Allison and Daniel Hartman have 11 children ranging in age from 3 to 25. Parenting for a quarter century, with another decade-and-a-half in front of them, Allison said the Hartmans have “kind of a different take on raising a family.”

When a McDonald’s employee asked her manager if a Christian Life Church men’s Bible study group could meet in the store’s dining area, he asked one question:

Dr. John Walker, a Milton native who attended Mt. Pilgrim African Baptist Church and graduated with the Milton High School Class of 1985, had a momentous 2023. He earned a Doctor of Theology degree from The Empowerment Theological Institute & Bible Seminary and published his first book, “I Decree Your Apocalypse: Uncover Your Mystery.”

First responders accept that they will experience traumatic events; it’s what they do. But they aren’t immune to the mental health challenges those experiences create.

The window for congregations to “disaffiliate” from the United Methodist Church ended Dec. 31. Almost a quarter of the UMC’s 30,000 churches – about 7,500 – chose to leave the denomination. The Way UMC in Pace is not among the defectors.

The New Year’s Day service at New Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Bagdad celebrated the 161st anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, but guest speaker Dr. Antjuan Marsh urged listeners to champion spiritual emancipation.

Editor’s note: This article was published Monday, Dec. 4, by The Christian Post at www.christianpost.com. We are re-publishing with permission from The Christian Post. The Press Gazette believes it is important to share because disaffiliation has affected and continues to affect Methodist congregations in our community.

Four years ago, First City Church in Pensacola committed to serving its community by supporting foster families; its success helped inspire a new model for how the state offers child protection and behavioral health services.

Not everyone who applies for Immanuel Baptist Church’s Young Leaders program is accepted.

“We intentionally chose to keep the class small,” said Tanner Guidry, IBC’s student and young adult pastor, of the Pace church’s selective initiative for students in ninth through 12th grades. “It’s designed to go deep into building personal relationships while learning more about God’s word and growing in relationship Him. We want to do life together.”