News

It hasn’t been an easy road for the Rev. Geoffrey Lentz since becoming pastor at First United Methodist Church in Port St. Joe eight years ago. First, he led a fund drive and capital campaign for a sorely needed 5,000-square-foot multi-purpose addition that would connect the sanctuary and another building. The much-anticipated $4 million “Great Hall” was dedicated

A few years ago, First United Methodist Church in Sanford was in a different place. The congregation faced the difficult decision to close, merge or reimagine its calling. For 12 weeks, church members took turns praying for guidance on what they should do. In the end, they discerned a way for the 145-year-old church to

There was no “business as usual” when the Rev. Chris Haden was appointed pastor at Aloma United Methodist Church in Winter Park last summer. The church had been closed and the property sold. Some of the congregation had moved on to nearby churches, and others had formed The Table at Goldenrod, a communal weekly dinner

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a loan as ”a thing that is borrowed, especially a sum of money that is expected to be paid back with interest.” And investment, on the other hand, is “an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.” At the

Update: The foundation elected Aug. 6 to extend the interest-only relief option until Dec. 31. It wasn’t just getting the offer to pay interest only on its Development Fund loan with the Florida United Methodist Foundation that impressed the Rev. Dr. Mark Charles, senior pastor at Memorial United Methodist Church in Fernandina Beach. What he will always remember is

Unsurprisingly, church giving on a national scale has taken a hit since the arrival of COVID-19. In a State of the Plate survey of 1,091 mostly Protestant congregations in 50 states, 65 percent reported a drop in giving, with 34 percent citing declines ranging from 10 percent to 20 percent. About one in five churches reported a

In describing this year’s class of Sinclair Scholarship recipients, one could easily run out of superlatives. Each of them is an honor student with a grade point average of 4.0 or higher. Two are presidents of their senior class. All of them have logged hundreds of hours of community service. Two lead praise bands at their local

PONCE, Puerto Rico — The Rev. Angel Santiago remembers exactly where he was Jan. 7 when a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico — in his bed in the parsonage of First Methodist Church of the Resurrection. It was 4:30 a.m. “Everything is moving — moving up and down and to the side,” he said.

Update June 16: As of today, 65 churches have taken advantage of the interest-only relief option. It didn’t take long for Beth Harrison, business administrator at Englewood United Methodist Church, to react to the news that financial relief was available for hardships caused by COVID-19. Within minutes of getting a letter from the Florida United