The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas celebrated its 25th anniversary in a gathering of leaders and friends Feb. 19 at Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark.
The event, held in advance of the CBF Arkansas annual gathering April 22-23 at Pulaski Heights Baptist Church Baptist Church in Little Rock, was the first state birthday celebration for the Decatur, Ga.,-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which celebrates the 25-year milestone at the 2016 CBF General Assembly June 20-24 in Greensboro, N.C.
Ray Higgins
“On March 21, 1991, a group of 90 people gathered at Lakeshore Drive Baptist Church to form a renegade affiliate organization to CBF Global,” CBF Arkansas Coordinator Ray Higgins said at the event. “These 90 people became charter members in 1993, and 10 of those are in the room tonight.”
March 21, 1991, was just two weeks after an interim steering committee meeting in Atlanta unveiled a statement of purpose, proposed constitution and bylaws, governance system and working document for a proposed “missions center” and two months before the official launch of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship on May 11.
CBF Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter and CBF Moderator Matt Cook spoke at the Feb. 19 event attended by nearly 150. Second Baptist Church, one of the cornerstone CBF congregations in Little Rock, presented CBF with a gift of $25,000 in honor of the 25th anniversary.
Higgins said the reason for the gathering was to brief local leaders on the latest developments in CBF life and the upcoming anniversary, as well as to help the state and national organizations “be a more seamless fellowship as the presence of Christ in the world.”
— With reporting by Lauren Gray.