First Baptist Pastor Flora leaves legacy

Family seeks to continue non-profit ‘The Timothy Project’ Flora founded
 
Jim Flora, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Mt. Vernon, died on Friday, May 7, of liver cancer. He was 63.
Grace Flora, Jim Flora’s daughter, said her father was called to the ministry at a young age.
“(He) grew up in a not-strong Southern Baptist background, but the more he studied scripture and the more he dug into the word, he kind of realized that was a little bit more Biblical than what he had been taught and raised as,” she said. “And he, from a really young age, felt the call to be a pastor and it was not something he was interested in, actually. But then God got ahold of him at 35 and he turned to the ministry.”
Flora would often lead short mission trips to India, and during one of these trips, Grace said, he was led to go into foreign missions full-time. This led him and his family to the African county of Lesotho, where they spent 12 years as missionaries.
Grace said her father decided he wanted to come to First Baptist while they were visiting in the United States.
“Whenever we were on a stateside assignment in 2018, my dad was given the opportunity to speak at First Baptist of Mt. Vernon,” she said, “and just from that moment, he fell in love with the church and the people.”
Flora was looking forward to doing big things with the church as its senior pastor, Grace said, but two months after arriving, he was diagnosed with liver cancer.
“He had a lot of hopes and dreams for that church,” she said.
Rather than go with a traditional funeral, Grace said, the family is going to hold a celebration of life service for Flora at First Baptist on Saturday, May 22, with the family handling all arrangements. In lieu of flowers, they are requesting donations to a non-profit they started called “The Timothy Project,” which Grace said would be used to provide Biblical training to young men in Lesotho to help them spread the message of Christ. It is named for 2 Timothy, 2:2, which states, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
Flora’s celebration of life service will take place at First Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon on Saturday, May 22 at 2 p.m.
To donate to the Timothy Project, go online to: www.shelbygiving.com/app/ giving/fbcmv. The link is also available on Jim Flora’s Facebook page