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Sunday School Small Groups
Sunday Mornings
9:00 am
Ladies 1 | Gym - Room 107 | Cheryl Eaton & Kathy Crouch | for any lady
Ladies 2 | Sanctuary - Room B2 | Freda Gantt | for any lady
Ladies 3 | Gym - Room 205 | Gina DeHoyos | for any lady in her early/middle adult years
Adult 1 | Gym - Room 113 | Jerry Swetnam | for men & women, singles or couples
Adult 2 | Gym - Room 103 | Michael Morton | for men & women, singles or couples
Sojourners | Sanctuary - Room B1 | Lauren Bitikofer | for retirement age men & women
Men 1 | Gym - Room 108 | Mike Warlick | for any man in his early/middle adult years
Men 2 | Gym - Room 104 | Teddy Hansard | for any man
Young Adults I Gym - Room 213 I Colin & Nicole Proft/Tim & Jessica Martindale I for young adults who are 18-29
Young Families | Gym - Room 208 | Keith & Jolie Taylor / Randy & Tonya Cox | for newly weds & families with young children
Growing Families | Gym - Room 207 | Mark Dalby & Eddie Langley | for families with school age children
FWD Youth | Gym - Room 201 | Pierce Gibson | for teens grades 6-12
Kindergarten | Chapel - Room 13
1st Grade | Chapel - Room 14
2nd & 3rd Grade | Chapel - Room 17
4th & 5th Grade | Chapel - Room 6
Wednesday Night Supper (will resume in the fall)
Worship Choir (6:00 pm) | Choir Room
Praise Band (7:00 pm) | Sanctuary
Adult Discipleship | Sanctuary (6:30 pm) | Lane Eaton
Kids 4 Christ (6:30 pm) | Chapel Building
FWD Youth (6:30 pm) | Gym
Wednesday Nights
Here to Serve
Women’s Ministry
Our Women’s Ministry is a wonderful place to plug in and make new friends. They are involved in several big events during the year, Bible Studies and an encouragement ministry. There are opportunities to serve on the leadership team, or just come enjoy the fellowship.
Contact: Beth Langley
Welcome Team
Our Welcome Team is stationed throughout our campus to greet and welcome everyone who comes through our doors at FBCLC.
Contact: Pierce Gibson
HELPS Ministry
His. Everlasting. Love. Practiced.
This team helps meet the practical needs of our church family and community. Helping move, painting, yard work, and carpentry are just a few of the things this team tackles. If you are handy with your hands, or just love projects, this team is a great way to spread God’s love with those gifts.
Contact: Russell Thompkins
Forward Youth
There is a myriad of ways to plug into Forward Youth. Small group leaders, Host Homes for Forward Now, Helping with the Praise Band, Sound and Lights, etc. But the one of the most impactful ways to serve, is simply to show our teens love and kindness and model the love of Jesus.
Contact: Pierce Gibson
Kids Crew
There are lots of opportunities to serve in our dynamic kids program! Kids for Christ is our exciting Wednesday night discipleship for grades K-5th. There are also places for Sunday School teachers, substitutes, music, recreation and much more.
Contact: Suzanne Roper
Nifty Knitters
Every Tuesday from 1-3, a group of all ages meets in the gym to fellowship and work on various crafts. One of their projects is making hats, baby blankets and prayer shawls for local ministries. All supplies are provided.
Contact: Patricia Myers
Nursery
Do you love kids? Then consider spending one Sunday a month loving on our children. Our church nursery is a warm and wonderful place where our children are taught about Jesus’ love.
Contact: Melissa Vaughn
Nursing Home Ministry
On the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month, a group meets at local nursing homes to sing and play for the residents. They spread love and joy to the shut-ins.
Contact: Russell Thompkins
Prayer Ministry
Calling all prayer warriors! This team joins together in prayer to lift up all our church prayer needs.
Contact: Joy Swetnam
Operation Christmas Child
For over 20 years, our church family has participated in Operation Christmas Child. Throughout the year, our congregation brings items that will be included in the boxes sent to many countries around the world. This team helps plan, organize and eventually deliver the boxes to the OCC facility. The team also can participate in checking boxes at the processing center in Dallas. This is an opportunity to touch lives in a global way.
Contact: Marita Mason
Sewing for His Glory
Are you handy with a needle? Join this team to work on sewing projects that are needed to enhance all our ministries.
Contact: Marita Mason
Transportation Team
We have a church family that on the go! We need drivers who are willing to serve to help get groups where they need to be. No special license is necessary to drive our small buses, only a safety training class.
Contact: Lane Eaton
Wednesday Night Supper
Wednesday night supper is a time for our church family to come together in fellowship and enjoy a delicious meal. This team helps prepare and serve this meal. There are lots of ways to plug into this ministry: cooking, dishwashing, setting up and breaking down tables and lots more!
Contact: Melissa Florence
Small Groups
Sunday morning Small Groups are where we come together in smaller group settings to build relationships and study God’s Word. There are many ways to make connections through Small Groups. There are opportunities for outreach, Soul Care fellowships, greeters, member care, teaching, substituting and more.
Contact: Kathy Bitikofer
The Team
DR. PAUL MICHAEL VACCA PASTOR
LANE EATON
ADMINISTRATOR
PIERCE GIBSON
YOUTH MINISTER AND ASSOCIATE PASTOR
Colin Proft
Music and Creative Arts Minister
SUZANNE ROPER
CHILDREN'S DIRECTOR
CANDY HORTON
MINISTRY ASSISTANT TO STUDENTS
JESSICA MARTINDALE CHURCH SECRETARY
JORDAN AUSTIN
MUSIC AND COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT
KATHY BITIKOFER
SUNDAY SCHOOL DIRECTOR
SAM COLLINS
MAINTENANCE
Our Church HISTORY
1930’s: Beginnings
First Baptist Church Liberty City was organized as Memorial Baptist Church in 1934 with Russell Taylor as its first Pastor. It was located 4 miles NW of Kilgore on land owned by Mr. & Mrs. V. L. Taylor on Spinks Chapman Rd. In 1936 the church petitioned into the Soda Lake Association of the Southern Baptist Convention. By 1939 the name of the church had been changed to East Sabine Baptist Church.
1940’s-1970’s: A Time of Growth
The next four decades saw an era of growth and change for the church. During this time nearly a dozen Pastors and Interim Pastors shepherded the church. The staff positions of Music Director, Church Custodian, Youth Director, and Assistant Pastor were added to the church. In 1956, the church became a member of the Gregg Baptist Association. In 1963, property was purchased and a parsonage was built on Debbie Street. By 1968, the church had relocated to its current location, built a new sanctuary, and became the Sabine Baptist Church. The church continued to refine who God was calling them to be, and in 1970, took on the name First Baptist Church of Liberty City.
1980’s: Children, Youth and Family Ministry
As the church continued to grow and expand, the Lord directed the church to grow its children’s and youth ministries. In 1982, the Mother’s Day Out program began. It continues to minister to families in the church and community. The following year the Lord brought a young Pastor, Bruce Wells, his wife Patsy, and their two children, to be part of this growing ministry. Seeing the need for a facility to minister to families with young children, the Atrium was completed in 1985. By 1987, a spiritual awakening was taking place among young married couples in the church. That same year the church started a new children’s program, Kids for Christ, and also began building a new gymnasium.
1990’s: Missions and Outreach
The decade of the 1990’s started out with a new name and in many ways a new heart. 1990 began with the church voting to slightly alter the name of the church to First Baptist Church Liberty City. Two weeks later a great revival occurred among the youth, changing lives and bringing many to the Lord. This caused such growth that services were moved to the gym. In September of 1991, sensing that God was leading the church into missions and ministry, the church leaders signed a covenant to do whatever the Lord leads the church to do. This resulted in the formation of a Missions Committee. Over the next 25 years, dozens of mission trips and more ministries than could be listed here have resulted from this covenant. In 1992, the church made a commitment to become a house of prayer. That same year the position of Minister of Education & Administration was added to the church staff.
2000 – Present: A Pattern of Prayer
After a season of prayer in the summer of 2000, the church reaffirmed 3 distinctive areas of God’s call for FBCLC to be (1) a house of prayer, (2) missions minded, and (3) a lighthouse to western Gregg County. In September of 2000, the church voted to establish an Elder Board. Plans were also made to proceed on a new worship center. Groundbreaking for the worship center was on Pentecost Sunday, 2004. The new worship center was dedicated “For the Glory of God Alone,” on July 10, 2005.
In the fall of 2014, after 32 years of ministry at First Baptist Church Liberty City, Bruce and Patsy Wells announced their intention to retire. The church began a season of intentional and focused prayer asking for God’s man as Pastor for First Baptist Church Liberty City. God answered those prayers, and in May of 2015, the church called Paul Michael Vacca as Pastor. Paul Michael, Katie, and their four children began their ministry at FBCLC in June 2015. In October of 2018, the church adopted an updated mission statement as follows: “FBC Liberty City exists to see lives transformed for the glory of God alone.”
our-beliefs
All Scripture is self-attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks.
On this sure foundation we affirm these additional essentials of our faith:
1. We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!
2.Jesus Christ, the Living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.
3. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.
4. Man is the special creation of God made in His own image, male and female, as the crowning work of His creation. These two distinct, complimentary genders together reflect the image and nature of God and the goodness of God’s creation. However, because man voluntarily rebelled, sin was brought into the human race and his posterity inherits a nature and an environment inclined toward sin and under condemnation.(Gen.1:26-31; Ro. 5:12,18-19)
5. Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation and thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and by faith receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
6. The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the ordinances are observed in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.
7. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth – personally, visibly, and bodily – to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20 NKJV)
8. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10 NKJV)
9. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in an exclusive, monogamous, covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His Church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to Biblical standards and the means for procreation of the human race. (Mk. 10:6-9)
10. Since humanity is the crowning work of God’s creation, each human being is created in His image, is sacred, and is worthy of respect and Christian love. This respect must be accorded to all human life from the moment of conception until natural death. (Ps. 139:13-16)
We at FBC Liberty City uphold the beliefs of The Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
Resources
LIBRARY HOURS
Tuesday
9:00 am - 11:30 am
Thursday
9:00 am - 11:30 am
Bulletin
Background Check
For the safety of our children, you must complete a Criminal Background Check before you are able to work with anyone 18 years or younger. This is a requirement of our church. Click below to complete this process.