04/03/2026
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” - Mark Twain
A couple of years ago, I heard from a number of people who said they thought or were told that our church had shut down, boarded up the windows, locked the doors, and passed on into the memories of this community. One person told me they thought we were a completely different denomination because of our previous name. Well, I am happy to say that, like Mark Twain, the reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated!
Please allow me to show you some of the ways the Lord has blessed our church and allowed us to be a blessing to others over the past 3 years.
*Blessing Box 📦 🥖- we have installed a free food pantry on the property that many in our community have been able to utilize. Some add to it, others take from it, but all are able to use the box in a way that is helpful to them and to others.
*Van Ministry 🚐- a year ago, a church in Oklahoma gifted us a 12-passenger van. Since then, we have been able to use it weekly to give free rides to church on Sunday mornings. On Easter Sunday, 2025 it got used for the first time bringing some homeless people to the church and there is rarely a Sunday where it has not brought multiple people to church who otherwise would have no way to come.
Concerts - we have hosted multiple free gospel concerts to bless YOU and glorify our Lord
*Ladies Conference 👗- this year we are hosting our 2nd Annual Ladies RefresHer Conference. This is a one-day conference designed, hosted, and organized by the ladies of our church to provide a place and time for all ladies and teenage ladies to be refreshed, encouraged, and have hope restored
*Missions ✝️ - We support 3 individual/family missionaries and 1 local ministry association financially every month, and hope to increase our outreach soon as the Lord provides
*Vacation Bible School ⛪️ - this is held every June, usually the last week of the month
Regular prayer for our community and neighborhood canvassing
*Christmas Caroling to shut-ins and nursing home residents 🎄
In addition to these outreach efforts, some of the things we have changed internally are:
*Changed our name back to “Emmanuel Baptist,” reflecting the historic name dating back to 1941
*Weekly communion - 🥖 🍷
*Regular Sunday lunch meal together
Breakfast every Sunday prior to Sunday School hour 🥙
*Family-integrated worship 🛐
*Affirmation of historic Baptist confession (1646 London Baptist Confession)
*Verse-by-verse preaching with a focus on Jesus and the Truth ✝️
*Traditional hymns and Psalm singing 🎶
*Catechism reading
*Summer Church Camp for youth and teens (3rd week of July) 🏕️
We won’t have a bunch of flashy things going on. But we have a small group of people here that have a big heart for the Lord and for serving others. We understand the challenges that small churches face, and sometimes a church’s history is not always helpful to moving forward, but we are committed to serving the Lord, no matter what. If we are doing what He has called us to do, and we obey, we understand that increase and growth comes at His pleasure and command. We could possibly do bigger and shinier things to attract more people, but that is not what tools the Lord used to grow His church throughout history. Something we’ve learned as we have studied through the book of Acts over the past [almost] two years is that the church of God grows despite adversity and persecution, and even sometimes because of those things, but never has it flourished because of gimmicks and carnivals. One of the patterns that repeats over and over in Acts is the close-knit fellowship of the saints; they didn’t just show up for an hour on Sundays, but they served the Lord, each other, and their communities in a meaningful and intentional way, and that is one of the things that I think our culture is missing, so we are doing what we can to fix that in our church.
If you are looking to be a part of a small but growing church that loves the Lord and people, we invite you to come visit us sometime! The Lord hasn’t closed our doors, so we throw them wide open to whosoever will come! Most importantly, we hope that YOU love the Lord and serve Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. And as our motto verse states, worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
Come visit sometime; we’d love to have you!
Pastor John Bryan
Sundays:
8:30 AM - Breakfast
9:00 AM - Sunday School
10:00 AM - Worship
Tuesdays:
6:00 PM - Ladies Meeting
Wednesdays:
6:00 PM - Prayer Meeting
6:30 PM - Bible Study
