Faith Archive

In the months following the horrific attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, people around the world have kept a close eye on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in and around Gaza. While most people are watching from around the globe, a Gulf Breeze pastor recently had the chance to visit the Holy Land and learn more about what Israelis are dealing with.

The Alabama-West Florida Conference delegation gathered Sunday, March 3 through Tuesday, March 5 at First United Methodist Church of Pensacola. The Alabama-West Florida Conference includes United Methodist churches in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun and Gulf counties in Florida.

If you walk into Dawn’s Cookies and Café, you might see a large cross on the wall opposite the cash register. The cross is part of what Dawn Funk calls a “prayer wall,” or a place where people can place notes asking for people to pray for them or a loved one.

Each February, the contributions of African Americans are recognized with Black History Month. Schools, businesses, nonprofits, churches and other organizations have used the month-long acknowledgement as a way to educate and inspire new generations.

For the past five years, Rachel Coggins has been traveling to the African nation of Togo to help improve some of the country’s educational and agricultural infrastructure.

Over the past couple of years, the United Methodist Church has been fracturing. Split over the direction of the denomination and the question of gay people being allowed to be ordained, thousands of churches have severed ties with the United Methodists.

With the good times and festivities of Mardi Gras over, Christians, particularly those in the Catholic tradition, turn their attention and focus on Christ for a six-week period known as Lent. Ash Wednesday, observed Feb. 14 this year, is the first day of Lent, a season of prayer and fasting. Notable as a day when believers have ashes in the shape of a cross placed upon their foreheads, Ash Wednesday has a long history.

If you think 50 years in any career field is a milestone, try 65.

That’s how long Bob Archer, who turns 91 in 2024, has been preaching the Lord’s Word. Archer has been pastor of Navarre Chapel, an independent Baptist congregation located next door to Navarre’s Walmart Supercenter.

It has been a little over a year since Destiny Worship Center broke ground on a Navarre campus. Since then, the lot has been cleared, the framework of a building has been erected and work on the site has steadily progressed.

When Pastor Randy Pitman planted Calvary Chapel – Navarre, he never intended or thought it would grow the way it has. According to Pitman, unlike many churches around the nation, churches around northwest Florida, especially his, have to deal with the constant ebb and flow of growth and decline in their numbers.