Vilage Baptist Church in Destin Florida is a Chrisitan Church located on the beautiful Emerald Coast of Northwest Florida in the heart of Destin.

SENIOR PASTOR
Dr. Steven Davies has been the Senior Pastor at Village for 15 years. Known for its creative and exciting worship, the church has grown from 200 people in 1992 to over 2,400 participants today. Steve shares the message of Truth with relevance for today's world and practical application for the individual life. Steve received his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his Doctor of Ministry from Luther Rice University. He and his wife, Beverly, have been married more than 25 years and have four children.

PASTORAL CARE
Stu Nelson and his wife, Lorraine, have been members at Village Baptist Church for seven years. Stu completed his assignment as Marketing and Fund Raising Director of the International Conference of Police Chaplains in Destin in October of 2005, and he began service as a staff member of VBC the following month. Being raised in a home where his parents were instrumental in starting and building a church gave him great exposure to ministerial endeavors.He attended Bob Jones University, Institute of Christian Service, where an excellent foundation for ministry was laid, and then served in the Army as a chaplain's assistant and an associate pastor. Stu was called to law enforcement for 25 years, and served 19 of those years as the coordinator of the department's chaplaincy program. He worked with police officers, fire fighters, and other emergency personnel and their families to help them deal with the pressures and traumas they faced on a daily basis. Within this program he managed a group of over 300 volunteers and 50 on-call pastors. For three years, he was Executive Director of  "Officer Alive!" in Oregon, which served 32 law enforcement agencies and 911 centers. Stu currently holds the position of Pastoral Care Minister, making homebound, hospital, nursing home, and jail visits, and uses his experience in dealing with families in crisis both for the church and the community. He also oversees the Golden Keenagers Ministry and Snowbirds' ministry, and is the staff liaison for the Men's Ministry. He has been married to his wife, Lorraine, for 40 years, and they have two married sons.

EDUCATION MINISTER
After serving four years in the U.S. Air Force, Joe Smith enrolled in Central Baptist College in Conway, Arkansas where he received a B.S. Degree in Religious Education/Church Music. While at CBC, Joe met and married the former Gail Brown who was a Destin resident. Following graduation in 1982 he served as Minister of Music/Youth at churches in Alabama and Mississippi before continuing his education. In 1988 Joe received a Masters of Religious Education from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as Minister of Music/Youth in Florida and Alabama, then as Minister of Music/Education in Tennessee before joining the staff at Village in March of 2006 as Minister of Education/Facilities Director. Joe and Gail have two sons, Haven, 13 and Nathan, 11.

STUDENT MINISTER
Jared came to join arms with the Village family in January 2005 as the Pastor to Students. Originally from the Nashville area, Jared earned a Bachelor's of Business Administration from Cumberland University in 2002 and is close to a Master's of Divinity degree from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Jared was married in 2003 to Julie, and the couple welcomed a baby boy, Jackson, into their family in June of 2006.

CHILDREN'S MINISTER
Kara Preston had been a member of Village Baptist for four years before joining the staff in March 2006 as Children's Minister. Kara holds a B.A. in Business Administration with minors in English and Bible from Cedarville University and an M.B.A. in Human Capital Development from Xavier University. Most recently, Kara worked for a healthcare information technology company, leading its Competitive Positioning team. Although this is her first ministerial position, Kara has held many volunteer children's ministry positions and has taught every grade level. During college, Kara was a member of a children's ministry team and traveled for three years throughout the US conducting children's programs featuring praise & worship, drama and puppets. In early 2006, Kara felt God's calling to move into a full-time children's ministry position and God graciously opened the door at Village. Kara and her husband Joe (who sings on a Village Praise Team) have five children: Heather, Jason, Candice, Joshua, Caleb, a son-in-law, Luke and a black lab, Missy.

PRESCHOOL MINISTER
Vicky Curtis started out as a volunteer in the Preschool Ministry in July 2001. She joined the staff as the Preschool Minister in 2003 at Village in January 2003. Vicky worked in the telecommunications industry for 20 years prior to retiring and becoming a full time mom.

Her passion is to provide a ministry to the parents of preschoolers by giving them a safe and loving environment for their children. Vicky and her husband, Robert, live in Destin with their son, Carter.

MISSIONS COORDINATOR
Darla was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.  At a young age, Darla knew she was called to full time missions, but it wasn’t until she was 23 that she surrendered to the call.  After that call, Darla began to pursue every avenue that would allow her to gain as much experience in missions as she could.  She went on mission trips to Romania, Portugal, England, Zimbabwe, Albania, and Wisconsin.

In 1994, Darla was called to Albania, where she worked in an orphanage for two years.  In 1997, due to unrest in the country, she had to leave and this is when she began to pursue an education that would better equip her for the mission field. 

In 2001, she graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Graduate Diploma of Theology  Degree.  Shortly, after graduation, Darla began to pursue her Masters degree in the area of missions.  In order to meet certain degree requirements, Darla served with the North American Mission board in Vancouver, BC. from 2003-2005.  Darla joined the staff at Village in October of 2005, where she completed her ministry project.  In  December of 2006, she graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a M. A. Missiology degree.

Darla is excited about the opportunity He has given her to help lead Village in Missions both at home and abroad.  She looks forward to all that God is going to do through the missions program at Village Baptist Church.

MEDIA DIRECTOR
Robert spent 25 years as a consultant to government organizations and business in the areas of information systems and organizational development. In 1991 he came to understand that he was to use his time, resources, and abilities for the kingdom of God. Since that time, Robert has worked in various volunteer capacities in three local churches.

In 1998 he began seeking ways to use electronic media to present the Gospel. Robert began serving in a volunteer capacity at Village in 2000 and joined the full time staff in August 2001. He currently serves in Village's media ministry and men's ministry. He has a passion for helping others develop their relationship with Christ and find meaningful places of service in His church.