Couple Who Brought Fresh Perspectives to BCNE’s Church-Planting and Partnership-Development Strategies Are Relocating to Florida

Hal and Sharon Haller will soon relocate to Florida after almost a decade of ministry in New England

Associate Executive Director Hal Haller, who strengthened the Baptist Churches of New England’s church-planting efforts, developed a church “multiplier team,” and led in the creation of an interdenominational partnership to start new congregations, completed his ministry in New England after nearly four years of leadership at the BCNE. He plans to move to Florida later this month to coach business executives.

Hal and his wife, Sharon Haller—who will continue to serve remotely as the BCNE’s Partnership Director—will relocate to the Jacksonville area following the launch June 12 of a unique church-planting agreement between New England Baptists and Alliance New England (ANE), and after the June 20 BCNE Board of Trustees meeting.

The 380+ congregations that comprise the Baptist Churches of New England have been well served by the Hallers since they began their ministry in New England in October 2020 after he completed a five-year North American Mission Board assignment as the Church Planting Director of the Baptist Convention of New York, Syracuse. 

“Hal’s middle name is ENERGY,” said Terry Dorsett, the BCNE Executive Director. “Hal brought incredible energy to the BCNE in a period when we really needed some fresh perspectives on how to do ministry with significantly fewer resources. He dreamed big dreams and then found people to help make those dreams become reality. We will miss him a lot. The BCNE will be healthier for many years due to Hal’s investment in our ministry,” he added.

Sharon Haller with members of the Executive Multiplier Team at a recent planning meeting

During his tenure in New England, Hal, who has planted six churches over nearly thirty years of ministry, advanced the existing church-planting strategy by organizing a “multiplier team” that is led by a five-member executive team; the team also includes a dozen members from across the region’s six states. They search for the optimal locations where a church may be most needed, develop a partnership plan, seek funds for start-up costs, train personnel, and, of course, pray for God’s direction and provision.

The task of a church planter is being refocused as a “church multiplier” because, said  Hal, while “their goal is to help start churches, ‘multiplication’ is a broader term.” Some multipliers are not called to plant a congregation from scratch, but to “replant” a dying church or “revitalize” a church that has existed for many years but has not seen numerical or spiritual growth for decades. 

The intentional or “direct partnership approach between two churches in close proximity will allow sponsor churches to mentor church planters and aid in creating individual, contextualized plans using their first-hand knowledge of the people and geographical area,” he said in a BCNE news story in October 2020. 

“I think it's functioning well,” Hal said about the direct planting strategy, “and we're about to solidify a commitment with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) to partner together in planting churches.”

C&MA, or The Alliance, describes itself as an “evangelical denomination full of believers who long to introduce the love of God to all nations.” The denomination counts 2,000 US churches, fifty of which are located in New England, and more than 700 international workers.

With its regional office in South Easton, MA, the denomination is “investing in our churches to help them to multiply, to lead and develop ANE’s Planter Pathway, and to assist Alliance New England in reaching its goal of 100 churches by 2033,” according to an online statement by the ANE church-planting leader, Gary Smith.

Hal Haller sharing thoughts during a BCNE staff meeting

It is commonly known that the cities and villages across New England have many churches that need to be revitalized or neighborhoods that need a fresh vision for reaching their neighbors with the good news of Jesus Christ.

“At any given time, you will find up to thirty [church] plants in New England reaching people of various languages and ethnic groups. But the need is great,” Hal said in an online statement. “We still have a long way to go before we share the gospel with 14.5 million New Englanders, less than 4% of whom currently attend an evangelical church.”

Consider making a generous gift to the Baptist Foundation of New England to advance church-planting ministry for years to come.

“The key to our success can be summed up in two words: relationship and mission. We’re working together towards the mission of planting gospel-centered churches in every New England community so that every man, woman, and child can come to know and follow Jesus,” Haller stated in the same 2020 BCNE article.

Hal was born and raised in Hollywood, FL, some 300 miles south of St. Augustine, where they will live; St. Augustine, founded in 1565, is known as the oldest city in the United States. He noted that “the second longest place I’ve ever lived is in New England.” After nearly a decade in the Northeast, he said about the return to his home state, “I’m finally getting back to Florida again. But it’s totally God’s timing on this. I'm excited about it!” 

Sharon Haller is a matchmaker. She connects churches, ministries, and individuals in New England and other regions of North America who want to serve in the shared tasks of evangelism and church development. 

Hal and Sharon encouraging leadership at King’s Hill Church in Boston, MA

By email, phone calls, and any other method possible, she develops partnerships that often lead to long-term relationships. A Southerner who calls Florida her home, Sharon is currently connecting Baptist associations and churches in Florida and North Carolina with New England Baptists and vice versa. Recently, she introduced a church planter in Port St. Lucie, FL, to a man in Western Connecticut only to discover that they grew up a few miles apart.

“I want to focus on relationship-based partnerships, asking questions to find a fit and help churches in New England support their partner churches” by conducting missions trips and vision tours, sharing prayer needs, and other matters. 

Since not all church partnerships blossom into healthy, mutually beneficial matches, Sharon spends much time listening to the needs, ministry philosophies, and related experiences of pastors and leaders on both sides of a possible connection. If a beneficial match is likely, she encourages them to commence a sustainable relationship on their own. 

“New Englanders share their experiences [with] open hearts for God's work,” Sharon concluded. “Partnerships are two-way streets and that emphasizes mutual investment and support.”

The three interconnected ministries of encouraging healthy and reproducing churches, engaging and preparing church mobilizers, and linking congregations in shared partnerships have grown impressively across the region in the last few years. BCNE leaders say these endeavors will continue steadily after Hal and Sharon Haller depart for the Sunshine State.

A Massachusetts native and a New England Baptist since 1970, Dan Nicholas is the BCNE managing editor