Florence Boulevard Church of Christ stands at 2502 Florence Boulevard in Florence, Alabama, the seat of Lauderdale County in the northwest corner of the state. The independent congregation gathers three times on Sundays and once on Wednesdays around a simple pattern of worship and a steady diet of Bible teaching. Its members describe themselves as striving to serve and honor Christ, organized under a plurality of elders, and committed to a cappella singing, weekly communion, and preaching from the Word of God.
Three Sundays and a Wednesday
Sunday at Florence Boulevard begins at 9:00 AM with morning worship and runs through the morning Bible study that follows at 10:15 AM. The congregation reassembles at 5:00 PM for an evening worship service, then returns on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM for Bible study and devotional. A Wednesday morning Bible class also meets at 10:00 AM, and Home Bible Studies gather in members' homes during the week. The rhythm is steady and unhurried, with each gathering treated as part of one continuous pattern of praise, prayer, and study.
Visitors are welcome at any of these times. Members are glad to walk newcomers to a class, introduce them to a teacher, and help them find a place in the pews. The Sunday morning worship service is the largest gathering of the week, while the Wednesday evening Bible study is smaller and more conversational in tone, with parallel classes for adults, college-age students, and youth meeting at the same hour in different rooms of the building.
Five Acts of Simple, Spiritual Worship
Florence Boulevard practices what it calls simple and spiritual worship. Each Sunday gathering follows a fivefold pattern drawn from the New Testament. The church sings without instrumental accompaniment, drawing on a cappella voices only. Members take the Lord's Supper together each Sunday as a memorial of Christ's death. They pray together, give of their means, and hear a sermon preached from the Word of God.
This kind of worship is theologically deliberate. The congregation traces its practice to passages such as Acts 2:42, which describes the early Christians devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Members see the Lord's Supper as a memorial rather than a sacrifice, baptism as an immersion of a believer who has already believed, repented, and confessed Christ as Lord, and music as a sacrifice of the lips rather than of instruments.
The motto that frames the church's life is a familiar one among churches of Christ: In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love. The congregation describes itself as committed to preaching and teaching the Word of God in love and in truth, and to maintaining what it calls Biblical balance: following the truth in a loving and gentle manner, neither making laws where God has not made them nor taking away the laws that God did make.
An Independent Flock Under Two Shepherds
Florence Boulevard is congregationally governed and denominationally independent. Members describe the church as having "no head except for our living Savior, Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:22-23). Within the local body, a plurality of elders serves as shepherds who protect, guide, and care for the flock. The congregation currently recognizes two elders, Steve Clark and Ben McGuire, who can be reached together at elders@florenceblvd.org. The pattern is drawn from 1 Timothy 3:1-7, which the elders hold up as a reminder of the qualifications and character of the office: blameless, vigilant, sober, given to hospitality, apt to teach, ruling their own households well.
Deacons, appointed by the elders, serve in an official capacity (1 Timothy 3:8-13). They carry out specific works of ministry and care, freeing the elders to focus on spiritual oversight. Together, the eldership and diaconate form the practical backbone of the congregation, with shepherds providing direction and deacons providing hands-on service.
The Preaching Minister and Staff
Austin Johnson serves as the preaching minister of the congregation, delivering sermons at the Sunday and Wednesday services and providing overall ministerial leadership. Daniel Ross serves as the youth and family minister, building relationships with the teen and college-age groups and coordinating the youth calendar. Rachel Stovall directs the preschool and primary children's curriculum, organizing the youngest members of the body for age-appropriate Bible learning, crafts, and songs.
The staff is intentionally lean, reflecting the congregation's conviction that ministry belongs to every member. The paid ministers work alongside dozens of volunteers who teach classes, lead singing, serve communion, coordinate events, and care for shut-ins, the sick, and visitors.
Bible Classes from Cradle to College
On Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, the building opens up for a network of Bible classes organized by age and stage. The Sunday morning rotation has included studies of Paul's Letters, marriage and family themes, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and seasonal electives that rotate with the church calendar. Wednesday evenings bring a parallel set of classes, with recent studies covering Hebrews, Great Men of the Old Testament, the Fruit of the Spirit, and Acts.
Children's ministries begin early. Rachel Stovall oversees a preschool and primary curriculum that introduces the youngest children to Bible stories, songs, and prayers. The youth group meets separately on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings under Daniel Ross's leadership. College-age students have their own dedicated classroom and meet on Sunday mornings for studies of Psalms and Proverbs and on Wednesday evenings for a rotating series.
Adults have several classroom choices on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, including the Lighthouse class, the Auditorium class, Room 49, Room 31 (a ladies' class on Romans), and the College Age Room. Studies rotate with the seasons, with recent quarters covering Old Testament History, the Pastoral Letters, Theology, Romans, the Holy Spirit, and James.
There is also a Wednesday morning Bible class that meets at 10:00 AM and a Home Bible Study that gathers in members' homes during the week. The home groups offer a more intimate setting for those who want to study and pray with a smaller circle.
FloBo Youth Group
The youth ministry at Florence Boulevard, known as FloBo or FBYG, serves teenagers from the church and the surrounding community. The group meets regularly on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings, and it organizes a packed calendar of retreats, service projects, and fellowship events throughout the year. Activities have included trips to nearby Christian colleges for youth rallies, an annual church retreat, group outings, seasonal festivals at members' homes, and Trunk or Treat events with sister congregations.
The youth group also serves. Periodic service projects give teens a chance to help out around the building and in the community, while the Girls-Led Devo, meeting on selected Sunday afternoons in the Family Room, gives young women a regular opportunity to lead a devotional of their own. floboyouthgroup.com keeps students and parents up to date on the schedule, and a youth devotional called The Wayfinder provides additional resources for teens.
For the college-age set, a separate Young Pros ministry gathers for outings, scavenger hunts, and shared meals. Wednesday evening meals for college students are coordinated through Take Them A Meal, with church families signing up to provide dinner on rotation.
ROCKS: After-School Care Across Florence
One of the church's most distinctive ministries is ROCKS, an after-school program serving primarily Hispanic students in Florence's public schools. On designated Wednesdays throughout the school year, Florence Boulevard members pick up children at school in church vans, bring them to the building for snacks and outdoor free time, help with homework, lead a short devotional, share dinner, and then escort them to Wednesday Bible classes before driving them home in the evening.
The program runs in cooperation with other area congregations, and Florence Boulevard takes responsibility for specific Wednesday evenings during the school year. The schedule is a tightly choreographed afternoon and evening, with different church members and ministry leads handling transportation, snacks, homework help, the devotional, dinner, organized play, and Bible classes. Tutors and mentors are recruited from the adult class, and the ministry depends on volunteers willing to give a single Wednesday a month or so to make it work.
ROCKS serves a real and visible need in the Florence community, where many families need after-school supervision and a place where their children can get help with homework in a setting that takes their spiritual formation seriously.
S.I.S.: Sisters in Service
S.I.S. (Sisters in Service) is the women's service ministry of the congregation. The group meets on the first Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 3:00 PM in the Sewing Room, and any lady in the church is welcome to join.
The projects the group takes on are wide-ranging. They provide birthday gifts for the children at the North Alabama Christian Children's Home. They make fidget pads for family members, friends, and others with Alzheimer's, dementia, or autism, and provide them to nursing homes as needed. They prepare baskets, blankets, and handmade bags for members who are sick at home or in the hospital. They knit and crochet chemo caps and ear warmers, sew heart pillows for cancer patients, and assemble Quiet Bags for young children and members with special needs to use during worship services. They make special items for holidays to share with shut-ins and nursing home residents.
S.I.S. is one of the clearest expressions of the congregation's emphasis on practical care. Hands that sew and stitch are as much a part of the church's ministry as voices that sing on Sunday morning.
World Bible School: Lessons Around the Globe
The congregation coordinates a free Bible study correspondence program through World Bible School, working with more than 25,000 students each year across the United States and around the world. The program provides high-quality, Bible-based lessons at no charge, with a teacher assigned to each student for personal feedback. Students work at their own pace and have no obligation except to themselves; no follow-up is made by church members unless the student requests it.
The course of study is designed to help students come to an honest decision about their relationship with God, based on the truth of Scripture and free from manmade religious rules and traditions.
Caring for One Another
Care for members extends well beyond the building itself. The Thursday Meal Teams prepare and deliver meals to shut-ins every Thursday at noon, with team leaders serving once a month. Drivers regularly help members get to medical appointments, including dialysis runs. Heart Moms/Sisters pairs women together for prayer and encouragement. The Home Bible Study hosts welcome a small group into their homes each month, and a congregation-wide Retreat brings the church to a retreat center for a weekend of teaching, fellowship, and rest.
Men meet separately as well. Shepherds, deacons, and ministers gather at 4:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall on a regular schedule for planning and prayer, and a separate meeting for all the men of the congregation follows at the same hour and place. Men's gatherings have included devotionals, business meetings, and shared projects.
Memorial services, baby showers, and fellowship meals mark the seasons of church life. A Celebration Fellowship Meal after the morning Bible class on selected Sundays brings the congregation around tables in the Fellowship Hall for shared food and conversation, with setup and cleanup handled by rotating teams.
Messages and Livestream
Sermons at Florence Boulevard are recorded and archived, with a library of more than 140 messages organized by speaker, series, book of the Bible, and topic. Recent series have covered the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of John, Romans, Philippians, Hebrews, the Parables of Jesus, the Miracles of Jesus, Judges, Joshua, Ecclesiastes, the family, the cross, and the character of the church. Guest preachers and the church's own ministers together make up the Sunday pulpit, while Wednesday evenings often feature visiting preachers and church members.
Worship services are livestreamed every Sunday at 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Central Time on the church's livestream, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. Recordings remain available for catch-up viewing. A church app, provided through Tithe.ly, also carries the livestream and offers a convenient way to give online.
A Motto and a Mission
At the heart of the congregation's life is a commitment to unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, and love in all things. Members describe themselves as striving to serve and honor Christ, committed to preaching and teaching the Word of God in love and in truth, and committed to maintaining Biblical balance. The result is a church that looks both inward and outward: inward to its own members through Bible classes, fellowship, and care, and outward to the Florence community and the world through World Bible School, the ROCKS after-school program, and the steady flow of members into homes, hospitals, and shut-in visits.
Florence Boulevard Church of Christ stands as a working expression of the simple New Testament pattern the congregation strives to follow. The doors at 2502 Florence Boulevard are open, the services are streamed live online for those who cannot be there in person, and there is a class and a ministry for nearly every season of life.