Carolyn Nichols

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)–Churches across Florida rallied to the aid of Haitians after an earthquake came close to leveling the capital city of Port-au-Prince last week. Special offerings Jan. 17 provided an avenue for Florida Baptists to participate in caring for Haiti’s impoverished residents. “Empty your wallets,” pastor Tim Passmore encouraged members of Woodland Community Church […]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--After D.J. (Dean) Abernathy was injured during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, he says at least two angels saved him from death.       The angels, an Army medic and a surgeon, stepped in to save the young infantryman who had been pronounced a hopeless case by an aid station doctor.

BRANDON, Fla. (BP)--Karen Green looks to the example set by her mother and grandmothers as she encourages fellow ministers' wives at First Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., where her husband, Tommy Green, is pastor. "It's important that all of us wives stay connected," Green told the Florida Baptist Witness newspaper. To stay united as a ministry team, Green plans annual retreats for the wives, like a recent trip to Chattanooga, Tenn., to attend a Beth Moore conference. And she and fellow staff wife Cindy Dowdy select books for the 10-member group to study together. Their cohesiveness helps the ministry team and the church, she said. "I talk and I let them talk," she said. "It helps us all." Her maternal grandmother, Roxie Wesson, read her large print Bible with a magnifying glass and knelt to pray beside her bed at 97, Green said. "I have been so fortunate to have women like my mother and grandmothers who are such positive influences on my life, and there have been women in each church we served who demonstrated their faith to me," she said. Green said she also learned hospitality from her "foremothers." Most often, Green entertains the ministry team wives at her Brandon home. She often welcomes the deacons and their wives, and, most recently, all the church secretaries. "I used to worry about having everything perfect, but God said I had to get over that," she said. "Now I have an open home and an open heart here, and I think that ministers to people."

LEESBURG, Fla. (BP)–Wanda Kohn, director of the Pregnancy Care Center at First Baptist Church in Leesburg, Fla., said she is in the people business. She is enthusiastically pro-life on behalf of unborn babies whose futures are in danger and on behalf of their mothers who don’t know the love and forgiveness Jesus offers. “One purpose […]

BRANDON, Fla. (BP)--While Army chaplain Mike Fox ministers to the men of the First Cavalry in Camp Taji, Iraq, his father and stepmother are praying for his wisdom in accomplishing what God has called him to do.

ORLANDO (BP)--Southern Baptist churches are rediscovering the practice of public baptisms in local lakes as a byproduct of the SBC’s renewed emphasis on baptism. First Baptist Church in Orlando and Lake Talquin Baptist Church in Tallahassee are among those that have taken the ordinance out of its usual stained-glass surroundings.

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--According to the Gospels, the Virgin Mary was overwhelmed in hearing from the Lord’s messenger that she was going to give birth to a son. She knew she possibly would have to raise her child as a single mother. Where did she turn for help?

POMPANO, Fla. (BP)--Beverly Cooley and her daughter, Nancy Sparkman, traveled to Germany to see their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As long as they were making the trip, they decided also to serve as Christian ambassadors to U.S. soldiers and airmen stationed there.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Visible signs of post-hurricane recovery were on display this spring for at least two Florida congregations: Eastside Baptist Church in Milton and First Baptist Church in Lake Worth.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--With the motto, “You can’t share Jesus too many times. And you can’t have too many balloons,” Tim Knopps teaches Christians to plan and to enjoy an eternally productive Super Bowl watch party.