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The Florida I grew up remembering (as
our family would come down several times a year from
Atlanta for vacation,) is just a memory. Even for those
of you who have always lived here, it is changing so
fast you might not even realize it.
Jill Kruger in her article for the Orlando Business
Journal (January 22, 1999) entitled “Florida Living
Is Wonderful—I Sure Do Miss It!” said this:
"Today, where the orange groves once stood,
houses now stand within a few feet of one another.
The wide open roads... are bumper to bumper with exhaust-spewing
autos. Leisurely Sunday drives are still available,
if your idea of attractive scenery is boom cranes,
buildings under construction, and dirt mounds on the
horizon in all directions. The lakes post pollution
warnings to would-be swimmers and are depleted of
fish. As for orange blossoms in the air, once the
trademark of warm spring nights: Forget it!"
Listen to some of the things that are happening around
us as we go about our daily routine:
Florida's Population
- While the world growth average is 1.4 %, Florida's
growth rate is 2.35 %.
- Florida is growing at a faster rate than Haiti,
Mexico or even India!
- Florida's 16 million will double to 32 million in
30 years.
- And remember: In the 1940s Floridians numbered a
mere 2 million
- And all of these figures do not include the one
million “snowbirds” who reside in the
state every winter!
- By 2025 the nation’s 50 million baby boomers
will be entering retirement and they are bound to
have an impact on Florida
- This “Age Wave” will wash over the sunshine
state for the next three decades causing additional
strain on the economy and especially health care
- Politics will be affected as perhaps as many as
22 of the state’s 67 counties will have senior
populations larger than 30%
- This even impacts our church planting! Consider
our new church start in Viera south of Cocoa. A new
town that is publicized as being geared for the 25-40
yr. olds. But guess who is moving in there? The 55+
crowd! That is a good thing because our new church
start is mostly over 50.
Immigration
- Florida is the third largest immigrant-receiving
state and ranks fourth in illegal immigration
- In the last decade Florida's growth was 85% from
immigration and only 15 % from natural increase.
- An estimated 430,000 illegal immigrants are currently
in Florida.
This influx of immigrants (legal and illegal) also
affect our CBF ministry
- Remember our mission statement says in part that
we will cross "all barriers to draw people to
Christ"
- When I joined CBF FL a little less than 3 years
ago, we were made up of congregations that we composed
of almost exclusively Anglos
- Today we have two Bahamian churches, two Haitian
ones and one African American new church start; we
are beginning to reflect the ethnic makeup of our
state
- But there is much yet to be done! We as yet do not
have even one Latin (or, Hispanic) church. And as
Phil Hester has reminded us, the state is rapidly
becoming a Spanish-speaking zone!
Poverty
- In 2000 the poverty rate in Florida was 12.5 %
- Though the percentage declined from 1990 (12.7%)
the total number of people living in poverty increased
from 1.6 million to just under 2 million
- One out of every five children lives in poverty
and 400,000 families
- Perhaps the most striking figure is that nearly
half of all female headed families with children under
five live below the poverty level
- This specific challenge was part of our reason
for developing the TML and Open House ministries.
We could go on and on talking about
Water
- Daily public water use is estimated at 169 gallons
per person per day.
- Florida added 834 people every day in the 1990's
requiring an additional 140,946 gallons of water each
day!
or
Education
- From 1995 to 2001, Florida added 50,640 children
of school age annually. This required 5 more classrooms
each day to achieve a 25 child classroom.
- In 1998 Florida ranked 32nd among states in per-pupil
expenditures.
and the
Environment
- Half of the original Everglades has been swallowed
up by development and much of the rest is dying of
thirst
- 410 acres of farmland are lost to development each
day and 450 acres of forest
- University of Florida economist John Reynolds estimates
that 130,000 acres per year will be converted from
rural to urban uses in Florida from 2000 to 2020.
He has determined that for each additional person
who moves to Florida, a half-acre of land is converted
to urban uses.
or even
Transportation
- In 2001 there are 13,995,245 registered vehicles
in Florida, one vehicle for every 1.4 people.
- Florida needs two more miles of new roads every
day. Florida Department of Transportation estimates
$47 billion is needed to expand road capacity with
an available budget of $17 billion.
What Does All Of This Mean?
It means that Florida is one of the fast growing and
fastest changing places on the planet. We need—we
must—be aware of these trends. And it is imperative
that we continue to redefine our ministry in light of
this ever-changing state that is Florida.
[This paper was prepared for the CBF Florida
annual meeting held in Orlando on February 21-22,
2003. The references for these statistics are in the
folder entitled Florida—General Information.]
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