By Randy Williams
February 5, 1998
Faith Baptist Church was organized as a Southern Baptist Church in 1988. The Vision of this church and its members is to be “not just another Baptist Church, but a different Baptist Church.” Let us explain.
In 1988, most of our charter members were longtime active members of West End Baptist Church in West Point, Mississippi. That year, a fire broke out before a Thanksgiving Banquet and destroyed the church. Rev. Jimm Carr was pastor. We had insurance to cover the loss of the building (about 400-450,000) but the loss was devasting to many. Where were we going to meet and worship?
Oak Hill Academy of West Point, MS was very gracious and allowed West End Baptist to use their facilities while the church could be built. A very important question came up as we began to consider rebuilding. Where do we build? There were two main opinions:
- Rebuild on the existing site
- Rebuild on a “new” site
For some, there was no question, the church was to be rebuilt on the existing site. This decision was beyond just constructing a building, it tied in with many of the members family roots. Generations of families have grown up, been baptized, married and died at West End. May families had close emotional ties to the church and the surrounding community. There was community pride in living on “the other side of the tracks”. Once a thriving little community with many homes and families, the area had become more and more industrialized. Families had moved to other areas of the city and West End Baptist had ceased to grow. Yes, many events that happened in that old church, were many events ceased to happen.
Baptisms and people coming to Jesus as their personal Savior had become rare occurrences. West End was not growing. Industry was moving closer and closer. The Church and its members appeared to be going through just being religious week after week. It appeared we were in decline but in fact……just existing. There were no people being born again and baptized. In reality it was not just West End, but ALL the Southern Baptist Churches in Clay County. That year only 28 people were baptized in ALL of Clay County. Were the churches in the area fulfilling the “Great Commission” given to us by our Lord? NO!
Other members saw the “church burning” as a gift of God. It was not a tragedy but a blessing from God. We saw this as a “Blank Check Opportunity” as some would call it. It was an opportunity to step out on Faith, a time of change, to enter back to “True Worship”, not routine. God was going to replace an aged, inefficient structure with a new, modern Worship center at little or no cost. But would rebuilding the church on the existing site achieve what HE desired most; that people world be changed by Faith in Jesus Christ in Clay County? Would a church built on the existing site fulfill God’s purpose of proclaiming that through faith in JESUS the World might be saved??? Instead of rebuilding a “new facility” and get back to our “stale, dead, religious routine”, we wanted to investigate the possibilities…possible alternative sites where the Church would be in the public/community eye. Where God could be God and touch/change people. God was giving West End Baptist another chance, an opportunity to step out on faith (like Abraham and Moses), to be righteous instead of religious, and living instead of dead. With such differences of opinion, a church vote was recommended. When the vote was taken, West End Baptist would be rebuilt on the existing site. We were disappointed that a review/other possible building sites would not be considered. So there was a decision within our fellowship that God has a VISION to do HIS work in Clay County. Other Southern Baptist Churches were not doing it. We would have to have Faith, as Abraham, as Moses we would have to leave the fellowship of West End Baptist and begin a “new work” in the county.
Leaving West End Baptist was tough…tough because we had fellowship, developed close friends, we had great Christian love, and many had come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But our call from God was much greater than “emotion or nostalgia”, it was based on a call, a vision from God to NOT to another Baptist Church, but be set apart for serving God! Some may have misunderstood our decision as being “sour grapes” regarding the vote on building sites, as trying to be “uppity” (better than others), but it was not. It was strictly based on “a Vision” on His work. So we left those we loved to begin the new work.