GREENVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH
Your church for life
When you visit Greenville Baptist, expect to find yourself in a welcoming environment that will allow you to experience real community and have the freedom to worship. With our diverse congregation, we offer a place for everyone of all ages.
Greenville Baptist has something for everyone in your family. Your babies and toddlers will find a welcoming and caring nursery staff as part of our secure Nursery Ministry. Your children will enjoy our Children’s Ministry where they’ll learn about salvation through Jesus Christ while having lots of fun in age-appropriate environments. Your teenagers will love our relevant Student Ministry. We pray you will find a personal blessing in our worship services.
OUR HISTORY
Greenville Baptist church formally began in 1837 as a community of believers with a strong desire to help the Greenville area. Those early church founders laid a strong foundation of family values, biblical morality and deep desire to reach people and change lives.
As a church we have faced many difficult times, including losing our house to fire in 1991, but no matter the challenge, Greenville Baptist has stayed strong and true to its calling. We have continued to grow spiritually and physically throughout the decades and now have the space to grow and continue to reach our community for Christ.
Greenville Baptist Church: reaching people and changing lives for over 180 years.
A small town church with strong family values.
OUR VALUES
As a church, we have discovered the Christian life is made up of three basic principles: WORSHIP, GROW and SERVE. If you will live by these principles, you will experience an authentic, growing and vibrant relationship with God and fulfill His purpose for your life.
Greenville Baptist Church provides an environment where you can experience each of these essential purposes. To WORSHIP, by attending our worship service each week, you may connect with God in song and scripture. To GROW, you may plug in to and participate in our small group services so that you can grow spiritually and relationally. To SERVE, you may find a place of service in the church where you can care and minister to the needs of others.
- We believe the Bible is inspired by God and is without errors
- We believe in the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ
- We believe in the Holy Trinity
- We believe in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ
- We believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ
- We believe that Jesus Christ will come again
- We believe in the sanctity of human life
- We believe all people must be saved from sin
- We believe we must share the gospel message with all people
OUR STAFF
Jonathan Porter
Senior Pastor
Reverend Porter came to our church in 1994. After studying at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, he moved from Baton Rouge Louisiana and came to Greenville Georgia to start a new life as our Pastor. Through the years, Reverend Porter has come to be a very intergral part of our community in Meriwether County. Community Service is his number one priorty every day.
He is an avid sportsman, who enjoys the outdoors and hunting with his family and close friends. Duck hunting in Louisiana is his getaway from everyday life and shows him the true grace of God with each sunset on the water. Reverend Porter is also the published author of Beyond the Blind. A collection of stories with a twist of excitement and intrigue designed to make you laugh as well as make you think about some interesting, life-changing insights. Porter uses some of the experiences he has enjoyed over his many years of chasing ducks and geese around the great state of Louisiana to grab your attention and point you to some greater and more meaningful aspects of life.
Reverend Porter lives in Greenville GA with his wife, Gayle Porter and two children, Scott and Abby Porter.
Matt Hinesley
Associate Pastor/Student Ministry
Matt has been part of Greenville Baptist for the last 8 years. He and his family have faithfully served Greenville's students and their families. He serves as Minister to Youth and Children as well as assisting in pastoral ministry and is continuing his education at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Matt enjoys all things outdoors. He is an avid golfer and tennis enthusiast. Enjoys the mountains and spending time on the trails with his family and students.
Matt and Carrie Hinesley Hinesley have two beautiful children, Hayden and Maddie.
India Jones
Worship Leader
India Jones has been part of the Greenville Baptist church family for over twenty years and has spent those past two decades learning more about the Lord, singing, acting, and falling more in love with the church body each and every day. It is her desire and goal to see the body of Christ at large come into a place of mature understanding, with a fearlessly impassioned pursuit of God.
She has been leading worship at GBC since 2010. She graduated from Toccoa Falls College with a double major in music & education. She was chosen to lead worship for the TFC Student body throughout her four years there. She has had the opportunity to travel all over the US touring from Carnegie Hall in NYC, to performing at Disney World. Throughout all she has done musically, she is honored to lead music here at Greenville Baptist Church.
"There is something very special about this place!" Her worship style at Greenville Baptist is a blend of traditional hymns and contemporary worship. She believes there is no right or wrong style of worship as long as the One being worshipped is the One True God. Biblical accounts of worship bear little resemblance to the practices of today, either Traditional or Contemporary, but we cannot deny that their worship was accepted by God as good. We are just as certain that God accepts our sincere worship and delights in it. After all, that’s why He made us! Psalm 95:1- "Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our Salvation."
A Church For Everyone
ALL AGES
With our diverse congregation, we offer a place for everyone of all ages.
TEAM ATHLETICS
We offer team athletics such as Softball and Golf.
CONSERVATIVE
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in Truth. (John 4:24)
CHURCH SERVICES
Blended Worship Service
We start all our Worship Services with music from traditional hymnals to modern worship choruses led by our choir and praise team. We ask all our congregation to sing and praise God.
After opening song services, Reverend Porter leads us in praising our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His sermons are doctorally sound yet relate to our every day life and will touch your heart on a personal level. Each sermon speaks on a different subject each week and how you can relate those Biblical principals to your everyday life. All our sermons end with an opportunity to respond to God's calling.
WORSHIP TIMES
Sunday:
Bible Study – 10:00 am
Worship Service – 11:00 am
Childrens Church – 11:15 am
Choir Praise Team Practice – 6:00 pm
Evening Discipleship – 7:00 pm
Wednesday:
Wed. Night Live (all ages) – 6:45-7:45 pm
This includes Children's Ministry, Student Ministry and Adult Ministry
MUSIC
SMALL GROUPS
Greenville Baptist Church offers a wide variety of age specific small group study courses that lead people into a deeper relationship with Christ.
Sunday Morning Bible Study
We have classes for Children, Youth and Adults on Sunday mornings. These give our members a deeper understanding of biblical principals. They also give our members the opportunity to grown relationships while sharing life experiences.
NURSERY MINISTRY
Greenville Baptist Church offers a safe and secure environment for your children to play and learn more about our Lord. Each week we lay out a lesson plan for our toddlers to learn about Jesus in a fun and understandable way. The nursery staff is trained and prepared to handle any situation a toddler would come into. You and your family can feel at ease knowing your children are safe.
CHILDREN'S MINISTRY
MISSION STATEMENT
To create an environment that allows our children the opportunity to learn about Christ while also enjoying activities that will keep them eager and excited about coming to church every week.
MOTTO
Energetic. Innovative. Educational.
THEOLOGY
We teach our children at an early age about Jesus Christ while also teaching them a wide variety of Bible stories and lessons they can apply to their lives. Each Bible study is taught on two levels¬— a very simplistic version for ages 3-6, and a more in depth version for ages 7-11. Once our children “graduate” from our children’s ministry, they are prepared to thrive in our youth ministry.
STUDENT MINISTRY
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT
It’s an exciting time to be part of Greenville student ministry. We are offering more than ever before and growing both spiritually and numerically. I am constantly amazed at what can be accomplished when young people put their mind to it.
Student ministry is fun, exciting, and new everyday. It is also serious. Serious because every thing we do has in mind an outcome. Certain things stick! I can throw many ideas at them and hope a few stick, but a better idea would be to develop a plan to determine what we throw their way. The more intentional the plan, the better we know what sticks.
That is what this is about…a plan!
HERE’S WHERE WE START.
First, I asked myself some important questions…
- 1. If we could permanently imprint anything we want on our students’ minds, what would it be?
- 2. What do they need to know? What is the irreducible minimum?
- 3. When they are sitting in a dorm room during freshman year contemplating their options for the evening, what principles or truths should drift through their minds in that potentially defining moment?
Students have selective memory (duh!) so why not have selective ministry. Hopefully they remember something, so why not determine what they remember?
The plan is about context and content. Creating a high impact livewire kind of environment is extremely important. We have to continue to advance and charge ahead to provide the best context anywhere. We also have to have content. Context helps us teach content.
Hopefully we can provide a little insight on how context and content within our student ministry go hand in hand. It is important to us that they balance…that they add to each other and when they do, then will see an opportunity to raise Godly young people!
CONTEXT + CONTENT =
Content drives our context. We are committed to creating relevant environments. But the environment must support the content. I have discovered that once we have identified what we want students to walk away with, creating the right event (context) is much easier.
Our main events are designed to help us communicate our core truths that we believe students should know. Imagine this, if a students starts with us in the sixth grade and goes all the way through to high school graduation they will have been exposed repeatedly to solid biblical teaching wrapped in an environment that is engaging and memorable.
Here are our core values that we believe are essential to every student.
- 1. Authentic Faith…Putting your trust in God and growing in spiritual disciplines.
- 2. Moral Boundaries…Paving the way for true intimacy
- 3. Wise Choices…walking wisely in a fool’s world
- 4. Healthy friendship and putting others first…Choosing friends for life and considering others before yourself.
Each one of our main events (context) are created to teach one of our core values (content).
During the winter, our expedition series, which is usually a long weekend outdoor kind of experience, will take place in Chattanooga Tennessee. Our goal is to challenge students to make WISE CHOICES. Which path they choose is important. Where they go is vital. Choosing right from wrong, wise from un-wise, is the theme for this event.
During the spring, our Disciple Now series, gives students the opportunity to discuss in small groups relevant issues. Jesus taught thousands but he mentored twelve and prayed with even fewer. Disciple Now gives us a way to divide the masses into small groups which paves the way for AUTHENTIC FAITH. This year will give students an opportunity to open their hearts to Christ and to grow in their SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES.
During the summer we have two of our main events. Bigstuf, a summer camp in Daytona Beach, gives our students the opportunity to openly and energetically WORSHIP our savior with many other students. Bigstuf also gives us an environment to teach HEALTHY FRIENDSHIPS.
Summertime is also Missions time. It is about PUTTING OTHERS FIRST. We set aside one week every year for students to lead in local or sometimes national missions events.
During the fall, we get into what I call the fall series (I know real creative right?). Fall is a super busy time in every school. Football, basketball, softball, thanksgiving, Matt’s birthday (lol) and Christmas…the list goes on! We don’t try to schedule any main events during this time, instead we opt for more intimate creative ways to reinforce what we have taught and experienced!
Vince Lombardi said, “It is not the will to win that is important but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”
My dream and ultimate joy is to impact students lives. Investing in their future and their faith is so important. So why don’t we all strive to live these principles first and teach them second. That way we will know at least one person in the youth group is getting it!
THE MEASURING STICK
How do you measure and track success in ministry. By how many kids showing up? By how many are having regular quiet times and keeping journals? By how many share their faith in a week? This is a valid and critical question.
The answer is simple, although not easy. Most youth leaders have been trained and now operate in environments where statistics and numbers are the gauge for measuring success and failure. “How many” can so often be the operative phrase in our world.
However, I think success is best measured by STORIES. Since we are talking about the process of a growing relationship with Christ, I think spiritual growth is best marked by personal stories we hear from lives.
FIRST STEPS
How Do I Become a Christian?
- Admit that you have sinned.
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) - Believe in your heart that Christ died for your sin. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23) "But God commands His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
- Confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Savior and Lord. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:9) Please know that anyone on our staff will be glad to speak with you concerning salvation.
Share Your Desire to Join
You may let us know of your desire to join in a couple different ways. You may contact a pastor to let them know of your decision, or you may respond during the ministry time at the end of one of our worship services. When you come forward, a pastor will greet you and introduce you to the church family. There are usually several other people making decisions for Christ and church membership, so you will not be alone.
At this point, you will become a candidate for membership.
There are several ways you may choose to begin the membership process:
- By accepting Christ as your Savior
- By being baptized by immersion
- By requesting a transfer of your membership letter from a church with a similar belief system
- By a statement of faith in Christ as your Savior (stating that you have previously accepted Christ as your Savior and been baptized by immersion)
Be Baptized
We believe baptism is the first act of obedience after receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have never been baptized (by immersion) as a believer, someone will contact you to schedule your baptism.