We are an independent Baptist church, and we stand firmly on the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith that have been passed down to us from Jesus Christ himself through the Apostles in the text of the Bible.
The Scriptures
We believe in the Bible as the Word of God, verbally inspired as originally written; the supreme inerrant, infallible authority in all matters of faith and life. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God the Man (Jesus Christ). The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning and the interpretation that is taught in this church shall be directed and overseen by the pastor. (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)
God
We believe in the one true and living, triune God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 3:16-17; Matt. 28:19; John 14:10, 26; 2 Cor. 13:14)
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He is truly God and truly man. We believe in His deity, His sinless perfection, His bodily resurrection, and His ascension into heaven where He is now our High Priest and Advocate. (Matt. 1:18-20; Luke 1:31-34; Rom. 9:5; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 4:15, John 20:24-28; Acts 1:9,10; Heb. 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1)
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son; that He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; that He is the agent in the New Birth, and that He indwells, fills, seals, sanctifies, teaches, and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ. (John 14:1-17; John 16:7-11; Matt. 28:19; John 3:5; Eph. 1:13, 14; Acts 2:4; Eph. 5:18)
Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby, as a consequence, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; that all the Adamic race are sinners by nature and by practice; that Man is depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 3:10-23; Rom. 6:23; Rom. 5:12-19)
Atonement
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal physical resurrection from the dead. (Acts 2:18-36; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:22-25; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Peter 1:3-5)
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God wholly of God’s grace and that all who by faith choose Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are born of the Spirit of God, and thereby become children of God because of His precious blood that was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. (Eph. 1:7; Eph.2:8-9; John 1:12-13; John 3:3-6; Rom. 10:9,10; 1 Cor. 12:13; 1 Pet. 1:18-19)
Eternal Security & Assurance of Believers
(1) We believe that once a person is saved, he is kept by God’s power and remains secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; 1 Pet. 1:4-5) (2) We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word. However, God’s Word clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)
Sanctification
We believe that all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called into a life of separation from worldly and sinful practices. We believe that this sanctification is a process in which God sets apart true believers unto holiness. He then conforms them into the image of Christ through the works of the Holy Spirit and will ultimately complete their sanctification at the return of Christ for His saints. (Rom. 8; 12:1-2; 13:8-14; 1 John 2:15-17; 3:2; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; Eph. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:1-5)
The Resurrection
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust; the everlasting blessedness and salvation of those who believe and receive Jesus Christ as Savior, and the everlasting punishment of those who reject Him. (John 5:28, 29; 1 Cor. 115:51-57; 1; Thes. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:41,46; Rev. 20:11-15; 2 Thes. 1:8,9)
The Future Resurrection
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust; the everlasting blessedness and salvation of those who believe and are saved by Jesus Christ their Lord, and the everlasting punishment of those who reject Him. (John 5:28, 29; 1 Cor. 115:51-57; 1; Thes. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:41,46; Rev. 20:11-15; 2 Thes. 1:8,9)
The Second Coming of Christ
This church teaches that blessed hope, the personal, imminent return of Christ, who will rapture His church prior to a seven-year period prophesied of in the Scriptures and characterized by great tribulation and judgements from heaven upon the earth (“The Tribulation”). At the end of this 7-year period, Christ will personally and visibly return with His saints, to establish His earthly, Messianic Kingdom which was promised to the nation of Israel. (Ps. 89:3-4; Dan. 2:31-45; Daniel 9:24-27; Zech. 14:4-11; 1 Thess. 1:10, 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6)
The Church
(1) We believe in the church; a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and of which all regenerated persons are members. This universal Church is solely made up of born-again believers and will one day finally assemble in the Kingdom of God. (2) We believe that the church as God’s chosen people are distinct from His chosen nation, Israel, both in identity, purpose, and prophecy, and that God has not cast off His gifts and calling for the nation of Israel in the process of choosing His church. (3) We believe that the local church is a congregation of believers in a certain locality who have been baptized by immersion upon confession of faith, and voluntarily associated together for worship, fellowship, and service. Its mission is the edification of believers and the salvation of unbelievers through witnessing and preaching the Gospel among all nations. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or controls, and any affiliations, societies, organizations, associations, or agencies this church affiliates with to further the objectives stated in the Purpose Statement are not authoritative in matters of church practice or belief. (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:12, 143; Acts 2:41, 42; 1:18; 2 Cor. 23:23-25; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; Acts 23:1-4; 15:19-31; 20:28; Rom. 16:1, 4; 1 Cor. 3:9, 16; 5:4-7, 13; 1 Pet. 5:1-4)
The Ordinances
We believe that there are two Church ordinances; namely, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is the immersion of believers in water showing forth the believer’s repentance of heart and identification in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is the remembrance of the Lord’s death until He comes, and should be observed only by believers after solemn self-examination. (Matt. 28:19; Rom. 6:3-6; 1 Cor. 11:23-29)
Satan
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan, known also as the Devil; and that he is the evil one who dominates the kingdoms of this world, the enemy of God and men, and that he is destined to the judgement of the lake of fire. (Matt. 4:1-11; Rev. 12:9; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10)
Modern-Day Trends
(The Charismatic Movement, the Ecumenical Movement, Neo-Orthodoxy, Neo-Evangelicalism, etc.): We believe in and encourage the use of spiritual enabling gifts for service to all believers (Rom. 12:6-8). These gifts are sufficient for the ministry and the perfecting of the church today. Further, we believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith according to His will for the sick and afflicted. We believe that the miraculous sign-gifts found in the New Testament such as prophecies, healings, and the speaking of tongues were given as gifts for a specific purpose during the time of the Apostles. While God still does work these miracles as He chooses to, we believe that Christians have no expectation that He will continue to empower individuals with these abilities as Spiritual gifts. (Heb. 2:4)
Hermeneutic
We repudiate every theological system of thought which denies the inerrancy of Scripture and other fundamental teachings of Scripture based upon a genre-specific, literal method of interpretation.
Civil Government
We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three (3) basic institutions: 1) the home, 2) the church, and 3) the state. Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word. God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The home, the church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective, Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God. We believe that we must obey the state unless it requires us to act contrary to our faith at which time, we must obey God rather than the state. (Matt. 22:15-22; Acts 5:29; Rom. 13:1- 7; Eph. 5:22-24; Titus 3:1-2; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 2:13-14)
Human Sexuality
(1) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between one naturally-born man and one naturally-born woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex and abominations. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s biological sex by surgery or appearance. (Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4) (2) We believe that the only Scriptural marriage is the joining of one naturally-born, biological male and one naturally-born, biological female for life. (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22-23)