Welcome Mike Godfrey to FBCOP!
WE WELCOME NEW ASSOCIATE PASTOR, DR. MIKE GODFREY
We are excited to welcome Mike, Carrie, Abbie, and Caleb Godfrey to the First Baptist Church family. Mike has previously served in Virginia, near Washington DC as the founding pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church. Mike will be serving as our Associate Pastor beginning September 1, 2022. He will be leading our disciple-making ministries, church planting partnerships and expansion, as well as other pastoral responsibilities such as preaching, teaching, counseling, etc.
Mike and Carrie grew up in Orange Park and were both members as children and teenagers here at FBCOP. Mike has earned his Bachelor of Arts from The Baptist College of Florida, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Mike’s Spiritual Journey
“I was born and raised in a Christian home. There has never been a time in my life where the gospel was foreign to me. The Lord called me to salvation during the summer following my seventh-grade year at youth camp. At this point, upon believing the perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus, I surrendered my life to Christ. Later, while on a mission trip in Israel, the Lord confirmed my call to ministry through the local church I grew up in, and they licensed me and sent me to The Baptist College of Florida. My wife was also a member of my home church, and upon graduation we were married in May of 2003. That year we departed for further training at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and spent the next years in volunteer and part-time ministry while attending seminary. Upon graduation I began serving in full-time ministry in Georgia. While there I pursued and completed a Doctor of Ministry degree at Southern Seminary. After eight years, the Lord called me to plant a church in the Washington, DC Metro Area. In 2015, I entered a church planting residency at Sterling Park Baptist Church. Upon completion I, along with others, planted Redeemer Baptist Church in Northern Virginia in 2016. I am passionate about helping Christians know Christ through His word. Thus preaching, teaching, and discipling are my deepest joys in ministry. The privilege to handle the Word of God is a weighty responsibility and a joy beyond com-pare. Pastoring in different capacities for 15 years has only deepened my sense of this responsibility and delight in shepherding Christians to grow in Christlikeness.”
The church membership voted on July 3 overwhelmingly, following a unanimous recommendation from our Personnel Committee and Pastor Tarkington, to call Dr. Mike Godfrey to serve as our Associate Pastor. We are excited to welcome Mike and Carrie and the kids home.
