Georgia Baptists give nearly $3.7 million to service groups statewide

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A crowd representing 51 grant recipients plus board members gathered Feb. 7 at the Missions and Ministry Center for the annual luncheon. Since 2006 the GBHCMF has presented approximately $40.7 million in grants. SCOTT BARKLEY/Index

DULUTH — A total of 51 organizations throughout Georgia now have additional funding for services such as pregnancy crisis centers, medical clinics, substance abuse treatment, and counseling training due to $3,690,363 in grants handed out Feb. 7 through the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation.

"It's a sign of God's grace, how He takes little and makes much of it," said outgoing Board of Trustees chair Grady Caldwell, senior pastor of New Mercy Baptist Church in Griffin. SCOTT BARKLEY/Index

The amount was the largest given since 2009, when the Health Care Ministry presented more than $4 million to recipients. Since 2006, approximately $40.7 million has been presented to various social service groups.

After welcoming the crowd and telling of his own interest in medicine growing up, GBHCMF CEO and President J. Robert White expounded on the organization's mission.

"Why do we do what we do?" he asked the crowd of trustees and grant recipients at the luncheon held at the Missions and Ministry Center. "We do these things in the hope that as we minister to the physical needs of people we'll have an opportunity to reach deeper in their lives with a spiritual impact.

CEO/President J. Robert White welcomed grant recipients before explaining how the Gospel was at the center of all efforts by the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation. SCOTT BARKLEY/Index

"The physical life we have isn't all there is. The biggest part of life is the eternal life that follows the grave."

The reason and purpose

Salvation in Christ, White said, remains in upmost importance to the group's mission. "It is the reason and purpose for everything we do," he pointed out.

Georgia Baptist Executive Director W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., who also welcomed the crowd at the beginning of the event, handed out checks to representatives of those receiving grants.

Grady Caldwell, senior pastor of New Mercy Baptist Church in Griffin and outgoing Board of Trustees chair, couldn't help but be encouraged afterwards by the event.

"It's a sign of God's grace, how He takes little and makes much of it," he said. "It's just awesome to see how God moves through the state through the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation."

GBHCMF, grants, services