
Welcome to the Heartland
The Wednesday afternoon plenary began with a greeting from CBF Heartland Coordinator Jeff Langford, who leads the
Fellowship’s region encompassing 12 states stretching from Kansas to Ohio and north to the Canadian border.
“On behalf of 25 partner congregations, 70 endorsed chaplains and hundreds of ministers and lay leaders, we’re thrilled you’re here,” Langford said. “St. Louis—the Gateway City where earlier generations launched new futures—is a fitting place for fresh beginnings. We’ve dreamed of this day for more than thirty years. Receive our genuine smiles, encouraging words and two more days of Midwest nice. May this Assembly inspire, renew, transform—and remind you that you belong.”
“Trait Talk”
The afternoon plenary included a talk-show approach–”Trait Talk”– to exploring what helps congregations flourish. Dialogue, personal testimony and laughter carried the session, co-led by Brian Foreman, CBF’s Coordinator of Congregational Ministries, with Kelly Adams, CBF Director of Clergy Support and Ruben Ortiz, CBF Latino Ministries Field Coordinator and FAMILIA Network Director.
After a short video, Foreman introduced the focus of the session: five traits that characterize thriving congregations. These emerged during the Fellowship’s 2020 “Toward Bold Faithfulness” initiative.
“From the survey work and listening sessions,” Foreman explained, “five traits continually emerged as characteristics of congregations and ministries that one would categorize as thriving.”
The five traits are:
- Compelling Clarity – knowing and communicating a congregation’s mission and identity
- Rooted Relationships – deep, meaningful connections within and beyond the congregation
- Dynamic Collaboration – innovative partnerships and teamwork in service of mission
- Faithful Agility – the ability to adapt creatively while staying grounded in vision
- Holy Tenacity – a Spirit-empowered perseverance in the face of challenge
Foreman emphasized that these are not abstract ideals but observable practices drawn from real congregational life across the Fellowship.
Why traits matter
Asked why these traits resonate, Adams said they were showing up long before they were formally named.
“Over the last couple of years, the traits have shown up in conversations and programs even before this vocabulary was introduced,” she said. “I’ve heard CBF Fellows alums say, ‘I wouldn’t still be in ministry if it weren’t for the ongoing text thread I have with members of my cohort.’ That’s rooted relationship.”
Adams also mentioned Peer Learning Groups and multi-vocational ministers adjusting programming for changing family patterns. “We know that we don’t have thriving congregations without thriving clergy, and vice versa,” she said. “It’s imperative that our clergy develop these traits for themselves… but also so they can model them for their congregations.”
Ortiz offered a contextualized reflection from Latino congregations.
“Many of our communities don’t have decades of history,” he said. “They’ve been trying to survive and prevail against all odds. They are resilient by nature.” These traits, he said, aren’t just aspirational—they’re “almost hallmarks” of ethnically diverse congregations.
“Cuando vi por primera vez los rasgos,” Ortiz said, “dije: ‘Esto va a resonar en la vida de nuestras congregaciones.’”
A portrait of clarity
The first video featured Pastor Melissa Roysdon of Providence Baptist Church in Cookeville, Tenn., reflecting on Compelling Clarity.
“I sometimes don’t feel like the most confident person in the room,” Roysdon said, “but I always know that I’m called by God.”
She shared how her congregation’s missional clarity stretches back to their earliest days—supporting CBF field personnel and hosting “missionary moments” even when worshiping in a house church.
“The clarity of our mission is missions, and that’s what makes us thrive,” she said. “We do have a purpose.”
Adams lifted up the story as a model of shared clarity: “Melissa has clarity that she is called by God to be a minister… and the congregation has had clarity for a long time about who they are and why they exist.”
“They honor the clarity in one another,” Adams said. “And they’re doing it in such an invitational way that it really is compelling.”
Adapting with purpose
The second video profiled Faithful Agility through the lens of James Briggs, pastor of Daybreak Metropolitan Church in Dallas, Texas.
“To foster strategic agility, you’ve got to take the limits off of God,” Briggs said. “I don’t have all the answers to what is in front of me—who can I connect to?”
Daybreak moved worship fully online during COVID and never returned to a building. “We see ourselves as a vehicle to make the Word of God present and known to folks who have busy lives,” Briggs said.
Ortiz shared another example from Corral Viejo Baptist Church in Ponce, Puerto Rico, which created a retreat for senior adults called Raíces y recuerdos (Roots and Memories). “The entire congregation participated,” he said. “They connected with needs they hadn’t seen before. That is faithful agility.”
Adams described a St. Louis congregation that reimagined Vacation Bible School as a series of Sundays. “That’s a great example of faithful agility,” she said. “True to the mission, but adapted creatively and effectively.”
Grit, grounded in grace
A third video centered on Holy Tenacity through the story of Sara Herrington-Jones and University Baptist Church in Starkville, Miss.
“Holy tenacity is where your call and your grit are pushed together to make something happen,” Herrington-Jones said.
She described how the church has advocated for LGBTQ+ affirmation in a conservative context and helped launch Starkville’s first Pride parade.
“Students come here and are told it would be better for them to be dead than alive,” she said. “They’re grieving faith traditions that have harmed them—and UBC says: you belong.”
Adams linked this trait to 2 Corinthians 4: “We are struck down, but not destroyed.”
Ortiz added a missional frame: “Holy tenacity is being able to show Christ even above culture. That’s the path we are walking at CBF as we welcome and embrace other cultures.”
Two more traits: roots and collaboration
During audience Q&A, Ortiz described Rooted Relationships using the metaphor of rhizome roots: “They form a resilient, interwoven system… marked by trust, vulnerability and mutual growth.”
“In a fragmented world,” he said, “these rhizomatic connections offer a countercultural witness of depth and vitality.”
Adams spoke on Dynamic Collaboration: “It’s more than partnership. It’s built on long-term trust. And the longer the relationship, the richer the dividends for everyone.”
Biblical grounding and next steps
Foreman reminded attendees that the five traits emerged from congregational stories—but are also deeply scriptural. Adams cited 2 Corinthians again. Ortiz referenced the Apostle Paul’s cultural adaptability in 1 Corinthians 9.
Asked how to begin applying the traits, Adams suggested reaching out to CBF’s Congregational Ministries Team. “There are opportunities for future learning communities, peer groups and resources,” she said. “Let us know your interest and your context—it’s a great first step.”
Ruben Ortiz closed with two questions: “What two things are you doing that you need to keep doing? What two things do you need to stop doing?” Those, he said, are clarity questions. “And who are your true collaborators? That’s dynamic collaboration.”
Foreman encouraged attendees to wrestle with the presence—or absence—of these traits in their churches. “How would a pivot toward nurturing these traits become not just a better question about health,” he asked, “but a marker of your congregation’s potential to change lives in your community?”
“As you all can tell, we are excited about the power and impact these traits can have when nurtured,” Foreman said. “Until next time—thrive on.”
The 2025 CBF General Assembly continues Thursday with a business session, learning labs, meal events and a concluding worship service. Learn more at www.cbf.net/assembly and watch the livestream and recordings of the Assembly sessions on the CBF YouTube page.