Thank you Tommy Deal for sharing the following story regarding the manner in which College Park Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida examined the needs of their communityand implemented a vision for change.  If you are interested in the It’s Time study or the It’s Time grant program, please e-mail me, Terry Walton at twalton@thefellowship.info, or call 770-220-1653. 

What many predicted about economic downturn began to hit home for one Orlando, Florida church in 2009.  Like many around the country, members of College Park Baptist Church who previously had secure jobs were now finding themselves for the first time unemployed.  One of those was Bill Dick.  Bill had been with his present company in human resource management for eleven years.  While he felt fortunate compared to others due to severance pay, he began to sense that the situation was bleak.  He was volunteering at a local faith-based non-profit which helped families in need and read in the newspaper that the once low unemployment figures for this tourist area was now climbing to over 10%.  He began to sense a need that the “church” in general and his church, specifically, ought to address this.  He and Pastor Shaun King met, talked and prayed for God’s direction as to how to be a beacon of hope and a source of Light in an increasingly glooming time.

Soon Pastor King and the ministerial staff gathered the church body together for what was named “The Acts 2 Summit.”  Inspired by the expressions of mutual love and ministries of care in the early church during first century times of need, the summit was called as a way for this twenty-first century congregation to begin imagining new ministries of care in the midst of these very unique economic seasons of need.  These summits as well as an Acts 2 sermon series began to prompt activity, energy and ideas.  The Acts 2 Summit quickly became “The Acts 2 Initiatives,” as the congregation began to discuss the feasibility of ministries that would focus on job search transitions and would be an outreach to both members and the community.

The Acts 2 Initiatives Task Force was formed from members like Bill Dick who had skills, contacts and abilities to share.  They met regularly to determine a strategy that could have an impact and fill gaps that were apparent in the community. One of the most important things it did was to have a series of “listening” sessions with the congregation.  What was heard were the real needs personally felt by families within our congregation who were living through this uncertain time.

The Acts 2 Initiatives began by creating a database of skills and talents within the congregation.  This would prove to be helpful for those searching for employment as well as a means to match or fill potential job/career opportunities among businesses in the area.  Also, a website was created as a one stop shop of all job search resources. This proved to fill a big gap in our community since most websites only dealt with one aspect of the job search process. 

Over a period of several months several evening “networking” sessions were held facilitated by a church member who does this for a living across the country.  It provided new and real connections and help for those in job transitions.   A daily email distribution mailing to over 150 people was created that provided notices of job openings, referral of job positions from church members and those on the distribution list, new announcements and resources of job fairs and helpful hints and encouragement in the job search.  

And then it came! Story after story of church and community members finding jobs through connections, daily email distributions, leveraging the new Career Resources web site, helping members and friends with their resume and finding mentors and networking through the database. It all began to come together and slivers of hope prevailed as God’s grace was apparent.

One day, Pastor King and Dick were having breakfast, discussing the Acts 2 Initiatives.  King asked Dick, “If you had $25,000 as seed money to start a new ministry, what would it look like?”   Ideas flowed freely: everything from starting a “free” health clinic to creating a multipurpose and multi-service technology/computer lab to help people with job training, tutoring and job search.   They began to discuss some unused space on the strategically located campus near downtown Orlando and a concept to create a Center that had the technology lab, several classrooms, meeting and training space.   Partnerships with a number of community agencies/groups/professional associations could provide focused ministries which helped people through all kinds of transitions.  Thus the idea was birthed: The Center for Life Transitions.

Closely connected with Florida Hospital and its Center for Pastoral Education, discussions began with the Director who is an active member of the church about utilizing CPE students for small group pastoral care sessions that would deal with grief, transition, divorce, etc.  

During a “transition” of its own, College Park Baptist Church went through the It’s Time missional study during the interim time prior to Pastor King coming to Orlando.  This church-wide study helped lead the church to empower each member to discover his or her own passion and to use them on purpose to be the presence of Christ in the world.  Many believe this set the stage for this church’s decision to do something unusual during hard economic times.

As an It’s Time Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Church, College Park applied for the Missional Church Grant to help them to launch this Center for Life Transitions. All during this time stories continued of people finding jobs and people losing jobs who were on the Acts 2 email distribution list.   Fall of 2009 the church was awarded a grant in the amount of $21,000 and a new Center for Life Transitions Committee was formed. 

Currently work and plans are underway to “launch” this endeavor in the Spring of 2010.  Partnerships are being formalized, operational guidelines are being developed, and some refurbishment of key space is being done to house this ministry.  Ministries like pastoral counseling with Florida Hospital, Christian Help/Central Florida Employment Council from outside the church, as well as the church’s own English as a Second Language ministry will begin to provide new hope for folks finding themselves in life’s transitions.

Even before the Center has even opened, successes continue to be reported.  Each week, some of the 150 people on the email distribution job-search lists report gladly that their name and email can now be removed from the list—they found jobs!  And, Bill Dick who helped envision and launch this dream secured a new job in his home town of Houston, Texas.  (Okay, not all successes stay in the community!)