Thank you for supporting journalism at your local newspaper. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at Santa Rosa Press Gazette.
Faith
Walker, Stewart families guide West Florida Baptist through its first 50 years
In 1973, a Baptist Bible College graduate asked a friend and classmate from that Springfield, Mo., school to help him start a church in Milton.
“We didn’t have a job, we didn’t have an income, we didn’t have a place to live, and we didn’t have a problem,” Jerry Walker, founding pastor of what now is known as West Florida Baptist Church, told guests celebrating the 50th anniversary of the church at a special service July 8. “We had a commission to save souls, and that was all we needed.”
Alana Stewart Brown, daughter of former West Florida Baptist Church Pastor Alan Stewart and wife of current pastor Mike Brown, interviews her childhood friends Mark, Clint and Clay Walker, the sons of founding paster Jerry Walker.
The remainder of this article is available only for our website subscribers, who help fund our mission of keeping you updated on news you want and need to know. You can become a subscriber for as little as $5.67 a month.
