04/05/2026
21 yrs ago, the first Sunday night in April of 2005 is where The Barn Church started! But it wasn't set out to become a "church".....it was 12 people just gathering together under the drop shed (where the tables are by the coffee room) @ Buddy's barn to have a Bible study for anyone that felt comfortable coming there that wouldn't go to a "traditional type" church. We never imagined what God would do with Jeff & Buddy's obedience to "not have a plan......just let God do what He wanted done"! About a year after that first meeting, with way more than 12 people coming & everyone calling it "The Barn Church" that it officially became The Barn Church! We had so many people coming that Buddy had to clear out his hay barn & that’s where we still meet today!
We only met on Sunday nights at the barn until February of 2009. We started meeting on Sunday mornings at the old armory building to have more shelter during the winter months for people that couldn’t come to the night service, but eventually decided to just have both services at the barn. We bought tall propane heaters & spread them out for people to have heat during service. We still use heaters when it’s cold & they work great. From 2012-2016 we had Youth Night on Thursday nights at the arena. Many kids learned to ride horses, rope, run barrels & most importantly, learn about Jesus! The original barn burnt in 2013 & a new barn was rebuilt in the same spot just 3 months later. Through 3 benefits that were held & people sending money from all over, the new barn was debt free & we were able to replace all of Buddy’s tools & things he lost in the fire. God opened another door & the first Wednesday night in April of 2014 we started having a service at the Stockyard in Hattiesburg. We met there every Wednesday night for 6 yrs until Covid shut things down, so we started doing a Wednesday Night LIVE service on facebook at our house for several months. For the last few years we have met in the Sumrall area at different people’s houses & are still doing that. As far as service at the Barn during the Covid pandemic…we never stopped meeting! We met in Buddy’s field across from the barn in our vehicles while Jeff preached off the back of our truck or a flatbed trailer for months. When it got real hot during the summer we decided to just go back to the barn & get back to a normal service…so that’s what we did!
In 21 years there’s been so many people give their life to the Lord, baptized, delivered from addictions, families restored, healed & surrender into ministry! It's awesome to see what God has done & is continuing to do by being obedient to HIM! We’re all just thankful He lets us be apart of it! As we look forward to the next 21 years we still have no plan….”just to let God do what He wants done”!
*this photo is of the original barn at a Sunday night service
