Dr. Michael Lewis, Pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, GA, has announced to Baptist Press that he will nominate Jose Abella for the office of 2nd Vice President of the SBC at the 2017 annual meeting. This news breaks just over a month before we convene in Phoenix, AZ for the Southern Baptist Convention. Abella is the Lead Pastor of Providence Road Church in Miami, FL. He is a graduate of The College at Southeastern and is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity.
Below are some quotes from the Baptist Press article announcing the nomination.
From Lewis:
“Jose is a loving picture of what Southern Baptists are working to become,” Lewis, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., said in a news release, “effective in an urban context, multiplying churches, reaching different generations, ethnicities and socioeconomic groups, all while being faithful to Scripture.”
Regarding Providence Road:
During Abella’s pastorate, Providence Road has planted a sister congregation in Miami and increased in average worship attendance from approximately 65 to some 250, the church reported. Providence Road baptized five people last year and 17 in 2015. The Florida Baptist Convention and the SBC’s Annual Church Profile reported similar data.
Providence Road reported Great Commission Giving last year totaling 19 percent of its undesignated receipts. That total included 4 percent through the Cooperative Program. Baptist Press could not confirm the congregation’s 2016 giving because some data is not included in reports from the Florida convention and the ACP database.
The church’s 2017 budget includes 5 percent giving through CP, Providence Road reported.
More from Lewis:
Lewis said Abella “is fully bilingual, preaching each week in both English and Spanish, and leads Providence Road to effective cross-cultural outreach in Miami.”
Abella is a leadership team member of the Pillar Church Planting Network, Lewis said, and “models biblical expository preaching and a firm commitment to the inerrancy and authority of Scripture.”
“With Jesus and the Gospel at the center,” Lewis said, “Jose goes across people groups, languages, ethnicities and calls people to Jesus. We need that perspective. We need Jose’s voice.”
To this point, Abella is the only announced nominee for the office.
