First Baptist Church Welcomes CBF Leadership & Field Personnel to the Pulpit and Sunday School!
For six weeks, our church will welcome Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) Leadership and Field Personnel to our pulpit and Sunday School classes.
Sunday, February 20th – Sunday School & Worship
Sam Harrell, Associate Coordinator of Global Missions
Sam was born to Baptist missionary parents in Nairobi, Kenya where he spent all of his childhood and most of his adult life. Married to Melody (spiritual director, born and raised in Uganda), they have three adult sons.
A graduate of North Carolina State University and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Sam together with Melody founded Africa Exchange, a non-profit education and community development organization, through which they have operated over the last 20 years under the auspices of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as global field personnel.
Sam’s primary work has been in community development and appropriate technology with marginalized urban and rural communities in Kenya. He has also conducted cross-cultural
field education and service learning modules for a number of institutions including Mercer University, Baylor University and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond where Sam was adjunct faculty in practical mission.
As Associate Coordinator of Global Missions for the Decatur, GA based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Sam’s responsibilities include facilitating the work of global field personnel in some 20 countries. He is passionate about environmental stewardship and draws important connections between engaging God’s mission and caring for creation.
Sunday, February 27th – Sunday School & Worship
Chris Aho, Director of Thriving Congregations
Chris Aho currently serves as the Director of Thriving Congregations with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. His primary work focuses on implementing CBF’s Thriving Congregations Grant, which will help congregations of the fellowship take a design approach to reimagining a shared life of thriving though clarity and collaboration while balancing tradition and innovation.
Chris hold degrees from Baylor University, Duke University, and recently completed a Doctorate at Duke University Divinity School. Outside of work, Chris enjoys being with his family, reading, running, cycling, old cars, and being outside when he is not watching the Duke Bluedevils or Carolina Hurricanes. He is married to Natalie and they have two boys, Cam and Finn.
Sunday, March 6th – Sunday School & Worship
Anna & LaCount Anderson, CBF Field Personnel
Rocky Mount, NC – Commissioned June 2010
Anna Anderson serves as CBF Field Personnel for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. She was commissioned for service in June 2010 and has served in poverty relief in Halifax, Nash, Edgecombe, and Hertford counties. She is a graduate of Mars Hill University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Anna was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in September, 2007.
Prior to mission service, she has served local churches as organist and Minister of Music. LaCount Anderson serves as CBF Mission Engagement consultant for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He was commissioned for service in June 2009 and has served in poverty relief in Halifax, Nash, Edgecombe, and Hertford counties. He is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. LaCount was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in June, 1975. Prior to mission service he has served local churches as an educator, musician and church planter.
Anna and LaCount have one child, Leah Anderson Reed, who is serving the First Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC as Minister to Community. Their son-in-law, Chad is a therapist with Animal Assisted Therapy of the Triangle in Clayton. They also have a grandson, Jennings, who was born in December 2021; needless to say they are very excited Grandparents!
Sunday, March 13th – Sunday School & Worship
Jessica Hearne, CBF Field Personnel
Danville, VA – Commissioned June 2012
Jessica is a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel based in Danville, Virginia. Danville is a city in Southside Virginia where 38% of children live below the poverty line, nearly 3 times the average for Virginia. One in 5 people in Danville live with food insecurity, and the median household income there is about half that of the state.
Jessica and her husband Joshua serve with and through Grace and Main Fellowship, an intentional, ecumenical Christian community devoted to hospitality, simplicity, prayer, nonviolent action and grassroots community development. The foundation of their ministry is simple: building relationships and community.
Grace and Main ministers with and among people in Danville who are experiencing homelessness, hunger, poverty, addiction, and food and housing insecurity. They do this in a variety of ways, such as:
Hospitality houses: a network of 6 houses owned or rented by Grace and Main leaders that provide shelter, food, prayer, and rest to those experiencing homelessness, hunger, poverty and addiction.
Community meals: several dozen family-style meals every year at a variety of locations ranging from borrowed church fellowship halls to homes to parks to block parties.
Urban Farm: a community growing space operated by a team of Grace and Main and neighborhood leaders. The food grown here combats hunger locally in a variety of important ways.
Tool Library: friends and neighbors can borrow any number of tools, including hand tools, landscaping equipment, lawn mowers, pressure washers, and ladders. These tools offer folks an opportunity to earn extra income through side work, or maintain their own homes.
Community development: supporting and encouraging the development of leaders who are directly affected by poverty, working with churches and local organizations for positive change in the city of Danville and beyond.
Sunday, March 20th – Sunday School & Worship
Nell Green, CBF Field Personnel
Rock Hill, S.C. – Commissioned May 1994
After 26 years of field service with CBF in Miami, Brussels, and Houston, Nell is working to help facilitate a culture where mission flourishes by engaging with Field Personnel, the CBF Development and Communications teams, ministry partners, and churches to strengthen the Offering for Global Missions and related projects like the Missions Marketplace at General Assembly for a new generation of Fellowship Baptists. This new role allows Nell to use networking skills and a passion for marketing and promotion to benefit all of CBF’s Field Ministries.
Sunday, March 27th
Greg & Sue Smith, CBF Field Personnel
Fredericksburg, VA – Commissioned June 2006
Greg and Sue Smith are Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel serving the first-generation Latino immigrant community through LUCHA Ministries, Inc., located in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
LUCHA Ministries provides a Christian response to the immigration issue and the needs of the immigrant community. LUCHA advocates for the rights of immigrants and their families, offers a legal services clinic, and helps them obtain services in Spanish. Greg and Sue equip others to work with the immigrant population by offering training and serving as consultants to individuals, churches, and other organizations. The goal is holistic ministry that address the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of immigrants.
Greg and Sue also serve as members of CBF’s Advocacy Action Team for Immigrants and Refugees. The group cultivates a network of active advocates by providing resources, being informed about current legislation and trends, and encouraging direct policy advocacy at critical moments alongside and on behalf of immigrants and refugees.
The Smiths’ ministry goals center on helping Latino immigrant families to live better, healthier, more productive lives in the United States, with opportunities to integrate fully into their communities. Some of their programs through LUCHA include:
Cinco Panes – hunger relief services for immigrant families
Project Adelante – women’s empowerment program featuring classes to train and equip Latinas in skills that can be used for personal and family support
Bridges of Hope – literacy, ESOL and mentoring program for children and parents
Immigration Legal Services – low-cost immigration legal assistance to qualified immigrants and refugees
Bilingual counseling and pastoral care from a culturally sensitive trauma-informed perspective