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.”