Stories
Stay informed with stories, news, and updates from churches across our association and throughout the state. Here you’ll find stories, events, and resources that celebrate ministry work and keep our church community connected.
Churches Near and Far Can Be Involved in Baptist Ministry to College Stude…
When new students arrive at the University of Florida each fall, Eddie Gilley and student leaders from Baptist Collegiate Ministries are eager to help them get plugged into a local church as soon as possible.
It takes a team to plant a church, says Lakeside Church pastor Zack Potter
Planting a church requires more than a man with a mission, admits Zack Potter, pastor of Lakeside Church in Winter Haven. Potter credits two supporting congregations plus a growing team of volunteers for helping him plant his church.
Rest, restore, renew: The value of sabbaticals
Sabbaticals are often associated with tenured professors taking a semester off to write, do research or study abroad; the term is rarely used for pastors. But, for Florida Baptist pastors, the concept has evolved over the past couple of years and, thanks to the experience of one pastor, the value of pastoral sabbaticals is now appreciated more fully.
Hurricane Ian: ‘Stepping stone to greater service’
Her husband had died just before Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwest Florida Sept. 28. As her first Thanksgiving without him approached, Marilyn* felt “so alone.” She welcomed the prayers of Florida Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers and gladly accepted the Thanksgiving meal they offered her.
Dr. Green – Florida Baptist State Convention (Espanol)
Dr. Green – Florida Baptist State Convention (Espanol)
Nourishing Body and Soul this Thanksgiving and Through the Year
Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and green beans were on the menu at First Baptist Church Eastpoint’s annual community-wide Thanksgiving dinner.
Rice: ‘Keep the kingdom in view’
In the closing sermon of the 2022 gathering of the Florida Baptist State Convention, Willy Rice, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, urged messengers to “keep the kingdom in view.”
Ministers’ wives encouraged to ‘shine brightly’ for Christ
Approximately 225 Florida Baptist ministers’ wives, gathering for a luncheon during the 2022 Florida Baptist State Convention, were encouraged to not “hold back in shining bright for Christ.”
Whitten: ‘Gospel of grace is for all people’
The kingdom of God focuses on grace, loves authenticity and sees your possibility, said Ken Whitten, senior pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa.
Burgner: ‘I want to be a man that smells like his community’
In a message titled Hope for the Hopeless, Aaron Burgner, senior pastor of Lakes Church in Lakeland, reminded messengers at the 2022 Florida Baptist State Convention meeting at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola that, while ministry can be messy and costly, God gives power to those who stay tethered to Him.
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