“We believe our mission begins at home, among the many young families and children we serve through discipleship and worship each week,” said Dr. Joshua Wallnofer, pastor of Klondike Baptist Church. “Each Sunday morning, the sounds of babies crying and little voices echo through our services — a joyful reminder of life and growth within our body.”

Beyond regular church gatherings, the church hosts a weekly outreach recovery ministry, The Most Excellent Way, and a monthly ministry to the homeless.

Viewing ministry through the lens of the Great Commandment to love God and love others, the church website, lovepensacola, was chosen out of a desire to communicate the church’s mission statement, which begins, “We are a church passionate about proclaiming and living the gospel by loving God and our community.”

In an effort to love the Spanish-speaking local population, the church is actively engaged with Send Network, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Florida Baptist Convention to plant a Spanish-speaking congregation, Iglesia Klondike, on its Pensacola campus.

Going beyond the local community, Klondike Baptist Church has been active in planting churches in New Orleans and has developed long-term international partnerships, including annual mission trips to Colombia and Guatemala.

Wallnofer spends two weeks each year onsite at seminaries in South America to help train pastors. Through these mission trips, he and others cultivate relationships that span the distance.

“When you build relationships with people, you learn how they truly feel on the ground,” said Wallnofer.

For other churches seeking to love the communities in which they serve, Wallnofer offers these thoughtful questions: “Would anyone outside our membership notice if our church closed its doors tomorrow? If we are to be God’s light in a dark world, where are our members already shining that light, and how can we, as a church, come alongside them? What can we do especially well to make a meaningful difference beyond our church walls in the lives of those who are not yet believers in Christ?”

From the cries of infants on Sunday mornings to partnerships that span continents, Klondike Baptist Church continues striving to be a faithful presence in its community and beyond.