CBF Receives $2 Million by Anonymous Donor
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship received a $2 million pledge from an anonymous donor the third of its kind in the last two years.
Bill Coates, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., where the donation was offered, presented the first payment toward the $2 million pledge on Jan. 13. At the donors request, the gift will be used to fund missions projects of the national CBF and CBF of Georgia.
"It will have a significant and positive impact on our missions program, and we are very grateful," said Frank Broome, CBF of Georgia coordinator.
The CBF has received $11 million in gifts since 2002, designated primarily for global missions. Without those gifts, CBF leaders said recently, the organization likely would have had to lay off some of its 150 missions workers.
"This gift is an extraordinary example of Christian stewardship and generosity," said Daniel Vestal, the Fellowship's national coordinator.
"We are very grateful to the donor for the gift as well as the spirit and humility in which it has been given. First Baptist Church of Gainesville is blessed to have this family among us," said Rev. Coates.
"They are repeatedly generous with our own congregation and with the larger purposes of the church beyond our local community."