Parker's Cove Baptist Church

09/10/2026

Hey parents - get your kids connected to our Youth Group starting Friday, September 18th (grades 6-12).

The other day a friend asked if, in high school, I was a youth group kid.

I smiled and said yes.

He said, “I see it. Not in a bad way! But I see it.”

I didn’t take it in a bad way.

I am proud to be a former youth group kid. Look closely enough and you can still see the tan line from my WWJD bracelet.

Every Sunday night in high school, I was dropped off at church at six and picked up at eight. For those two hours, we ate food, played games, and talked about Jesus. Sometimes in that order, sometimes not.

The walls of our youth room were covered with hand-painted Bible verses and posters of Christian bands. There were couches that had survived several generations of teenagers and, if memory serves, smelled like it.

Youth group spilled beyond Sunday nights, too. For a week during the summer we went on a mission trip. Throughout the year we volunteered around our town and at church. Some weekends we went on retreats. We had Christmas parties and scavenger hunts and the occasional Wednesday night event.

We played dodgeball and sardines, and our pastor gave us a s*x talk, which is perhaps the most terrifying sentence in the English language when you are fifteen.

I learned about Donald Miller and Switchfoot and how I probably shouldn’t be watching The O.C., but I really wanted to know whether Seth and Summer were going to get together.

We studied Scripture, asked questions, and there were no tests.

Once, during high school, I was made fun of for being a youth group kid.

I didn’t understand the bully’s logic then, and I’m not sure I understand it now.

Here was a place where I was told God loved me, the pizza was free, and there were cute girls. What exactly was the downside?

Youth group was a kind of cheat code for surviving high school and hormones.

Somewhere between the dodgeball and the mission trips and the terrible couches, something was happening to me.

It was within the walls of our youth room that I wrestled with my faith and asked questions and wondered what this one life was about. I heard about Jesus differently than I did on Sunday mornings. I was challenged differently than I was in the classroom.

I got to play and be a kid and learn from adults who were still in touch with the kid inside of them.

These adults loved me as if I were one of their children, and I still don’t quite understand why.

I could have ten marshmallows in my mouth, cheeks bulging, trying desperately not to spit one across the room, but my ears were still open to hear that Jesus loved me.

Yes, I was a youth group kid.

And I loved it.

Maybe I need a bumper sticker that says “Former Youth Group Kid” to put right next to the ichthus.

Because that youth group kid is still somewhere inside of me.

Maybe that’s why I never turn down an opportunity to speak to youth groups and high school students. Maybe that’s why I find myself writing essays about my high school years. Maybe that’s why I’m in therapy.

Probably all three.

When I look back, I can see that something changed in me during those years. I was surrounded by adults who loved Jesus and invited me to live a life anchored in His love.

They gave me a place to ask enormous questions before I was old enough to know how enormous they were. They let me wonder and laugh and play and be a kid while I could still be a kid. They let me become myself while introducing me to a God who already knew me. They helped me through things I didn’t yet know I was going through. They gave me a safe place to belong while I figured out what it meant to be a human.

And every once in a while, they wanted to see how many marshmallows I could fit in my mouth.

Praise God.

09/05/2026

We are back starting this Tuesday, Sep 8th, and we’d love to have you join us.

09/04/2026

We were so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate the baptism of our brother and sister in Christ this past Sunday! God is at work on the Bay Shore in Nova Scotia!

08/25/2026

Yup, fall is coming and we’re ready to go!

08/15/2026

Oh how true this can be.

Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬b NLT‬‬

08/15/2026

Come on down to the Annapolis Royal Fire Department where our young adults are putting on a car wash raising funds for "Food For Shore"! It's a beautiful day for a fresh shine! We are here until 2pm.

08/08/2026

“From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” Psalm 113:3

The one desire of my heart ❤️

08/01/2026

AMEN

What Happens to People Who Have Never Heard About Jesus?

This is one of those questions that doesn't usually come from someone's head. It comes from their heart. Maybe you're thinking about a tribe deep in the Amazon rainforest that has never had contact with the outside world. Maybe it's someone who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago before missionaries reached their part of the world. Maybe it's the kind elderly neighbor who never went to church or someone you loved who never seemed interested in faith. Most people don't ask this question because they're trying to win a theological debate. They ask it because they care about people. And I think that's worth remembering. If your heart hurts over the thought of someone you've never met, imagine how much more the God who knit that person together in their mother's womb cares about them.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is assuming God loves people less than we do. We'd probably never say that out loud, but sometimes that's how we think. We worry that someone might somehow "slip through the cracks," as though the God who knows every star by name could accidentally overlook an entire village. The same God who notices when a single sparrow falls to the ground isn't going to lose track of someone made in His own image. He knows every heartbeat that has ever beaten, every language ever spoken, every culture, every question, every fear, every tear, every person who has ever lived. Before you ever cared about that person, God already did. Before missionaries ever knew they existed, God knew them. Before the first sunrise they ever saw, God had already planned the day they would be born.

The Bible is also very clear about something else. Jesus is the only way to be saved. Those aren't my words. They're His. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Peter later preached, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." That's a difficult statement for our culture because we like lots of options. We have thirty brands of cereal, a hundred flavors of coffee, and enough streaming services that nobody can remember which one has the movie they wanted to watch. We like choices. But God didn't give us many ways to be saved. He gave us one perfect Savior because only one person could do what needed to be done.

Then comes the question everyone is really asking. "Okay...but what about the people who never heard His name?" And this is where we have to be careful not to answer more than Scripture answers. Sometimes we want God to provide a detailed chart explaining every possible situation. If someone lived here...if they died at this age...if they only heard part of the Gospel...if they never met a missionary...if this happened...if that happened. We like nice, neat categories because they make us feel like we understand everything. God, however, seems remarkably comfortable reminding us that He is God and we are not. There are questions He has answered clearly, and there are questions where He simply tells us enough to trust Him.

What He does tell us is that no one is completely without knowledge of God. Romans 1 explains that creation itself reveals His eternal power and divine nature. Psalm 19 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God." Every sunrise, every mountain range, every newborn baby, every strand of DNA, every law of physics points toward a Creator. I still find it amusing that some people think believing everything happened by accident is somehow the easier explanation. Most of us can't accidentally assemble a piece of furniture without ending up with three leftover screws and a shelf that's somehow upside down, but we're supposed to believe the human eye, the immune system, and the billions of galaxies just sort of happened? That's asking me to have a lot more faith than Christianity ever has.

But while creation tells us there is a Creator, it doesn't tell us about the cross. You can stand on top of a mountain and be overwhelmed by God's power without ever learning that Jesus willingly took your place on the cross. You can spend your life studying the stars and never hear about the empty tomb. That's why Jesus gave the Great Commission. If creation alone were enough to explain salvation, there would have been no reason for missionaries. There would have been no reason for Paul to endure beatings, prison, shipwrecks, hunger, and persecution just to tell people about Jesus. Romans 10 asks, "How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?" and then follows with, "How are they to hear without someone preaching?" The existence of people who haven't heard isn't an argument against missions. It's the reason missions exist.

Here's the part that brings me the greatest comfort. When Abraham was talking with God about S***m, he asked a simple question: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" That question is still the foundation for my answer today. Will God do what is right? Yes. Every single time. Will His justice be perfect? Yes. Will His mercy be perfect? Yes. Will His understanding of every person's life, opportunities, motives, and circumstances be infinitely greater than mine? Absolutely. And honestly, I'm thankful for that because I don't even trust myself to remember where I left my keys half the time. I certainly don't want the responsibility of sorting out every human life that has ever existed. That's a job for Someone whose wisdom has no limits.

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever." There are things God has told us plainly, and there are things He has chosen not to explain. Sometimes faith means trusting the character of God even when we don't have every answer we'd like. We know He is holy. We know He is just. We know He is loving. We know He sent His own Son to die for sinners. We know Jesus rose from the dead. We know God desires people to come to repentance. Those truths are enough for us to trust that whatever God does on the day of judgment will be completely right, even if we can't answer every hypothetical question beforehand.

So instead of spending all my energy trying to solve situations the Bible doesn't fully explain, I'd rather spend it doing what the Bible does tell me to do. Tell people about Jesus. Love my neighbor. Support missionaries. Live in a way that points people toward Christ. Because while I don't know the answer to every "what if," I do know this: you have heard the Gospel. I have heard the Gospel. And that means we have the incredible privilege and responsibility of making sure as many other people as possible hear it too. One day, when we're standing before the Lord, I don't think any of us will say, "God, You weren't fair." I think we'll finally see what we've always struggled to fully believe: the Judge of all the earth has always done exactly what is right.

07/31/2026

Second that here at PCBC! 🥰

* EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY *

At Trinity Southern Baptist Church, we don’t offer child care during our worship services because we believe children belong in church with their families.

👏Lately, we’ve had a few concerns about children being loud during worship, so effective immediately we wanted to make our policy clear: children are welcome here. 🙌

Their laughter, whispers, and even the occasional cry aren’t distraction but we believe they’re the sound of a church that’s alive, growing, and investing in the next generation. 🎉

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” - Proverbs 22:6

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FsrcrimB6/
Shout out to Michael Wilbanks and First Baptist Union.