What is Church?

Have you ever needed someone to care about you and your family? Someone to help you with a problem? Someone to be there when you are sick or lonely or discouraged?

That is what a loving church family is all about.  A church is more than a building.  A church is caring people who meet regularly for worship, fellowship, praise and service.

This is what First Baptist Church is all about.  Love, caring, worship, helping others.

First Baptist Church is made up of ordinary people.  People like you.  We face challenges and problems, experience happy times and sad times, celebrate victories, and grieve over defeats. So what makes us want to gather each week for worship? 

What does it mean to me?

God with us!  Jesus for us!  The Holy Spirit in us! God brings people together to worship Him and to help others.  This is the core of Jesus' teaching -- Loving God, Loving Others.

We gather because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Church is about knowing and serving our Savior and Lord.

We celebrate because His Spirit dwells within us.  When we know Him, we want to spend time with friends in Christ who share this personal relationship.

Can you imagine an entire town loving God and serving one another?  Join us at First Baptist Church.  Experience for yourself what church can mean to you.

How can I have eternal life?

God's plan of salvation is simple enough for everyone to understand.  It really is as simple as ABC.

Admit you are a sinner.  Each of us has a problem the Bible calls sin.  Everyone who does not live a life of perfect obedience to the Lord is guilty of sin.  Since none of us is perfect, all of us are sinners (see Romans 3:10-18 and 3:23).  The result of sin is spiritual death (Romans 6:23).  Spiritual death means eternal separation from God in a place the Bible calls Hell.

Believe that Jesus' death on the cross was for you.  Although we have done nothing to deserve God's love and salvation.  He wants to save us.  He became a man (John 1:1, 14) died for us on the cross (1Peter 3:18), was resurrected from the dead (Romans 4:25) to prove he could save us.  If we place our trust in this, God promises we will receive the free gift of eternal life (John 3:16).

Commit your life to Jesus.  When we accept Jesus' gift of eternal life, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God comes to live within us (Ephesians 1:13-14) as the guarantee of our salvation.  Because of His act of salvation, God expects us to live obediently to His Holy Word (the Bible), which is something we can commit to with joy because we realize His teachings are meant to make life the best it can be.