News Articles by James A. Smith Sr.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Shoppers at Target stores this Christmas season may have noticed a certain, familiar sound missing from the hustle and bustle of their favorite retailer. Bell ringers from the Salvation Army with their distinctive red kettles are no longer on the premises seeking spare change to support the organization’s unique charitable work. But it’s not because they don’t want to be there.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (BP)--Florida took one step toward putting parental involvement in minor abortions into state law Nov. 2 with a resounding victory for a constitutional amendment to permit the legislature to enact a requirement for parents to be notified before minors have abortions.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Christian radio talk show host James Dobson has entered the political fray of the too-close-to-call race for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Perhaps like never before, this year’s election season has seen heightened attention to faith voters –- both on the part of the presidential campaigns as well as various organizations seeking to register and educate religious voters. Some Christians –- and many in the liberal media elite -- fret over these developments, with some even suggesting religious voter outreach endangers church-state separation and entangles churches in matters unrelated to their proper mission.

TALLAHASSEE (BP)—As Hurricane Charley was churning in the Gulf of Mexico in August, Florida Baptist officials were invited for the first time to place a staff member at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee to act as a liaison between the Florida Baptist Convention and the EOC.

MARIANNA, Fla. (BP)--After occupying a church pew for "many years wanting to be a part" but never feeling like he could do anything, a 1999 tornado that devastated Oklahoma City caused Church of God layman Randy Johnson to realize he could contribute to the Kingdom.

MARIANNA, Fla. (BP)--Some people tell Harold Moore he was lucky to survive a tornado that ripped through Marianna, Fla., as Hurricane Ivan slammed the Panhandle, but the bivocational pastor of Grace Bible Church rejects flatly the supposed compliment.

PENSACOLA, Fla. (BP)--John Sullivan had to decide where he was going to go to survey Hurricane Ivan’s impact on churches and homes Sept. 15-16. Would it be the metro Pensacola area hard hit by the category 3 hurricane, or the small towns to the north and east also suffering after Ivan?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Not again. It's almost as if our state has been marked with a huge X.

SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. (BP)--Dennis Belz admits that it’s strange to be on the receiving end of disaster relief.