A Florida church, fresh off celebrating its 85th anniversary — including 35 years at its current location in the Orlando suburb of Sanford — is using accounting services from WatersEdge to help them expand their reach and ministries across greater Orlando and beyond.
According to Reid Adams, executive pastor at Central Church, the church first learned about WatersEdge and the services they offer after doing a Google search for organizations that specialize in church management.
“I think we interviewed two or three different companies and found WatersEdge to be the most responsive with the most obvious partnership perspective,” Adams said.
Since January 2023, WatersEdge Ministry Accounting has handled the church’s payroll and accounting tasks. This arrangement leaves Central Church with more time, energy, and resources for advancing God’s Kingdom in and around Greater Orlando.
WatersEdge offers a variety of accounting services for Baptist churches, associations, and organizations, including bookkeeping, payroll, financial reporting, and contributions tracking. These services are designed to relieve the accounting burden on church leaders so they can focus more on the Gospel and less on finances.
When Central Church first made the move to its current location, it was built on top of an old celery field right outside the edge of town. Now, more than three decades later, that peaceful, rural setting has been supplanted by urban sprawl, including new businesses, multifamily housing units, and single-family homes.
Through the years, the church has developed a reputation for being a leader among churches in the area. Whether it’s helping build partnerships, praying for the city, or actively engaging in the community and its school systems, this multi-generational, multi-ethnic church of approximately 1,000 active members strives to be a bright beacon in a dark world.
“[Central Church] has an enduring history of being engaged in caring for the city as well, and just found its way into the heart of the growth and everything that’s going on here in Sanford,” Adams said.
Central Church’s continued growth and expansion of its ministries in and around central Florida has necessitated the need for additional space and resources. The church is in the middle of a $7.2 million fundraising initiative its leaders have dubbed “IMAGINE” as it prayerfully seeks to upgrade its facilities and streamline ministries while also funding the church’s two-year missions and ministry plan.
As Central Church looks to enter this new era of reaching people for Christ and expanding its presence, they wanted a partner who could help them migrate many of their accounting systems into the 21st century and navigate all those components. WatersEdge fits the bill.
“I’m the executive pastor, so the money is a very important aspect of ministry for me, but it’s helped us refocus more of our staff on the discipleship aspects of ministry and reduce the number of the financial control aspects of ministry on our staff as well,” Adams said.
“We believe strongly in what WatersEdge is doing — they’re delivering a great product and service, and we’re super pleased to be partners with them.”
By Harve Allen
