March 19, 2025
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The sobering sights of a fridge being flipped over, baby dolls floating by, and scattered Legos across the lawn greeted Ronnie Rentz, who planted Covenant Hope Church in St. Petersburg in 2022, when he returned home following Hurricane Helene’s landfall in late September.
“When Hurricane Helene came through, we got hit with three feet of water … we lost about 90% of everything we owned,” said Rentz. “I couldn’t even get into the house at first because all the water had picked up our furniture and jammed it against the door. And then when I finally got in, it was sobering. The fridge was flipped over, baby dolls were floating by—I just sat there for awhile before I called my wife. And all I could say was, ‘It’s bad. What do we do now?’”
The answer to his question, ‘What do we do now?’ was quickly answered the day after Rentz returned home when the beauty of the local church was on full display. Teams of Florida Baptists from Covenant Life Church in Tampa—Rentz’s sending church—immediately jumped into action, helping the pastor wade through what was left of his family’s belongings.
Reflecting on the “beauty of the local church,” Rentz recalled how teams of more than 30 people worked tirelessly to salvage clothing and toys, dry out documents and photos of memories, and have his wife’s jewelry professionally cleaned mere days after the Category 4 hurricane made landfall.
“We had people coming out of the woodwork to pray, encourage, call us, and really seek to care for us,” he recalled. “They started grabbing clothes, toys, anything they could save. We had a crew in the backyard cleaning Legos. We had a lady who owns a jewelry shop take what she could salvage of my wife’s jewelry to get it professionally cleaned. They worked in shifts—morning, afternoon and evening—it was amazing to see.”
Not only did Covenant Life Church step in to help, but also Rentz’s home church—First Baptist Church Quincy. The West region Florida Baptist church hosted a spaghetti dinner, that matched funds of $5,000 to help the Rentz family “get back on their feet,” he said.
“These two churches are perfect examples of what it means to be a loving church,” said Rentz. “In these moments it is wonderful to see the church shine bright, not a building but a people, united in its love for God and love for others.”
Clinging to the “Right Beside You” mantra, Rentz is grateful for local churches and Florida Baptists who refused to let him feel alone.
“More important than money and resources, is the feeling of never being alone,” he said. “These are people who really do care about your soul and your family, and who love you in Christ.”
“This church planter and young family were rocked to the core by the hurricane, but unmoved and unwavering in their faith in the Lord,” said Jeffery Singletary, Florida Baptists’ Central region catalyst. “They were even more committed to rebuild and relaunch … This is the type of faith all church planters must embrace.”
And rebuilding and relaunching are exactly what they have done.
After relocating to central Florida from the campus of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Rentz and his family became faithful members at Covenant Life Church in Tampa. After planting themselves there, Rentz became a lay pastor and then completed a residency program with the Florida Baptist church. In 2022, Rentz, his family, and 17 people moved to plant a “healthy local church over the bridge” in St. Petersburg.
And a healthy, local church is exactly what Rentz is cultivating in central Florida.
Now—four months removed from the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene—Rentz is not skipping a beat as the church planter is looking for fresh new ways to serve the unique community of St. Petersburg.
Describing the region as “not heavily churched,” Rentz is convinced that the gospel need is great and the “opportunity to love and reach people” is even greater.
“We exist to glorify God by building community that treasures Christ as king and displays His truth, beauty and love to St. Petersburg and the nations,” he said.
The two-year church plant recently changed its meeting location from an established church fellowship hall to a more centrally located city recreation center. Seeking to be faithful and reaching all people with the gospel, Rentz led his congregation to be “on the frontlines” of serving college students at a newly established Baptist Collegiate Ministries group at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Campus.
“We’re in an area where it is driven by consumerism, a Sunday funday mentality, living for themselves, desiring to come down here and live their best lives,” Rentz explained. “We want our church to be able to speak into that.”
Describing himself as a “missions-minded pastor,” Rentz is thrilled to be able “go somewhere, stay somewhere, and serve somewhere” long-term. Settling in and planting roots has really allowed him to see the beauty of a local church in a city “where there is a vast need,” he said. With this in mind, Rentz and his wife, Christina, are excited to be closing on their first home. After several months of their two-year-old daughter saying “I want to go home” every day, Rentz is excited to be closing on the family’s first house at the end of this month, once again, a testament to what Rentz calls “building our dependence on God more.”
“In our suffering, God has allowed us to build our dependence on Him more,” he reflected. “It was a testimony to others that our faith is real … We don’t just love God because our lives are comfortable.”
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This story was first published by the Florida Baptist Convention.
