Editor’s note: The following story was shared with the State Board of Missions Aug. 22 by Stephen Rummage, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention.

I just heard from Dr. Heath Woolman, pastor at Fruit Cove Baptist Church in St. Johns. Last Sunday, they had a beach baptism at Mickler’s Landing in Ponte Vedra with 58 new believers following Jesus. He had his college students and others watching for onlookers so they could initiate gospel conversations with them.

On the beach that day, a young woman in her mid-twenties sat quietly by herself, watching, with only her dog for company. For over an hour she lingered on the edges, until finally she approached a senior adult couple and asked if they were with the group.

When they said “Yes,” she hesitated only a moment before asking, “Do you think they have time for one more?”

The couple assured her she would be welcome, and the man began a gospel conversation with her before bringing her to Pastor Heath. She asked the pastor the same question: “Do you have time for one more?”

Pastor Heath began asking her questions and, for the next 20 minutes, they talked about the gospel and about who Jesus is.

When the moment came to pray, something unexpected happened. For the first time in 20 years, Pastor Heath found himself unable to lead someone in a prayer for salvation. Whether it was the Holy Spirit or the weight of emotion, he simply could not get the words out. In that silence, the young woman bowed her head and poured out her heart to the Lord in one of the most genuine prayers of salvation he had ever heard.

When she finished, she looked up at him and repeated her question with a smile: “Do you have time for one more?” Pastor Heath’s thoughts immediately went to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8, and she knew he could give no other answer but “Yes.”

As it turned out, she lives just up the road in Mandarin, near the church. Their women’s ministry director quickly began follow-up with her to help her take her first steps in discipleship.

That day, the senior gentleman held her dog while she stepped into the water to be baptized. In the photo taken afterward, his face bore the unmistakable joy of someone who had been used by God in an extraordinary way— someone who truly “got it.”

And over the summer I heard multiple stories like that one. Florida churches reaching out to people, winning people to Jesus Christ and baptizing new believers.

Every baptism is a testimony that God is moving among Florida Baptists, and we must do everything possible to see that number increase year after year.