Tucked into the palm-shaded blocks near Berry Street in Punta Gorda, Florida, Peace River Baptist Church has spent years building the kind of ministry its members describe with a simple phrase: "where the love of God flows." The church describes itself as a Baptist congregation that "majors on presenting a solid Bible preaching and teaching ministry," and its purpose is to be "Christ exalting, truth proclaiming, and people loving." The building sits in a community known for its sunsets over the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor, and the people who fill it on Sundays come ready to sing, learn, and stay for a while.
Sunday Mornings at 478 Berry Street
Sunday is the rhythm around which everything else turns. The Early Worship Service begins on the first Sunday of January at 8:30 am and continues through the end of April, giving visitors a quieter option during the cooler months. At 9:45 am, Sunday School opens across the campus with classes for every age and several adult options to choose from. Children's Church runs at the same 11:00 am hour as the Morning Worship Service, so families with younger children can drop them off and join the sanctuary service together. The main Morning Worship Service starts at 11:00 am and is the weekly gathering point of the church.
Music is woven into that hour. The Sanctuary Choir sings every Sunday morning from September through May, leading congregational worship and joining the congregational singing that has shaped Baptist worship for generations. The choir prepares special Christmas cantatas that are performed both at the church and at venues around Punta Gorda, and each Easter brings a dramatic cantata that pairs actors and video with the choir. During the winter months the church opens its doors to a wider community through the Winter Concert Series, which runs from January through March and features nationally known Christian music groups.
What Peace River Baptist Believes
The church's statement of faith lays out twelve articles that summarize classical Baptist convictions. The Old and New Testament Scriptures are described as divinely inspired, inerrant, and infallible in the original writings, and as the only sufficient and perfect rule of faith and practice. God is one in essence and three in person, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man was created innocent but fell through disobedience, becoming subject to death and to God's eternal displeasure. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the son of man, came to save sinners through His deity, virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, ascension, and personal visible return.
Salvation comes by grace through repentance and faith in Christ alone, and the result is justification - pardon from sin and a state of peace and favor with God. The church teaches the eternal security of true believers, kept by the power of God through faith. Two ordinances are observed: believers' baptism by immersion "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," and the Lord's Supper, a commemoration of Christ's dying love that follows baptism in symbolic and historic order. The Christian life is to be lived for the glory of God, with believers striving to be filled with the knowledge of His will, faithful stewards, and growing toward full maturity in Christ. The Church Universal is the whole company of believers known only to God, while the Local Church is a gathered body of baptized believers observing the New Testament's forms, ordinances, and principles. Civil government is recognized as a divine appointment, honored and obeyed except where it conflicts with the will of Christ. The church looks for the personal return of Jesus Christ to judge the nations and to fill the earth with His glory.
Pastor Jim Stultz and Moments of Meditation
Senior Pastor Jim Stultz has served Peace River Baptist Church since January 2008. He and his wife Donna have six children and fifteen grandchildren. A graduate of Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa, he has been in pastoral ministry since 1980, serving Baptist churches in Iowa and Indiana before moving to Florida.
Pastor Jim writes a weekly devotional that has been carried as a regular column in several newspapers and has expanded into two books, "Moments of Meditation" and "Treasure Walks with God," each a daily devotional journey. The same devotional series lives online as the church's "Moments of Meditation" posts, where each week a short reflection works through a single story or theme. Recent titles include "The Joy of Kept Promises," "A Hedge of Protection," "The Smoke of Sodom," "Strangers at the Door," "Dead Ends," "The God Who Sees," "Building Inspector," "The Whistling Kettle," "Abraham the Warrior," and "Dual Citizenship," with earlier entries reaching back through "Untying the Knots," "The Lord Needs It," "Broken Blade," "Wild Turkeys at Magic Kingdom," and "The Cure for Worry." When he is not in ministry, Pastor Jim is often out fishing or kayaking one of the waterways of Southwest Florida.
AWANA on Tuesday Nights
AWANA is the church's midweek children's program and one of the busiest doors of the week. AWANA Club is for children from age 3 through sixth grade, and it meets Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, running from early September through late April. Children who arrive before 5:45 pm are served a free dinner at 5:30 pm, which makes the evening easier on families who are coming straight from work or after-school activities. The annual cost is $35 for uniforms, books, and awards, and scholarships are available so that no child is turned away.
AWANA is a church-wide effort. Terri Smith, the church secretary, is among the AWANA workers, and the program sits alongside Vacation Bible School as part of how the church reaches children throughout the year.
Peace River Youth Ministries
The youth ministry is built for students in grades 7 through 12 and meets Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The stated mission is to glorify God through Peace River Youth Ministries, and the stated purpose is to use the teaching of God's Word, fellowship opportunities, service projects, and missions trips to draw each student into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ and with one another. Weekly gatherings include worship through singing, intensive Bible study, and time for fellowship. Service projects in the church and the community, along with an annual missions trip that begins domestically and later moves to international locations, push students to put their faith into practice. Junior High and Senior High groups are both taken to Christian camp each year.
Youth Pastor Nathan McDuffie leads the ministry with the help of several church members and a strong contingent of involved parents. The youth ministry keeps its own Instagram account, peaceriveryouthfl, where event photos and updates are posted.
Music Ministry: Choir, Cantatas, and the Winter Concert Series
Music Ministry Director Jim Reuter has served Peace River Baptist Church since 2008, having first walked through the doors in 2007 as a volunteer pianist and choir leader. He and his wife Cheryl have two children and five grandchildren, and they were founding members of "HIS Four...Ministries," a Southern Gospel group that performed concerts across Florida and on a few northern tours from 1990 to 2007. Several of those songs are still sung at PRBC using members of the choir, and the church's Winter Concert Series often features HIS Four songs alongside the visiting artists. Jim Reuter has also recorded three solo piano projects, "By Request," the all-piano Christmas CD "Making Spirits Bright," and "Great is Thy Faithfulness," which are available at the church.
The Sanctuary Choir sings every Sunday morning from September to May and welcomes anyone who loves to sing, member or not. Trios, quartets, ensembles, and soloists drawn from the choir add variety to the music each week, and instrumentalists are invited to use their skills to support congregational singing whether or not they belong to the church. The annual Christmas cantata is performed both at PRBC and at venues around the community, and the Easter cantata is staged as a drama with actors and video woven into the choir's musical presentation. The Winter Concert Series, held from January through March, brings in nationally known Christian music groups as featured guests and is intended as much for outreach to the surrounding community as for the church family.
LAMP: Ladies with a Mission Passion
LAMP stands for "Ladies with A Mission Passion" and gathers the women of the church around the work of missionaries and local missions. The theme verse is Luke 12:35, "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning." Monthly meetings are held from January through May and resume in September, usually on the second Monday of each month. A devotional or missions presentation, a season of prayer for missionaries and members, business, and a hands-on mission project fill the evening. The group also sponsors events for the broader church, including a Ladies Spring Luncheon and Learning Seminars. A monthly workday on the fourth Monday of the month is set aside for mission projects, with the calendar confirming which months are active.
SAM Club: Senior Adult Ministry
SAM Club is the Senior Adult Ministry for those who have reached the 60-year milestone. The stated purpose is to bring people to Christ, bring Christians to a closer relationship with Him, meet the relational needs of the local congregation, and encourage others to minister. Prayer and worship activities, meetings, events, trips, lunches, concerts, and service opportunities all fill the calendar. Past outings have included a trip to Kentucky to see the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, an annual Valentine's Banquet, Charlotte Stone Crabs baseball games with an all-you-can-eat picnic, a Tampa Bay Rays Faith Night, and a trip to Orlando combining Epcot, Sea World, and the Holy Land Experience.
Family Ministries
The Family Ministries umbrella pulls together marriage seminars, parenting classes, spiritual-gift courses, and other gatherings aimed at younger families. Members open their homes for worship, games, food, and small-group time so that relationships can deepen beyond Sunday morning. The goal is a Christian community that encourages one another, fosters spiritual growth, and holds each other accountable in the daily walk with God.
Missionaries and Outreach
The church supports missionaries and mission groups in the community and around the world, and LAMP exists in part to keep that support visible and active. Mission 10/31 is an annual Halloween outreach hosted by the church secretary and other volunteers. Vacation Bible School is another recurring outreach that pulls together staff and congregation members each summer.
Wednesday Night Prayer and the Online Reach
Wednesday nights belong to prayer. The Prayer Meeting meets at 6:00 pm online on the church's Facebook page, giving members and friends a way to gather midweek without leaving home. Worship services are also livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube, and recordings of the Sunday services are posted for each week of the year. Media Director Lee Anderson has produced the video and audio for the live stream and the online recordings since October 2020, holding a bachelor's degree in Worship Music and bringing more than forty years of worship leadership experience to the role, including time on the mission field in France.
Knowing the Church Family
Terri Smith has been the church secretary since 1998, having joined the church with her husband Bob in 1989. She works in AWANA, sings in the choir, directs VBS, and hosts the annual Mission 10/31 Halloween outreach, and her voice on the other end of the phone line and inbox is the one most newcomers meet first. The church's Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels carry regular updates, livestreams of services, and youth photos, while the Moments of Meditation devotional keeps Pastor Jim's writing in circulation between Sundays.
What a First-Time Visitor Finds
Peace River Baptist Church gathers at 478 Berry Street in Punta Gorda, with morning worship on Sundays at 11:00 am, Sunday School for all ages at 9:45 am, and a seasonal early service at 8:30 am from January through April. Children's Church is offered during the 11:00 am service, and the Sanctuary Choir leads congregational singing most Sundays from September through May. Wednesday night prayer meets online at 6:00 pm. The church office can be reached at (941) 637-6768 or peacerivbap@comcast.net, and services are livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube for anyone who wants to follow along from home or on the road.