Our History
A tent-meeting revival in 1922 resulted in the birth of a church now known as Liberty Baptist Church. This revival meeting was preached by R.V. “Bob” Self, and was organized by W.E. “Uncle Bill” Anderson, who became the first pastor of this newly-founded church on November 19 of that same year (1922). Property was purchased at 1212 East Main Street and a temporary “brush arbor”-type structure was erected.
The first permanent building was constructed during the pastorate of E.C. Morris, June 1924- October 1929. The second building was added in 1939 under the leadership of Pastor Henry Melvin. Several famous preachers spoke at this location such as Dr. John R. Rice, Dr. Hyman Appelman, and Dr. B.R. Lakin. This second building was debt-free by 1946.
During the 1960s, Liberty Baptist moved to the 1606 Liberty Street location, where Pastor Ronald Creech led the church in erecting the first building, a three-story structure serving as auditorium, classrooms, and offices. In 1971, under the pastorate of Dr. Joe Ange, a larger new auditorium was constructed.
In 1973, Pastor Guy Owens began Liberty Christian School, which still exists as the oldest Christian school in our area. LCS enjoys a reputation for its strong moral and academic standards.
In 1983, Dr. Jack Cox began a thirty-year tenure as pastor of Liberty. During his pastorate, the church purchased the twenty-nine acre campus at our present location, 3864 Guess Road. The daycare wing was completed in July of 1996, with the educational building reaching completion in December of that year. From 1996-2004, the church met in the “gymnatorium” until completion of the new auditorium in February 2004.
With the retirement of Pastor Cox, God led Dr. Scott Gray to become the next pastor in 2013. Liberty Baptist still continues to fulfill the Great Commission of winning souls and leading people into a relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Mission and Beliefs
Our mission at Liberty Baptist Church is to love God by obeying His command to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ both locally and globally, to grow together as a body of believers in Christ, and to serve others by endeavoring to meet their spiritual needs.
We believe the Bible and teach it to be perfectly true. Every belief and teaching of Liberty Baptist Church flows from God’s Word.
The Bible
We believe the Bible to be the revealed Word of God, fully and verbally inspired of God. We believe the Scriptures to be the inerrant, infallible Word of God, as found within the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. We believe God not only inspired every word, but has preserved them through the ages. We believe the King James Version is the preserved Word of God for the English-speaking people (Psalm 12:6-7; II Timothy 3:15-17; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:19-21).
God
We believe in one God, who is eternal, self-existent, infinite, and immutable. We believe He has one nature, one essence, and one substance, yet manifests Himself to man in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; I Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; I John 4:4).
Son
We believe Jesus Christ to be the one and only Saviour of mankind. We believe Jesus Christ to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of Deity. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born, that He was God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to reveal God, to redeem men, and to rule over God’s kingdom. We believe Jesus Christ never relinquished any attributes of His Deity, but merely veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of which He was offered for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for man’s sin. This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. It was activated by His death through the shedding of His blood on the Cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection to be seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the time of receiving His church at the Rapture, and returning seven years later to earth to rule and reign as King for 1,000 years (Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 43:11; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 1:3, 14, 18, 29; Romans 3:19-25; Romans 5:6-15; Philippians 2:5-11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 2:5; I Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:10-15; Hebrews 7:26, 9:24-28; I Peter 1:19, 2:2; I John 1:3; Revelation 20:1-6).
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit of God is a person who has personality and all the attributes of Deity. We believe the Holy Spirit has always been involved in the affairs of mankind. However, we believe He has a special ministry which began at Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture. This ministry includes convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was also sent to regenerate, sanctify, seal, and fill all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:5-6; John 14:16; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:15; I Corinthians 3:16; I Corinthians 6:19-20; I Corinthians 12:13).
Sin and Salvation
We believe all men were born with an inherited sin nature received from our common ancestor, Adam. We believe that because of his nature, man is a sinner by choice, and he is totally incapable of reforming himself or ceasing from his sin by his own power. We believe the only hope of deliverance for man is a total change of mind concerning his sinful condition and inability to change it, and a turning to Jesus Christ as the only Saviour. We believe that only through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the Cross can a man be delivered from his sin. We believe that all those who reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour are already condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire (Genesis 5:1-5; Acts 4:19; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:6-12; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; Revelation 20:11-14).
The New Testament Church
We believe the church began with the calling out of the twelve apostles by Jesus Christ and was empowered on the day of Pentecost. We believe the local church is God’s only institution to carry out His work today. We believe the local church is composed of members who have been saved and baptized according to the command of Christ, and have voluntarily united together for the purposes of worship, fellowship, service, and the Lord’s Table. We believe all true believers will be taken up at the Rapture, just prior to the Tribulation (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 1:15; Acts 2:41-43; Acts 11:15; Acts 20:28; I Corinthians 15: 51-58; Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 5:25-30; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 3:4-15).
The Last Days
We believe in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures in their grammatical and historical context. We believe in the pre-tribulational Rapture of the church saints, followed by the seven-year Tribulation. We believe in the pre-millennial return of Christ to the earth and His literal rule of one thousand years. Following this one thousand years is the Great White Throne judgment and then the new Heaven and new earth (I Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 5:1-9; Revelation 19-22).