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Filipino Baptists to meet at SBC

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ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–The Filipino Southern Baptist Fellowship of North America will meet Tuesday, June 15, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Fla.

The group, with about 200 affiliated churches in the United States, will gather for a luncheon and meeting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday in Room W304F of the Orange County Convention Center.

Ken Weathersby, vice president of the church planting group at the North American Mission Board, will be among the speakers. The fellowship was founded 17 years ago and meets each year during the convention.

The 2000 Census said approximately 2.4 million Filipinos live in the United States, and Roger Manao, president of the fellowship, told Baptist Press the number has increased since then and also does not include undocumented immigrants.

“If we have 200 churches to reach 2.4 million Filipinos, it’s a burden to effectively reach them and plant more churches for the coming years. Any kind of strategy and materials we can put together would be good,” Manao, pastor of Philadelphia Bible Church International in North Philadelphia, said.

“The emphasis is more on planting churches. We are not doing enough.”

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Manao strongly urged all Filipino Baptists who can attend the meeting in Orlando to do so.

“I am challenging them to be a part of the national fellowship first for networking, bonding, fellowship and updating about our ministries and connecting with new pastors and new friends and to be refreshed also about what God has for the Filipinos in church planting ministries, new work in the United States,” he said.

To register for the meeting, e-mail Manao at [email protected] or call him at 610-580-8635.
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Compiled by Baptist Press staff writer Erin Roach.