Mariah Derby-Wine is a local Sumter County pageant titleholder who is keeping a determined focus on bringing people together through their faith.
Over the past five years, she has held numerous titles at the local and state level, including USA National Miss Florida Junior Teen. Competing in pageants led her to create a platform she called Crown Church. It’s an organization that allows young girls to talk in a safe environment about their faith.
Derby-Wine, 17, founded Crown Church to allow young women to talk about their faith outside of church without judgment. She says competing in pageants, being a student and dealing with teenage years can lead to stress and anxiety. To solve that, Derby-Wine created her platform to help girls with any pain or sadness they may carry.
“The way that God can move through someone is amazing,” Derby-Wine said.
Derby-Wine competed earlier this month in the Miss North Florida Scholarship Pageant in Marianna. All contestants had to live within counties throughout the northern half of the state to be eligible. She placed first runner-up in the teen division among 19 girls. Though she did not take home the crown, she did not come home empty-handed. Derby-Wine received multiple awards for her community work.
Derby-Wine competed against 50 others to win two individual awards: Kadance Fredericksen Heart of Service Award and the Miss North Florida Role Model Award. She also walked away with best in interview within her respective division as well as a $450 scholarship.
The role model award and the service award are selected based on a contestant's community work and platform.
“I am blessed, to say the least,” Derby-Wine said. “These awards reveal what it means to be a true queen as someone who serves others.”
Derby-Wine founded Crown Church as a 15-year-old while she was holding the title of USA National Miss Florida Junior Teen. She wanted to create a place that hosts “like-minded young women creating friendships and bonding over faith,” she said.
The organization hosts meetings over Zoom every Monday at 6 p.m. There is a junior session for girls aged 12 and under and a senior session for girls 13 and older. The sessions alternate biweekly between the junior and senior divisions. During the meetings, the participants go over devotionals and pray for whatever life events the girls have going on during the week.
During the Crown Church session on Feb. 19, Derby-Wine led a discussion bases on the Jeremiah 29:11 Bible verse, which reads, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
The lesson revolved around “trusting in God’s plan”. The group went over the things they enjoy doing every day ranging from gymnastics to listening to music. They ended the sessions with a group prayer.
“I pray that each girl will remember who they are,” Derby-Wine said as she led the prayer.
Two sisters, Sophia and Rylee Papuchis, are regulars at Crown Church meetings and have been going since its founding.
“I love that I have friends to talk about God and faith with,” said 12-year-old Sophia Papuchis.
Rylee Papuchis, 9, called Crown Church “my favorite part of the week.”
Isabella Lamkin, 18, a former USA National Miss Kentucky Teen, has also been going to the senior division Crown Church sessions since the beginning.
“Crown Church allows me to have a space to talk about the things I am struggling with and allows me to connect with like-minded girls,” Lamkin said. “Lots of Mariah’s devotionals have really been eye opening and they really helped me in the things I have been struggling with.”
Briana Wine, Mariah’s mother, is proud of the work her daughter has done within Sumter County and the state.
“God honors respectful people and that’s Mariah,” said Wine.
Though Derby-Wine did not win the title of Teen Miss North Florida, she holds another title that she is using to promote Crown Church. She is the current 2024 USA National Miss Florida Teen. Derby-Wine will compete in the national pageant in July in Orlando with hopes of spreading her platform to a national audience.
With hopes of becoming a national titleholder, she has ambitions to conduct in-person Crown Church sessions throughout all of the USA National Miss State pageants.
Derby-Wine already started to work towards this goal by hosting an in-person session at the USA National Miss Florida State pageant in February 2023.
“I strive to show God’s love and kindness everywhere I go,” Derby-Wine said. “I’ve loved connecting with girls so far but can’t wait to connect with more.”