May 3, 2021

By Aaron Weaver

DECATUR, Ga. — An innovative pastor, intercultural ministry entrepreneur and experienced disaster recovery specialist from North Carolina has been selected to provide leadership to the long-term domestic disaster relief and recovery work of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead will serve as the manager of CBF Disaster Response in the United States, succeeding Rick Burnette. Burnette, who serves as a CBF field personnel in Fort Myers, Fla., has led the domestic disaster mitigation and response efforts of the Fellowship in collaboration with CBF state/regional organizations since June 2018. After three extremely busy years in the position, Burnette will focus full-time on engaging in the community-level food security efforts of Cultivate Abundance, a ministry he and his wife, Ellen, founded in 2017 to serve farmworker families in Immokalee, Fla.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September 2018, Snead Perez joined the CBF Disaster Response team as a local response coordinator, mobilizing congregations and resources across the country to help the people of Trenton, N.C., rebuild their community.

She has held multiple ministry roles including associate pastor of First Chin Baptist Church in New Bern, N.C., a Burmese refugee congregation and leads an intercultural-focused ministry she founded called DIASPRA, LLC which equips pastors and congregations for community discipleship outreach and missional success through diversity and inclusion awareness and skills. Snead Perez is a Gardner-Webb University graduate, where she received her Doctor of Ministry degree in 2019. She also serves as past-chair of the Racial Justice and Equity ministry team for CBF of North Carolina and is a board member of Baptist Women in Ministry of North Carolina. 

Burnette noted Snead Perez’s qualifications and preparedness for this new role managing the Fellowship’s disaster response work.

“Daynette brings so much to CBF Disaster Response with her practical experience as a local response coordinator for Hurricane Florence recovery efforts from 2018-2020 and her involvement with the emerging post-disaster spiritual care initiative,” he said. “She also brings a pastor’s heart and has had considerable intercultural ministry experience.”

Javier Perez, CBF director of Global Missions programs and impact, also highlighted Snead Perez’s expertise and praised Burnette for his leadership.

“We are blessed to have the Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead Perez step into this crucial role, as she will bring an innovative approach and expertise to disaster response,” Snead Perez said. “Rick’s leadership has been transformative, and we look forward to building on the foundation and networks he formed.”

CBF Global Missions Coordinator Steven Porter expressed his gratitude for the leadership of Burnette over the past three years crediting him with rebuilding CBF’s disaster response infrastructure.

“With the leadership of a seasoned field personnel in Rick Burnette and the expert help of several CBF state and regional leaders, and a lot of hard work, we now have a clear philosophy, a tested model, and a great team of volunteer state/regional disaster response leaders, contractors and other partners,” Porter said. “As Rick now senses a call to focus more narrowly on the sustainable agriculture portion of his global missions field assignment, I can think of no one better suits to succeed him than Daynette. Through her background in business, real estate, pastoral care, intercultural ministry, diversity training and disaster response, the Holy Spirit has equipped her with uncommon gifts to lead CBF Disaster Response alongside our churches.”

“Multiple years of record-breaking storms have depleted our disaster response reserves. As a Fellowship, we need to give now and to give generously, so we can respond quickly when it matters most,” Porter added.

To support the ministry of CBF Disaster Response, visit www.cbf.net/dr.

Read a recent profile of Rev. Dr. Daynette Snead Perez here.

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CBF is a Christian network that helps people put their faith into practice through ministry efforts, global missions and a broad community of support. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.