God is moving across our state, and that gives us a lot to celebrate in this edition of our newsletter. Keep reading to learn more about our next church plant, baptisms at SoFlo Church, and our newest partners.

Our next church plant will be in Naples--more specifically, east of I-75 in the Palmetto Ridge/Golden Gate areas of Collier County. This area, like many parts of Florida, is exploding in growth. Sy and Monica Huffer (above, left) are moving to Naples this month to begin building a core team with plans to launch the church in the Fall of 2024. They will be joined by Aaron and Melissa Smith (above, right). 

Sy and Monica Huffer have been married since 2010. They have two sweet girls, Geri (7) and Chandler (5). The two met as students at Ozark Christian College and have served together in various ministries ever since. 

Sy had always felt a call to church plant, but the time never aligned with the Lord’s plans on their life. For the last seven years, Sy has been the lead minister at College Heights Christian Church. In that time, the two have deepened their passion for church planting. Sy has served on multiple church planting management teams over the years. 

A year ago Sy and Monica learned about the significant spiritual need of Naples, Florida. After a season of reluctant prayer to move to Florida and plant a church, the Lord made it glaringly obvious they were being called. 

Aaron and Melissa Smith have also been married since 2010. They have three kids, Ryleigh (8) Sawyer (6) and Rowan (5). Aaron has an entrepreneur’s heart and knack for building programs and systems. After receiving his MBA, Aaron began his career at Christ In Youth and went on to work in various business ventures, including creating a startup business and managing a transportation company. 

After graduating from Ozark Christian College, Melissa served in a variety of ministry roles. She helped launch awareness for Rapha International stateside, wrote curriculum and spoke for a Pregnancy Resource Center, and served as a children’s minister at a local church. The Smiths have also welcomed refugees into their city, working to help them establish their life and community. 

Once they took a trip to Naples and saw the population growth that is happening and the lack of churches, Aaron and Melissa knew God was calling their family to move and plant a church. 

In late May and early June, one of our newest church plants, SoFlo Christian Church in West Palm, celebrated more than 10 baptisms. God is moving in powerful ways as SoFlo continues to welcome new guests weekly and people are responding to the message of Jesus. Please continue to pray for Jamie and Alex Snyder and the whole team at SoFlo.

So far in 2023, several churches have committed to partner financially with Florida Church Planters. All of the money given to FCP by our partner churches goes directly to planting new churches. As our conversations with potential church planters increase, so must the dollars given to FCP to help fund future plants. 

Click here to view a complete list of our current partners. We are so grateful for all of our partners and their investment in planting new churches. If you would like to learn more about partnering with FCP, email our Director Jeff Swearingen.