Maguire State Missions Offering, 2004

Maguire State Mission Offering: The challenge of the cities
BARBARA DENMAN
Florida Baptist Convention
Published September 9, 2004

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—More than half of Florida’s 16 million residents live in the state’s seven metro areas challenging Florida Baptists to reach beyond their traditional rural roots. Gated subdivisions, transitional neighborhoods and low-income communities dictate that Florida Baptists enlist creative methods to share the gospel with urban dwellers of extreme economical means.

Field of souls in Florida’s prisons ‘ripe for harvest’
VANESSA RODRIGUEZ
Florida Baptist Convention
Published September 2, 2004

BLOUNTSTOWN (FBC) — Teary-eyed Forrest Weed was moved with compassion at the thought of men isolated and confined within penitentiary walls. Prison life is a reality that, even after 20 years of ministering to inmates, still provokes deep emotional response in the 84-year-old man.

Inmates find freedom in Christ behind barbed wire and bars
BARBARA DENMAN
Florida Baptist Convention
Published September 2, 2004

PUTNAM COUNTY (FBC)—Twenty-three years ago Jimmy Williams sat in the Putnam County jail fighting charges that could have resulted in two life sentences or execution. Today he returns to the county’s barbed wire-enclosed correctional facility almost every day to fight for the souls of inmates.

Miami-Dade clinic offers good news to patients
BARBARA DENMAN
Florida Baptist Convention
Published August 26, 2004

MIAMI (FBC)—Miami-based Jorge Kruger worked for a South American cargo airline when an accident forced it into bankruptcy and him into retirement. Treatment and medication for his deteriorating health quickly depleted his life’s savings. When he learned that the Good News Care Center (GNCC) would treat him for free, Kruger first questioned the quality and compassion of the care.

2004 MSMO theme: The Christ in You, the Hope of Glory
Published August 19, 2004

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—The 2004 Maguire State Mission Season of Prayer and Offering, observed in September, will provide Florida Baptists with a renewed opportunity to reflect on the anniversary of the Florida Baptist State Convention and the many ways God has blessed the state convention during the past 150 years.