Congregation gives one fourth of budget to missions despite economic hardships
PORT ST. JOE, Fla. (BP)–When Florida Coast Paper Co. LLC shut down and laid off its 600 employees in August 1998, it was one more economic blow that Port St. Joe didn’t need. The town’s box plant had already folded, and a statewide net ban had closed down a fisheries operation about a year before […]
Volunteers walk & pray in community where a new church will be started
ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--"We're on 'Plan C,'" church starter Danny Adams told the Crossover Orlando 2000 volunteers who came to work June 10 in the new, affluent Avalon-Stoneybrook community on the east edge of the Florida city.
‘Prairie Home Companion’ talent winner, age 12, sings about faith for encore
WELLBORN, Fla. (BP)--Leilani "Lani" Clark, a 12-year-old Baptist church member, sang about her faith on "A Prairie Home Companion" as an encore to winning this year's "Talent from Towns Under 2000" contest.
Teenager kills Miami pastor whose family had befriended him
MIAMI (BP)–Miami Baptists were stunned by the Dec. 26, 1999, shooting death of H. Keith Blakley, pastor of the city’s oldest Baptist church and a former employee of the Florida Baptist Convention. Blakley, 47, pastor of Central Baptist Church, was shot at his home in Kendall, by John Erik Carter, 19, a former high school […]
Friends, Family, Colleagues Remember Payne Stewart
More than 2,000 people – including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and other well-known figures from the world of professional golf – filled the auditorium of First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla., Oct. 29 to celebrate the life and faith of Payne Stewart. The forty-two-year-old, two-time U.S. Open championship winner was killed with five others in the […]
Textbooks, homework & even tests challenge this church’s members
ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–Solo Christo, Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Soli Deo Gloria. An eye-catching sign at the entrance to this Florida church’s campus boldly displays these five “foundational stones” of its doctrine. Pastor Bill Haynes of the Orlando-area First Baptist Church of Sweetwater not only wants members to know the meaning of the Latin […]
Friends, family, colleagues remember Payne Stewart
ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–More than 2,000 people — including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and other well-known figures from the world of professional golf — filled the auditorium of First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla., Oct. 29 to celebrate the life and faith of Payne Stewart. The 42-year-old two-time U.S. Open championship winner was killed with five others […]
‘Like I took a bath on the inside,’ former ‘enforcer̵
CLEARWATER, Fla. (BP)–They had just completed their first FAITH evangelism training session and they were looking for some “action.” They would find it — but not at the home they were planning to visit that Tuesday night in mid-January. Instead, the visitation team from Calvary Baptist Church, Clearwater, Fla., found that God had made a […]
Testimonies note God’s grace after fatal church van accident
WINTER PARK, Fla. (BP)–Five weeks after a church van accident that killed one person and injured seven others, members of Aloma Baptist Church in Winter Park, Fla., were able to celebrate God’s grace. During an emotional Sunday night praise service Aug. 22, church members and guests heard the testimonies of those involved in the July […]
Bill Rabun, killed in van crash, had ‘greatest week of my life’
WINTER PARK, Fla. (BP)–Bill Rabun came running to help at midnight and worked until 2:30 a.m. the night his pastor’s water heater sprung a leak. A helper — that’s how members of Aloma Baptist Church remember Rabun, who was killed when the church’s van crashed July 16 after a mission trip to Marianna, Fla. Rabun […]
