Administrative Group
Fermín A. Whittaker, CSBC Executive Director

• The California Mission Offering a cooperative effort of California Southern Baptist congregations which helps fund evangelistic and church starting efforts to help us reach the 33 million unchurched in our state for Christ.

Judy Logan, Director of Strategic Giving

• The California Mission Offering is critical to continue ministries in California. The world is right here in California. If we reach the people groups in California, we can reach the world!

Church & Pastoral Care
Peter Celum, Church & Pastoral Care Specialist

• The California Mission Offering plays a significant part in funding our statewide peacemaking strategy through training events which help create cultures of peace in CSBC churches. CMO also provides funding for counseling and restoration programs like week-long Sabbath rests for CSBC pastors and spouses.

Church Starting Group
Anthony Ahaev, Language Church Starting Specialist

• California Mission Offering gifts provides the necessary dollars for matching funds from the North American Mission Board to start language churches.

Linda Bergquist, New Church Starting Strategist

• The California Mission Offering helps provide resources for church planting. New Church Starting has already exceeded our church planting goals for 2010 and there are many more churches that we hope to launch all across California on 10/10/10.

Howard Burkhart, Language Church Starting Strategist

• Basic Training for Church Planters leads church planting teams. Gifts from the California Mission Offering help offset the costs of providing this essential training for new church planters. In 2009, 50 church planting teams participated in this vital process.

Richard Cano, Language Church Starting Strategist

• Gifts from the California Mission Offering help new church starters as they begin to form their core group with the hope of starting a new church.

Andrew Chan, Language Church Starting Strategist

• It is very helpful for a Chinese church starter to reach non-Christians when he knows that a lot of people (California Southern Baptists) are praying and helping him financially.

Joe De Leon, Church Starting Group Leader

• California Mission Offering emphasis provides the much needed prayer and financial support needed to plant churches among the 33 million unsaved in our state. Each gift allows California Southern Baptists to penetrate the darkness with the Light of the World. CMO provides California Southern Baptist churches the opportunity to help fulfill the Great Commission in their “Judea.”

Sal Fernandez, Language Church Starting Strategist

• The California Mission Offering is the lifeblood of every activity that leads to a successful launch of a new work, whether it's a block party, the promotion campaign or the sign in front. CMO is the blessing that meets all these needs.

Song Sik Kim, Language Church Starting Strategist

• Many churches start without enough money when they need many resources. The California Mission Offering is an important resource in starting new churches in California.

Rodolfo Martinez, Language Church Starting Strategist

• The California Mission Offering is important to my ministry because I can start more Hispanic churches in Los Angeles and train leaders who will lead those new congregations.

Josias Robledo Jr., Language Church Starting Strategist

• This special offering helps new works launch community events like block parties, provides flyers for visitation and many initial publicity resources.

Ross Shepherd, New Church Starting Specialis

• The California Mission Offering allows us to enhance the funding we receive from Cooperative Program and North American Mission Board to plant more churches in California. More churches equals more people both hearing and receiving the gospel of Christ. More people hearing leads to more people receiving Christ. The end result is transforming California one soul at a time.

Jonathan Stockstill, New Church Starting Strategist

• The California Mission Offering helps transform entire communities through church planting. These funds enable us to support the vital work our church planters perform in cities and towns across our state.

Jason Williams*, Language Church Starting Strategist

• The California Mission Offering is important because it affords me opportunities to reach the more than 1 million Muslims and the millions of other “least reached” people here in California.
  *Not his real name.

Healthy Church Group
Tom Belew, Small Groups & Childhood Specialist

• Each year the California Mission Offering makes it possible to responds to Vacation Bible School needs including association requests for trainers and church requests attempting to conduct VBS. Each year CMO helps respond to Sunday school, small group and childhood training requests from churches and associations.

Roger Byrd, Music & Worship Specialist

• The California Mission Offering is used to provide special funding for ministries that directly effect churches. Many times churches can see and feel their missions giving come back to help them at home.

Tammy L. Cookson, Community Ministries Field Specialist

• The California Mission Offering gives California Southern Baptists the opportunity to unite in prayer and invest in missions to make a huge Kingdom impact in San Diego where I minister and beyond. CMO makes it possible for ministry projects to reach the "least of these."

Charlie Corum, Community Ministries Field Specialist

• The California Mission Offering is a blessing to me, a full-time CSBC missionary, and to the 178 congregations of the Los Angeles Southern Baptist Association with which I work to start ministries in communities throughout LA.

Ken Dean, Community Ministries Field Specialist

• Ministry Evangelism is a greater means of sharing Christ because ministry evangelism intentionally places the church in touch with people who need Jesus as Savior. The California Mission Offerings assist me in training, planning and implementing new ministries and helping existing ministries become effective in making disciples. Ministry evangelism engages all the people of God in being an intentional witness for the Kingdom of God.

Charles McClung, Ministry Evangelism Specialist

• The California Mission Offering is important because it provides gifts for training summer missionaries who come to California to assist our churches with church planting, ministry evangelism projects, Vacation Bible school, and children and youth camps. CMO also provides gifts for our state-wide migrant ministry called Feeding Those Who Feed Us. It is used to purchase new clothes for migrant children, purchase food for migrant families and purchased fuel for our medical and dental units that service migrant families.

Mike McGuffee, Ministerial Leadership Specialist

• The California Mission Offering provides resources to help pastors become more effective leaders.

Randy McWhorter, Healthy Church Group Leader

• Because of the California Mission Offering, the Healthy Church Group helps CSBC congregations fulfill their vision. CMO enables us to provide assistance for special projects related to evangelism and special needs that threaten the overall health of a church. CMO offerings have been used to purchase block party trailers, enhance community ministry projects, and to financially support churches in leadership crisis.

Dorothy Rowell, Community Ministries Field Specialist

• The California Mission Offering is important to me because it helps me to know that I am not alone in ministry. CMO is a tangible way of knowing that California Southern Baptists are with me, supporting me in every way.

Oscar Sanchez, Migrant Ministries Field Specialist

• The California Mission Offering is important because it has provided for the purchase of a fully-equipped mobile medical unit where hundreds of migrants have received free medical care in the last five years. When we meet people's physical needs, it provides an opportunity for us to share the glorious gospel.

Debbie Wohler, Resort Ministries Field Specialist

• There are 12 million people who visit Lake Tahoe each year. The California Mission Offering allows people to hear and respond to the gospel.

Missions Advancement Group
Linda Clark, WMU/Women’s Ministry Specialist

• The California Mission Offering enables me and our state leadership team to provide training opportunities for women. It also provides needed funding for special ministries such as Christian Women's Job Corps, new language work, and assistance to evangelistic projects involving women in our state.

Don Hargis, Baptist Men's Ministries Specialist

• Other than the donations that make disaster relief possible for CSBC churches, the California Mission Offering is the next great supporter of disaster relief ministries. These funds make possible the logistical expenses of our disaster relief fleet. Thank you California Southern Baptists.

Mike McCullough, Associate Executive Director

• California Mission Offering allows California Southern Baptists to focus our prayers and gifts on our own Jerusalem and Judea. Knowing that California has more than 33 million unchurched is one thing. A strategic focus on praying, giving and sharing Jesus are the mandatory actions that follow our knowledge of the lostness of our state.

Rod Wiltrout, Church Finance Specialist

• Gifts to the California Mission Offering enable my office to translate stewardship and financial seminar materials into various languages. Because of CMO gifts we have materials to help language church leaders who speak Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.