Joni B. Hannigan

LEESBURG, Fla. (BP)–Following a report from the Imagine If Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to Florida Baptists’ State Board of Missions, SBOM members questioned aspects of the report and expressed their appreciation for the task force’s work with applause, but stopped short of voting to support the report itself. The presentation by six members of […]

TAMPA, Fla. (BP)--Tony Dungy no longer needs the game-day apparel and gear of an NFL head coach, but that doesn't keep him from donning distinctively different attire when the occasion calls for it.       "They asked me to play John the Baptist," Dungy said of his church's Easter pageant, in which he baptized his 18-year-old son Eric, who was playing Jesus.       "It was just really moving," Dungy said. "I was just so proud of him." Smiling at the memory of the moment, Dungy credited his son with having "a heart" to practice and rehearse.       Perhaps Dungy's role as John the Baptist may be apropos to the prophetic voice the former Super Bowl-winning coach has been sounding for men to love and respect their wives and for fathers to be a down-to-earth "Superman" to their children. And in a broader sense, Dungy's prophetic voice has pointed people toward living for Christ, indeed letting Christ live through them, as the ultimate success in life.       Since retiring from the Indianapolis Colts in 2009, Dungy has kept his pledge to spend more time at home with his wife Lauren and their six children as well as more time at Central Tampa (Fla.) Baptist Church.

TAMPA, Fla. (BP)--At the All Pro Dad website (www.AllProDad.com), Tony Dungy helps deliver what is promised in its logo: "advice, events, family."

LEESBURG, Fla. (BP)--In 1872, baby boy John Harper is born in the dark of night in the Scottish village of Houston.       "Father, he is a gift from You, thus we will dedicate him to You. His name will be John," his mustached, middle-aged, working-class father declares, looking toward the heavens, clutching the baby to his chest.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--Preachers today are like Richard the Lionheart, who in 1191 could not win a victory of his own, but instead compromised with his enemy, according to Florida pastor Mac Brunson in his convention sermon June 16 to messengers at the SBC annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.       Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, recounted that Richard the Lionheart, king of England, could not re-take Jerusalem from his Muslim counterpart, Saladin, during the Third Crusade after he angered all his allies over differences in how to display his flag. Left to fight alone, Richard eventually negotiated with the enemy to open the city for every faith, disguised himself and fled to Austria.       "I'm afraid that in our convention and across the ministry today we are far better preachers at battling one another than at battling our enemy," Brunson said.       Describing a biblical confrontation in John 3 when two disciples were baptizing in the Jordan River and a "debate" arose, Brunson noted that even the disciples had competition and dissension.       Brunson cited a study by Kenneth Chafin, a late seminary professor and pastor, who said he discovered pastors "tend toward the negative, they are highly competitive, and they don't like preachers."

MIAMI (BP)--The 65-year-old evangelist from the "rice fields" of Arkansas says he, like the world-renowned farm boy from North Carolina, knows how to work a crowd.       It's a gift from God, David Cobb says, and something to which he is called

MIAMI (BP)--While New Orleans Saints fans revel in their Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the Miami Baptist Association is celebrating 355 decisions for Christ stemming from more than three dozen church and school appearances by the Strength Team in the stretch between the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.

POSTED Saturday, Feb. 6. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (BP)–Michael Oher, offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, missed out on earning the NFL’s top honor for a rookie, but he made a pitch that Sandra Bullock should win the Oscar for playing the part of his adoptive mother, Leigh Ann Tuohy, in “The Blind Side.” Days before […]

POSTED Sunday, Feb. 7. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (BP)–When NFL Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy announced his retirement in 2009, two years after leading his team to the Super Bowl XLI Championship in Miami, Lauren Dungy was ready to welcome him home in Tampa. And so were the children. “The first couple of weeks, they […]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (BP)--There is pride in Pastor Moralas St. Hilaire's voice when he talks about Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Pierre Garçon.       "He is one of my sons from our church," he told Baptist Press.       Just days before Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida, Garçon ...