Music and ministry
After college, Monroe joined a gospel quartet and later served as music director at Indianapolis Baptist Temple under Pastor Greg Dixon. He left that position to return to South Carolina and begin a church.
About Pastor Bill Monroe
A life devoted to preaching the Gospel.
For more than five decades, Pastor Bill Monroe has served the Florence, South Carolina, congregation he founded in 1969 while helping lead a Christian school, a broadcast ministry, and national Baptist fellowship work.
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Pastor of Florence Baptist Temple
Early life and education
From a pastor’s home to a call to preach.
Bill Monroe grew up in a pastor’s home and trusted Christ at age five at his mother’s knee. His father, Frank Monroe, preached in West Virginia before moving the family to South Carolina and pastoring Harmony Baptist Church in Sumter. Bill graduated from Edmunds High School in Sumter.
After high school, Monroe studied business at the University of South Carolina. He also studied at Appalachian Bible College and Columbia Bible College.
After college, he joined a gospel quartet, met Norma Phelps in Fort Worth, Texas, and later served as music director for Pastor Greg Dixon at Indianapolis Baptist Temple. At age twenty-five, Monroe believed God was calling him to preach. He left that position and returned to South Carolina to begin a church.
He later received honorary degrees from Hyles-Anderson College, Louisiana Baptist University, and Baptist Bible College. At Florence Baptist Temple’s 40th anniversary, he was presented with the Order of the Palmetto and the Palmetto Patriot Award.
The beginning
Eighteen people and a place to preach.
In November 1969, Bill Monroe founded Florence Baptist Temple in Florence, South Carolina. The church’s first service was held in an abandoned theater building with eighteen people present.
What began in that modest setting grew into a ministry serving families across the Pee Dee and beyond. Florence Baptist Temple’s campus eventually expanded to 52 acres with more than 200,000 square feet of buildings and a recreational complex with football, baseball, softball, tennis, and picnic facilities.
Through every season of growth, the purpose remained the same: preach the Bible, share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and help people become faithful disciples.
1969Florence Baptist Temple founded
18people at the first service
52acre church campus
200,000+square feet of facilities
Through the years
A Ministry Journey
Florence Baptist Temple begins
Monroe founded Florence Baptist Temple in November 1969, beginning with eighteen people in an abandoned theater. He remains its pastor, with messages also shared through The Baptist Temple Hour and the church’s online sermon ministry.
Florence Christian School begins
He founded Florence Christian School as a ministry of the church and continues to serve as its president.
National Baptist leadership
Monroe served two terms as president of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International from 2002 through 2006. The fellowship established its National Church Planting Office during his presidency.
Family and faithfulness
“The church really, in one way, becomes our family. It becomes our spiritual family.”Bill Monroe From the sermon The Indispensable ChristDecember 7, 2025
Bill and Norma raised three children and have eight grandchildren. The work that began when they returned to South Carolina in 1969 continues through the church, the school, and a growing archive of sermons preserved for future generations.
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