Who We Are
We are a family of faith who embraces a rich history of community impact, personal life change and international ministry. We actively invite our friends and neighbors to join us on a journey toward becoming committed followers of Jesus Christ who have a passion for God, a passion for people and a passion to serve.
We reach out to all of Central Florida because we believe that every person has infinite worth and must hear God’s message of hope, because we have been called by God to serve and not sit on the sidelines, and because the time is now for Central Florida to be transformed.
Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We envision a day when every home, every neighborhood, every office, every classroom and every public forum will have an influence for Jesus Christ because the people of First Baptist Orlando are blanketing this community and the nations with the hope of the gospel.
We define “making disciples” as introducing people to Jesus Christ, training them to grow as committed followers of Jesus and equipping them to invite others to do the same.
Our vision is to make disciples who have a passion for God, a passion for people and a passion to serve.
After praying, seeking Godly counsel and meeting for many hours with our leadership team, three strategic initiatives emerged that define the journey we must take. God showed us it’s not a question of what we can do, it’s a question of what we must do.
1) We must become more focused (effective and efficient)!
2) We must strengthen the disciple making process!
3) We must engage as many people as possible in compelling worship!
Where We Are Going
1. We must become more focused. We will align “what we do” with “who we are” to be more effective and efficient in accomplishing what we believe to be God’s plan for our church. Our mission and our vision should be so clear that it is obvious why we choose to do some activities and not do others.
2. We must strengthen the disciple making process. We want everyone to know what it means to be a passionate disciple of Jesus Christ. We want everyone to be able to identify where they are spiritually; where God wants them to be and how to get there.
3. We must engage as many people as possible in compelling worship. We want to provide multiple ways for people of all cultures and languages to participate in compelling and life changing worship experiences centered on God’s Word. Our worship experiences will provide opportunities for the participants to individually and corporately encounter God.
What We Will Become
We will be a body of believers who know how to speak to others about what Jesus Christ means to them and know how to tell others how they can have this same relationship with a loving Heavenly Father.
We will be a body of believers who live on mission, touching every possible venue of this community with a positive influence for Jesus Christ.
We will be a body of believers who are a disciple making community. We will be an ever expanding number of small groups that gather every week on and off our campus for Bible study and fellowship, who are always open to new participants (making it easy for them to enter), who pray for each other regularly and who do life together.
We will be a body of believers who reflect Christ in what we look like and what we do in terms of language, ethnicity and economic situation. We will demonstrate Jesus’ love in this community by showing grace to all, welcoming all and putting the needs of others ahead of our own.
We will be a body of believers who will find new and varied ways of penetrating our culture with the gospel using our ministries, special events, internet presence and TV to take the gospel into the community rather than only asking people to come to our campus.