Central Florida Deacon Newsletter
July 2026

Three things to know, listed below!

1. Equip - Exciting New Ideas:
   Lessons learn from the OPC Deacon Summit
   We have so much to learn from our brother Deacons in the OPC. I will share some of what I learned at their National Deacon Summit.
   

2. Support - Joint Service Project:

   Saturday, July 11th
   We have the opportunity to serve CrossTown Ministries to prepare their grounds and facility for the new school year.
   

3. Connect - 2026 Deacon Fellowship:
   September 11th-12th
   Orangewood Church.
   Registration is now open for this year’s Deacon Fellowship which will be hosted in partnership with ThirdMill Ministries.

   Register at: tinyurl.com/deacons2026

This is the “Equip, Support, Connect”
Central Florida Deacon Newsletter.

Happy 250th Independence Day!

I hope that you are all able to safely enjoy the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, despite the heat.

Last week I had the great blessing of attending the PCA’s annual General Assembly. I went to spread the word about what we have been doing in Central Florida to equip, support, and connect all of you, our Deacons. While there I was able to connect with at least one person from over 40 of the Presbyteries in the PCA and nearly every conversation generated a lot of excitement and questions about their presbyteries can replicate what we have been doing.

Just in this week alone I have had perhaps a dozen follow up conversations from those meetings. This is extremely exciting because the benefits of our connectionalism can begin to impact our brother Deacons around the PCA as other presbyteries hear about this work.

After the PCA’s General Assembly, I was invited to attend the National Deacon Summit of the OPC (our sister denomination). There, I was blessed and encouraged to hear about the great work they are doing and how we can continue to learn from them. (More about that below).

I pray that you are enjoying the Summer thus far and I hope to see each of you soon at one of the events listed below or in some other way. As always, if there is ever anything I can do for, please let me know.

See ya serving!

Your Most Obedient Servant,
Benjamin Schultz.
Administrative Deacon,
Presbytery of Central Florida.

Three Things:

Your time is valuable and information abounds.
With that in mind, here are three things to know:

EQUIP

Lessons Learned from the OPC Deacon Summit:

While there are many take-aways from the OPC National Deacon Summit, I want to highlight a few that I think could be implemented in Central Florida to our great benefit.

1. Regular video calls to chat and pray together.

   I am not typically one to go straight to a video call as I would almost always prefer to meet in person, but a set time each month to chat and pray together from across the presbytery might be a great way to stay connected.

   The logistics of time will have to be worked out, but I think having a set time that we can jump on a call together would be excellent. Our presbytery actually already does this for our Pastors regarding MTW missions. It is an easy, no commitment, join-when-you-can kind of call.

   I will send out more information as this comes together.

2. Diaconal Support for Minister Care.

   The OPC has a Committee for Ministerial Care which is designed to care for pastors who are in need, either because they have experienced a tragic event or other difficulty in life. Their Presbytery Deacon Committees often work to care for those ministers through financial or other assistance. While we have been doing this in our presbytery informally, I think there is much to be learned about creating a process for this type of care.

   I have been talking with the pastor in charge of this program in the OPC, whom I met at the conference, and hope to foster something similar in Central Florida.

3. One of the lessons I learned was from the director of Metanoia Prison Ministries which is a ministry of the PCA under MNA. Lowell Ivey spoke about fostering Diaconal support for their ministry through correspondence with inmates, volunteerism, and other ways we could support their work.

   I will be having a more extended conversation with Lowell in the coming weeks to figure out how we can serve Metanoia on a Presbytery Diaconal level.

I know that is a lot of information and not much solid detail, but I just wanted to capture a few things I picked up and share with you all so that you can be encouraged and excited about what we might be able to implement in Central Florida.

More information will follow as I work on bringing some of these lessons learned to fruition for our mutual benefit.

SUPPORT

Summer Joint Service Project:
Saturday, July 11th at CrossTown Ministries

The date is nearly upon us!

On July 11th we will come together from across the Presbytery to serve an amazing ministry in Downtown Orlando: CrossTown Ministries which is cultivating a Gospel environment where loved people love people in the Paramore area of Downtown Orlando.

If you are coming, please plan to be at 1030 W Kaley Ave. Orlando, FL. 32805 by 9am. We will be painting, cleaning, and doing some light landscaping, so dress appropriately.

I hope to see you all there so that we can serve Crosstown and the community they impact together!

CONNECT

The 2026 Deacon Fellowship
September 11th-12th at Orangewood

Our annual Deacon Fellowship is getting closer and closer!

This year, we are partnering with ThirdMill Ministries to host the Deacon Fellowship. This partnership allows us to elevate the fellowship so that we can be Equipped, Supported, and Connected better than ever.

In order to accommodate this partnership and the increased quality of the fellowship, for the first time ever, we are expanding it to two days: Friday, September 11th and Saturday, September 12th.

We will start at 6pm and end at 8:30 on Friday the 11th, then resume again at 8:30 on Saturday, finishing at 2pm. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on Saturday, with a donation request of $10 for lunch.

We will be hearing from Chris Sicks, Pastor of One Voice Fellowship and author of the book “Tangible,” as well as from Randy Nabors, Pastor Emeritus of New City Fellowship and author of the book “Merciful.”

In addition to hearing from these great speakers, we will have the unique opportunity to network with brothers and sisters in Christ from other denominations who are serving here in Central Florida and connect with agencies, ministries, organizations, resources, etc. that can help us better serve those in need.

You can register now at: tinyurl.com/deacons2026

I look forward to seeing you there!

Here to Serve

Contact me

benjamin@cfdeacon.org