As families settle into the summer months, pastors across Santa Rosa County are encouraging churchgoers to use the extra time to join a small group, saying the smaller settings meet needs that Sunday worship services alone can’t.

A private school’s bid to expand its Milton campus with new classrooms was denied on June 22 after the Santa Rosa County Commission unanimously rejected the proposal, citing location and traffic concerns.

Father’s Day is just days away, and two Santa Rosa County pastors are weighing in on what scripture says about fatherhood, and where modern dads tend to fall short.
Pastor Doug Holmes of Christian Life Church said he pushes back against the idea that fatherhood means sitting at the top of a household hierarchy.

The Monday after Father’s Day, the staff at Life Options Clinic barely have room to move.
Boxes upon boxes of baby bottles flood the nonprofit’s Milton office, located just off Berryhill Road, each one filled with coins, cash or checks collected by congregation members at churches across Santa Rosa County.
Volunteers spend the better part of a week counting, sorting and depositing the donations before the totals are tallied and the clinic knows what kind of financial runway it has heading into the rest of the year.

Pastors, public servants and community members gathered May 7 at Jernigan’s Landing in Milton to mark the National Day of Prayer, lifting up prayers for government, military families, schools, businesses and the media under the 2026 national theme “Glorify God Among the Nations.”

On the last Saturday of every month, cars line up three deep in the parking lot of Olivet Baptist Church, where a small congregation hands out roughly 200 bags of groceries to families across Santa Rosa County.

Tim Chandler has spent his life answering callings.
At 16, he started preaching. Not long after, he joined the Marine Corps and never saw the two as a contradiction.
“Being a minister and a man of God made me a better Marine,” Chandler said, “and being a Marine made me a better minister and a man of God.”

When the world feels like it is spinning out of control, Jim Waters turns to a passage he has carried for years.

Pastors in Santa Rosa County say two pieces of legislation moving through the Florida Legislature could affect how churches across Florida manage both security and finances, as congregations increasingly focus on protecting worshippers while navigating changing public policy.

After serving time in jail and prison following an opioid addiction, Dana Clah now works inside county jails helping incarcerated men and women confront trauma, addiction and life decisions through a faith-based recovery program she developed from her own experience.