The Crucible in Which We Build God’s Kingdom
2014 Stats and Facts: California (CA) has 37,253,956 people, with an estimated 33 million unchurched.
CA has about 490,000 Southern Baptists (1.32% of CA population), in 30 associations, in 2,182 California Southern Baptist Convention churches and missions, with 82 languages in almost 100 ethnic groups. There were recorded 14,938 baptisms in the 1,635 churches who used the ACP in 2013.
Los Angeles County population is 9,818,605. Los Angeles City population is 3,792,621 (2nd largest U. S. city). There are an estimated 17 births and 7 deaths every hour in this county, and one birth every 3.5 minutes and one death every 9 minutes in the LBHSBA area (roughly one-fourth of the county). County median age is 36.6 years, with 2,344 persons per square mile. “Mapping L. A.” states that in Los Angeles County there are 158 cities, 114/272 neighborhoods (depending on definition), and 42 unincorporated areas. You can see a list of these by googling “Mapping L. A.” There is no “Los Angeles Louis or Louise” profile possible, because each neighborhood’s demographic makeup is somewhat different from other neighborhoods.
The Long Beach Harbor Southern Baptist Association (LBHSBA) area has 31 cities, with 2,349,806 pop., of whom ARDA estimates 91.7% are lost. Our “area” roughly covers southern Los Angeles County, but we also overlap with three other associations in the county. In our area, every 3 hours about 20 people go into eternity, with an estimated 19 of them lost and only one saved. That’s 165 births and 411 deaths per day. In the LBHSBA area, Long Beach is the largest city (outside of Los Angeles itself) with 462,257 people. We also have two huge seaports (L.A. and Long Beach), with about one-half million seafarers on the ships that visit them every year.
Our LBHSBA association currently has 72 congregations, including churches, missions and new work starts, with about 4,500 members (0.189% of area population). These are congregations who are both active and inactive in the association. Our congregations include African-American, Hispanic, Anglo (Caucasian), Filipino, Korean, Cambodian, multi-ethnic, deaf, and Japanese. In addition to strengthening established churches, we need new churches to reach additional people of these groups, plus Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Thai, and many other ethnic groups, as well as affinity groups of various kinds (e.g., cowboy, biker, gangs, etc.).
The Five Priorities of LBHSBA Pastors from 2007 interviews are:
- Leadership Development/Vision Casting
- Outreach/Evangelism
- Facility Needs of All Kinds
- Community, Family, and Social Needs
- Church Planting/Church Launching. These continue to be major priorities of our congregations.
LBHSBA motto: A mega-city team who achieves God's will by taking advantage of Kingdom-building opportunities, a diverse partnership who encourage and empower each other to God's glory.
Statement adopted at October 16th, 2010, LBHSBA Annual Meeting:
- Vision: To be a central catalyst that drives innovative and creative ways to do transformational ministry in local churches, resulting in: association unity, awareness of available assistance, empowered and committed pastors, establishing healthy church growth and vision, relevant local ministries, new church starts, and a financially stable association.
- Mission: The Long Beach Harbor Southern Baptist Association (LBHA) seeks to resource, assist, coach, and equip the leadership of local churches, empowering them to make disciples and launch new churches and ministries. We are here to empower our leaders to run their RACE: Resource, Assist, Coach, and Equip.
- Our Values: Our Faith, Commitment to Jesus and Each Other, Family and Relationships, Growth, Creativity and Innovation, Passion, and Legacy.
