What Kind of Church is Calvary Baptist Church?

This is the question that a person seeking a church should be asking of the church one is praying about attending.  In the next few sentences I will try to sum up our church so you can easily understand who we are as servants of the Saviour.

One can sum up Calvary in three words: Mission, Music and Message:

1)   Our Mission as a Bible preaching church is to win the lost and restore the believer.  Jesus gave the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Matthew 28:18-20).  It is our desire to motivate our people to live a life of submission to God.  If we are submitted to God’s Will, we will be about His business of pointing people to Him.  We do this by seeking to be a godly example to the lost and saved alike.  When we live this submitted life it provides an opportunity to evangelize those we come in contact with.  It is amazing how many people are saved because someone they knew was a solid example of what a Christian should be.  In the process of this, we also encourage our people to seek out believers who have strayed from the Saviour.  By showing love to those who are away, many are brought back into a close relationship with the Saviour.  Concerning the great commission, we realize that one church cannot go into all the world.  So, we support missionaries to help us do this work around the world.  We seek to do our part here and they help us do it there.  These missionaries are not a part of a cooperative program, instead they are from other Independent Baptist Churches seeking to propagate the gospel in the same way.  As we church we work together to help support these servants of God while they help us do our part to fulfill the great commission.  To sum it up, our mission is to see souls saved and Christians restored.  If you are looking for a church that seeks the lost and restores the brethren, this might be the place for you.

2)   Our Music is music that challenges the heart to serve the Master.  We believe music is an important part of worship, though not the only part of worship.  We believe God would have our music to touch the heart before it touches the feet.  The emphasis should be on the words and not the instruments.  We sing hymns and often singers will sing classical as well as southern gospel style music.  We feel most of the contemporary music today is not pleasing to the LORD.  We do not believe music is neutral in its morality.  Rather, we believe it has a moral and immoral content to it.  We do our best to make sure that the music we use is pleasing to God.  God has not changed (Malachi 3:6) and we are doing our best to follow His example.  The bottom line is, our services are what church used to be.  If you are looking for what church used to be, this might be the place for you.

 

3)   Our Message comes from the Word of God.  His message has not changed and we do not water it down.  When we speak of His Word, we are in reference to the authorized version of the Bible, better known to some people as the King James Bible (KJV or KJB).  We believe this contains the Word of God for English speaking people.  We believe this because it is translated word for word from the Hebrew Masoretic text in the Old Testament and from the received text (Textus Receptus) in the New Testament.  We use only the King James Bible in our preaching and teaching.  If we know something is the best and use something else, we are not being faithful to our God or our people.  We do not condemn those who use something else, but we do not compromise our position on the Word of God.  If you are looking for a church that believes you can hold the Word of God in your hand, this might be the church for you.

May God bless you as you seek His Will concerning a Bible Believing Church to attend!

Pastor Daniel B. Ledford