A Bible-Believing Baptist Church on Veterans Boulevard
Sonshine Baptist Church gathers on Veterans Boulevard in Port Charlotte, a wide residential and commercial corridor where homes, schools, and small businesses share the road. The church's stated vision is "to reach the world for Christ through the building of relationships," and every ministry description on its campus points back to that single idea. From the nursery room off the auditorium to the missionary families they underwrite across more than a dozen countries, Sonshine is built around the conviction that knowing people, and being known, is how the gospel moves through a neighborhood.
The congregation describes itself as Baptist and holds to a classic Baptist confession of faith: the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, one triune God, the virgin birth and substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, salvation by grace through faith, believer's baptism by immersion, the Lord's Supper, the autonomy of the local church, and the personal return of Christ. Sonshine also names distinctively Baptist convictions about the church, including the baptism of believers only, the spiritual equality of men and women in position before God, and the leadership of the local congregation under Christ alone.
Sunday Mornings: Sunday School and Worship
Sunday School begins at 9:30am, with classes for adults, teens, and children meeting across the campus. The main worship service gathers at 10:30am in the Auditorium and is live-streamed on Facebook for those who cannot attend in person. Visitors who arrive early can stop by the church library (A1) just off the Auditorium or pass through the hospitality entrance (A2) for a warm welcome. The Auditorium itself is the largest room on campus and is where the church family gathers for congregational worship, prayer, preaching, and the ordinances.
Children have their own space. The Sonshine Kids Classroom (A6) and the Nursery (A4) are both located right off the Auditorium, so parents can step out of the service and back in with ease. A small Prayer Room (A5) is also tucked into the auditorium wing for anyone who wants a quieter place to pray before or during the service.
Wednesday Nights: Meals, Ministry, and Bible Study
Wednesday is the second main day of the week at Sonshine. A mid-week meal is served at 5:15pm, and the food has become a ministry of its own, a chance for busy families, singles, and seniors to share a table before splitting off into age-appropriate programs. Children's Ministry meets at 6:30pm, Youth Ministry meets at 6:30pm, and the Adult Bible Study gathers at 6:30pm.
For teens in grades 6 through 12, the Wednesday night program is built around the AWANA-style discipleship and small-group model the church uses throughout the Student Ministry Building. Younger children move through their own curriculum, also built around Scripture memory, quiet time devotions, and small-group accountability. The mid-week meals give every generation a reason to be on campus together, even when their programs run separately.
Children, Students, and the Five Ministry Principles
Sonshine's children's and student ministry is structured around five principles they call the Word of Life model: Biblical Teaching, Scripture Memory, Quiet Time, Ministry, and Small Groups.
Biblical Teaching is the foundation. Lessons draw directly from Scripture and do not shy away from doctrinal depth, but they are always aimed at the heart, asking children and students how to apply what they have learned. The children's ministry pages repeatedly emphasize that the goal is more than head knowledge; it is heart and experiential knowledge that produces obedience.
Scripture Memory is built into every age level. Preschoolers may memorize part of a verse each month, while high school students are encouraged to memorize 24 verses a year, drawn from the same passages being taught. The conviction is that without the work of memorization, the powerful truths of the Bible are easily forgotten.
Quiet Time gives families a shared daily devotional tool. A Quiet Time Diary walks readers through every book of the Bible on a six-year cycle, with age-appropriate journals from preschool through adulthood, so an entire family can study the same passage and discuss it around the dinner table. A Jr. High version called the Quiet Time Interactive walks younger teens through an entire passage with questions and a tweet-of-the-day reflection.
Ministry is the conviction that students are not the church of tomorrow but the church of today. Each program works to give young people meaningful places to serve, lead, and use their gifts, even when they feel they have nothing to offer or need more training.
Small Groups close the loop, creating weekly accountability and the kind of friendships where confession, prayer, and Scripture memory become shared habits rather than solo disciplines. The ministry is built on Proverbs 27:17 ("As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend") and James 5:16, with leaders intentionally modeling the very disciplines they ask of their students.
Life Groups for Every Stage
Beyond the mid-week program, Sonshine runs an array of Life Groups that meet at different days and times across the week:
- Adult Life Group meets Sundays at 9am and Wednesdays at 6:30pm.
- Faithful Families meets Thursdays from 7pm to 8pm and focuses on health and nutrition, in partnership with the Florida Department of Health.
- Youth Life Group gathers Wednesdays at 6pm for students in grades 6 through 12.
- The Truth Project is a video-based study that meets Tuesdays from 7pm to 8pm, working through the biblical and theological themes of the Focus on the Family series.
- Disciples Making Disciples is a two-day intensive held in late January, running Friday evening from 6pm to 9pm and Saturday from 9am to 5pm.
A Women's Bible Study and a "Man Cave" men's ministry give further space for smaller groups to grow around shared interests and stages of life. There is also a dedicated Prayer ministry, a "Helping Hands" service team, and a Sonshine Grandparent Program that intentionally pairs senior adults with students ages 4 to 18, giving the older generation a relational role in the life of a young person.
Good News Club and the Schools of Charlotte County
For many years Sonshine has partnered with Charlotte County schools to bring the gospel straight to children during the school day. Good News Club volunteers meet at Neil Armstrong Elementary School every Tuesday from 3pm to 4:30pm during the school year. Through songs, Bible lessons, and activities, the club introduces elementary students to the message of Christ and offers spiritual, physical, and emotional support for families in need.
The church also pairs with YoungLife to reach middle schoolers through WyldLife at Port Charlotte Middle School and high schoolers through YoungLife across Charlotte County. Both are relational outreach ministries designed to walk alongside students outside the walls of the church. The congregation has also run a yearly Vacation Bible School, with past themes including "Babylon," and operates an AWANA program that meets in the Student Ministry Building for first through fifth graders.
GROW, the Homeless Coalition, and Christmas Baskets
Sonshine takes seriously the call to love its literal neighbors. The GROW outreach, which stands for God Rewards Our Work, organizes teams of volunteers to visit newcomers to the area, send cards, make phone calls, and write letters. Anyone can sign up for the Saturday of the month that fits their schedule, making the program flexible for working families and retirees alike.
Members regularly prepare and serve meals at the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition, with volunteers meeting at the coalition's site to help with food service. During the Christmas season the congregation assembles twenty baskets filled with food, toiletries, paper products, and Walmart gift cards, and delivers them to local schools for families who could use a hand during the holidays. Each December the church also takes up a special Christmas Offering to fund campus repairs and upgrades, with annual goals described in the bulletin and on the blog.
Other hands-on efforts include hosting Back-to-School Bashes in partnership with Charlotte County organizations, painting faces and making Wordless Book bracelets at the Punta Gorda Block Party, running the concession stand at Port Charlotte High School home football games, and partnering with YoungLife area-wide for student ministry.
The CORE Project: Sports Fields and Walking Track
One of the most distinctive efforts at Sonshine is the Community Outreach Endeavor, or CORE Project, a long-term plan to develop the church's own property into sports fields and a walking track that the surrounding neighborhood can use. Once complete, the fields will host Upward Sports leagues, including soccer, flag football, and cheerleading, giving the church a way to reach families in Charlotte County through Christian youth sports.
The project is broken into six phases with a total budget of about $199,000. The first four phases cover preliminary plans, a tractor barn and survey, design and permitting, and final site plan approval. Phase 5 covers the bulk of the site work, which the congregation plans to do as much as possible themselves using donated equipment and volunteer labor. Phase 6 funds the pavilions that will serve as gathering spaces on game days. The church is committed to completing CORE without taking on debt, using the Christmas offering, grant funding, and partnerships with organizations like the YMCA.
Upward Sports, founded in 1995, runs leagues in more than 2,000 churches in 47 states. Its 360 Progression is built around Luke 2:52, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," developing the total athlete mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially.
Missions: A Family on Six Continents
Missions are woven into the life of the church. Each March, Sonshine devotes the month to global outreach, hosting missionaries in services, participating in local missions projects, and committing to a year of missions giving. The missionary family Sonshine underwrites reads like a small atlas: families serving with BBFI (Baptist Bible Fellowship International) in Kenya, Columbia, the Bahamas, Thailand, Zambia, New Zealand, Australia, and the Philippines; with BIMI in Taiwan; with Converge in Poland; with OMS in Japan; with Global Faith Mission in Guyana; with WWNTBM in Mexico; with the National Center for Life & Liberty to U.S. military personnel; and with CMCH in England. Additional supported ministries include Grace For Israel, Hope Children's Home in Tampa, Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, YoungLife Charlotte Harbor, the Global Youth Ministry, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
At home, the church has run short-term mission trips to places like the Seminole Indian Reservation, where teams have helped with cleanup, repair projects, and a backyard Vacation Bible School that reached dozens of children. Annual fundraising events like the Sonshine Golf Scramble at King's Gate Golf Club support youth summer camp.
The Campus: Three Buildings, One Family
Sonshine's campus is built around three connected buildings. The Auditorium, with its library, hospitality entrance, nursery, prayer room, and Sonshine Kids classroom, anchors the main worship gathering. The Multi-Purpose Building houses a Bible Study Classroom and the Contemporary Auditorium, which doubles as a youth classroom. The Student Ministry Building is dedicated to the next generation, with AWANA rooms for first through fifth graders and youth classrooms for sixth through twelfth graders.
The variety of rooms reflects the variety of ministries happening at any given time. On a typical week, you might find AWANA games in one room, youth small groups in another, a women's Bible study in the Multi-Purpose Building, and an adult Sunday School class gathering in the Bible Study Classroom, all while a meal is being set up for the Wednesday crowd.
What We Believe
Sonshine Baptist Church publishes a detailed statement of faith that walks through the central doctrines of the Christian faith:
- The Scriptures. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, inerrant, and final revelation of God.
- The True God. One living God, infinite in every perfection, existing eternally in three co-equal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit. A divine Person equal with the Father and the Son, who convicts, regenerates, seals, indwells, teaches, and empowers the believer.
- The Devil, or Satan. A fallen angelic being who opposes God and His people, destined for final defeat and eternal judgment.
- The Creation. A direct creation by God in six literal days, with human beings made in His image as male and female, and marriage defined as the union of one man and one woman.
- The Fall of Man. The historical fall of Adam and Eve, bringing all humanity into sin and under condemnation.
- The Virgin Birth. Jesus Christ conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully man.
- The Atonement for Sin. Salvation by grace alone, through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross.
- Grace in the New Creation. The new birth as an instantaneous work of the Holy Spirit, producing faith, repentance, and a new life.
- The Freeness of Salvation. The blessings of salvation offered freely to all who repent and believe.
- Justification. Pardon of sin and the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ's righteousness.
- Repentance and Faith. Inseparable graces wrought by the Holy Spirit, leading to confession and faith in Jesus Christ.
- The Church. A local body of baptized believers, self-governing under Christ, with male pastors and deacons; the Great Commission as the church's mission.
- Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Two ordinances given to the church: baptism by immersion for believers and the Lord's Supper for the members of the body.
- The Perseverance of the Saints. The security of those who endure in faith, kept by the power of God.
- The Righteous and the Wicked. An essential distinction between the saved and the lost, both in this life and in eternity.
- Civil Government. Appointed by God for the good order of society, to be obeyed except where it conflicts with the lordship of Christ.
- The Resurrection and Return of Christ. The bodily resurrection of Christ, His ascension, His personal return, and the resurrection of the dead in Christ.
- Missions. The responsibility of every church and every believer to take the gospel to the whole world.
- The Grace of Giving. Tithing and cheerful giving as acts of worship and faith.
The statement also affirms a biblical view of marriage and human sexuality, addressing practical matters such as lawsuits between believers and church membership with the conviction that the Bible is the supreme standard for Christian conduct.
Pastor Tim and Laura Everist
Sonshine is currently pastored by Tim and Laura Everist. Tim grew up in Oregon, where his parents and three brothers raised him in church. After a near-drowning as a child led him to trust Christ as his Savior, he sensed a call to ministry at a youth conference at the age of fourteen. He later moved to Florida to attend Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, where he also met Laura. The two married and spent years serving in youth ministry in Oregon and in children's ministry and summer camp in Port Charlotte before being led, through a friend and the previous pastoral family, to serve at Sonshine. They were invited to take on the role of Head Pastor after a season of helping out around the church.
The church has also been shaped by the ministry of Pastor Dale Hardy and his wife Gretchen, who led Sonshine for many years and oversaw the launch of several of the ministries described above. Today's staff and volunteer teams continue in that same relational, family-focused spirit.
Grief Share and Walking Through Hard Seasons
For those walking through grief, divorce, job loss, illness, or other difficult seasons, Sonshine offers Grief Share, a 13-week support and study program that meets on Wednesdays from 3pm to 5pm. The group is designed both for those currently going through a hard situation and for people with the life experience to come alongside others during tough times. Sign-up sheets are available at the church so that the right number of workbooks can be prepared.
Worship That Blends Old and New
Sonshine's main Auditorium hosts the Sunday morning worship gathering, while a separate Contemporary Auditorium inside the Multi-Purpose Building gives space for a more modern style of worship led by a music team. In addition to the regular blended services, the church has set aside evenings for traditional worship, hymn singing, and the Lord's Supper, with members invited to submit favorite hymns in advance. The result is a worship life that draws on the depth of the historic hymnal as well as the energy of contemporary praise.
Visiting Sonshine
First-time visitors are welcomed at 23105 Veterans Boulevard in Port Charlotte, Florida. Sunday School begins at 9:30am and the main service at 10:30am, with the sermon live-streamed on Facebook for those who prefer to worship from home. Wednesday nights begin with a meal at 5:15pm, followed by children's, youth, and adult programs at 6:30pm.
The church office can be reached at (941) 625-1273 or office@sonshinebaptist.com. Giving is available online through the Church Center giving page or the SecureGive app. Sermon videos are posted on the church's YouTube channel, and an online Bible and Bible reading plans are linked from the main menu for anyone who wants to dig into Scripture during the week.