On September 1, 1887 five Baptist churches in Pensacola (Escambia County) and Milton (Santa Rosa County), Florida met together for the consideration of cooperating together. Formalizing this partnership on November 11th and 12th of 1887, this Kingdom work of the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association begun. Due to the growth in both counties, the churches in Milton formed their own association, Santa Rosa Baptist Association, though both associations continue to work together for the glory of God.
Since that November morning in 1887, the PBBA has partnered together to support local churches in their mission to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Currently, the PBBA is pursuing MoonShot2030 - 100 Healthy Churches who together can celebrate 2000 baptisms in the year 2030. Through encouraging our pastors personally and professionally and equipping our churches toward health, we are focused engaging the mission field of Escambia County (and beyond ) with the gospel of Christ Jesus. We affirm that achieving this MoonShot will require More Healthy Churches - more healthy churches (church planting); more healthy churches (revitalizing existing churches). Through the power of prayer and partnership, we look forward to celebrating the achievement of this Moonshot Vision. We are better together and are focused on Helping the Church Be the Church as we declare the name of Jesus in the 21st Century.
PBBA's mission is to support local churches in their mission to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We seek to do this by:
- Encouraging – Providing professional and spiritual support for ministers.
- PBBA to Staff (PBBA encouraging Ministers & their families)
- Pastor to Pastor (Helping connect pastors for encouragement & partnership)
- Church to Pastor (Helping to train Churches to Encourage their Pastor)
- Equipping – Training and resourcing church leaders to build healthy congregation.
- Diagnose (Helping churches identify ministry challenges)
- Develop (Helping develop customizable resources & strategies that address church needs)
- Deploy (Coaching churches & leaders to a health future.)
- Engaging – Cooperating and serving together in Kingdom ministry.
- Pray (Helping Churches to be Houses of Prayer)
- Proclaim (Helping Churches carry-out Individual & Cooperative Evangelism)
- Plant (Helping churches plant new churches)
Helping the Church BE the Church
Moonshot 2030
100 Healthy Churches together that can celebrate 2000 Baptisms in the year 2030
In May 1961, President John F Kennedy gave what is known as his MoonShot speech, casting a vision for the United States to land a man on the moon and return him safely home by the end of the decade. Such a feat would take focused effort, uniting passion and ability toward that goal. Within that vein, the PBBA has established MoonShot 2030: 100 healthy churches who together can celebrate 2000 baptisms in the year 2030. This Kingdom endeavor will require focused effort, too, uniting churches together in prayer, passion, and partnership. To see our Moonshot realized will require more healthy churches - more healthy church (planting); more healthy church (revitalization). Though this vision is aggressive, we believe that we are better together and the growing mission field of our area inspires us to accomplish this task.
- Unyielding Integrity | behaving above reproach before the eyes of God and man, in both public and private, wholly aligned with the word of God. (Proverbs 20:7, Proverbs 10:9; 2 Corinthians 8:21)
- Unexpected Excellence | pursuing to “sweat the small stuff”, due to the unsurpassing glory of God, in a manner that prioritizes being better over being bigger. (1 Corinthians 10:31, Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:23)
- Unselfish Collaboration | creating and accomplishing Kingdom initiatives together to have greater impact and better reflect the universal body of Christ. (Philippians 1:5, Romans 12:4-16, Proverbs 27:17; 1 Corin 12:14)
- Undivided Relationships | bringing together united hearts from diverse backgrounds and perspectives for the advancement of God’s glory. (John 13:34-35, 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Eph 4:2-3)
- Unapologetic Church-Focus |advancing the mission of God chiefly through the health and strength of the local church. (Ephesians 3:7-12; Eph 2:20-22)
- Undiluted Kingdom-Mind | enjoining hearts and resources to facilitate eternally advancing outcomes above personal and temporary goals. (Matthew 6:33, 2 Timothy 2:15; Ps 145:13)
