About Palm Beach Baptist Church
Above: Pastor John Hawkins opens each Sunday AM service beginning with the kids (2008).
The first service of Palm Beach Baptist Church was held in 1972 in a floral shop in Lake Worth, Florida—the church took its name from Palm Beach County. This little band of pioneering believers wanted to launch a community of faith to reach what was then the western part of the county. There in that floral shop they planted God’s Word in their hearts, watered it with prayer, and looked to God in faith to grow their dreams into reality. That very same year they officially chartered the church and their numbers grew. They began meeting at a local YMCA, and then at John I. Leonard High School. In this one-year, a whirlwind of events culminated with the purchasing of a plot of land at 6201 S. Military Trail (our current address)—a plot in the middle of nowhere on a narrow dirt road!
Since that time the county has exploded with growth. God has grown the area in such a way that our church is now located in the heart of Palm Beach County. We don’t think that’s just coincidences either. We are passionate about striving to live as a biblically functioning community with a heart as big as God’s for people right in the heart of the county.
The possibilities are endless as to what God can do here. Palm Beach County is one of the largest of the 67 counties in Florida. Land area alone is approximately 2,023 square miles (2,578 square miles including lakes). To appreciate how large Palm Beach County is, consider that it dwarfs Rhode Island and is larger than Delaware! Rapid population growth is expected to exceed 1.43 million by 2020. There are people all around us that hunger for a love that only God can supply. Join us as we seek to transform them into fully-devoted followers of Christ.