Our Identity
Bethlehem Baptist Church is the name for the committed and accountable group of Christ-followers who are the local Body and Bride of Christ in our community, which extends geographically from Lavon to Trenton and from Princeton to Celeste. The biblical church is the people, not the organization or the legal corporation or the facilities in which we meet and serve. It is we, the people.
As the Bride of Christ, our identity is in Jesus, the Bridegroom, the eternal Lord and Savior of all who submit to Him in faith as Lord. Individually, we are members of the Body and of one another. We walk with one another in our love for Jesus, for each other, and for a world in need of the gospel.
We die daily to ourselves that Jesus might live in and through us. We join together in this personal reality articulated by Jesus Himself: Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23
Our Attitude
In 2024, we voted to adopt the attitude of a mission church. We are not seeking a place of comfort and resources pointed toward us. We have recognized that God has placed us in a missionary location. The world is coming our way. Thousands of homes are being built near us. Nearby towns like Melissa, Anna, Princeton, and Farmersville not long ago were quiet, small homes of mostly long-time residents. Our members have watched all of that change. Today, new multi-million dollar schools are home to football stadiums and sports complexes that cost tens of millions of dollars and are home to thousands of students. Walmart and Kroger and HEB and McDonalds are now dotting our landscape. While Bethlehem Baptist Church still sits physically in a “country setting,” practically, we sit on the edge of the entire world.
Our new neighbors are from around the globe. While many come from the DFW Metroplex, many also come from other continents. We hear many languages in our stores and on our streets. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Catholics, agnostics, and atheists, among others, are now a part of our community and our church field along with former members of churches who for one reason or another gave up on the church and sometimes on God Himself. This is our mission. While we are concerned about every nation and people group all around the world, and while we know and support missionaries across the globe, our first calling is to our neighbors. Our attitude is to let our Lord Jesus Christ speak through our lives and our lips here where we live that many would turn to Him in faith. As Jesus said, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
Our Theme (2025— I love Jesus!)
Starting in 2024, we establish a church theme at the beginning of each year. This year, 2025, our theme is I Love Jesus! Our theme verse is 1 John 4:19: We love Him because He first loved us. From time to time we hear members tell of their love for Jesus, and our goal this year is two-fold:
- Recognize how God through Jesus loves us, and
- Increase our love for Jesus day by day.
The Biblical Definition of Love: Love is giving of myself, even unto death, for the holiness and righteousness of another. From the Scriptures, and particularly from John 3:16, Romans 5:8, and so many other Scriptures, we have come to understand how God describes love. After all, love is God’s word. He loved us before He formed the creation, before the stars and the seas and the mountains, before He created man and woman. We apply this definition to our thinking and our lives—that love is:
- Giving (If it is not giving, it is not love.)
- Of myself
- Even unto death (of my pride, of my needs, of my desires…)
- For the holiness and righteousness (What we now seek!)
- Of another. (Love is always focused on others.)
Neither race nor age nor socio-economic status nor religion nor location nor personality matter. We seek the holiness and righteousness of all people in Christ through faith in Him that all might receive eternal life with Him and with the Father and with us.
Our Theme in 2024—What Will God Do Today? All of 2024, we sought to be aware of God’s work in our lives and in the lives of others. We still keep our eyes open that we might see our Father at work.
Our Mission
As a church under the authority of Jesus Christ, our mission is to make disciples of all people groups by eagerly sharing the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ with those we meet and seeking a response, to baptize disciples in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. We have no other mission. All else we do, we do in support of this one mission.
In order to teach others to obey Christ’s commands and to live and to walk in Christ, we teach one another and seek to live in a loving, accountable community. Obedience requires discipline: self-discipline, family discipline, church discipline, work discipline, and community discipline. The Scriptures teach these disciplines, and we seek to call one another to discipline as disciples of Jesus Christ.
In the Scriptures, to love is to give of myself, even unto death of my desires and pride, for the holiness and righteousness of another. This is the standard and definition that Jesus demonstrated to us, in that while we were sinners, Jesus died for us, that we might be holy and righteous in Him. Jesus explained this in John 3:16 and Romans 5:8. Our service of love is to give of ourselves as Jesus gave Himself, to set others higher than ourselves, to call all men and women, boys and girls, to the love and grace and forgiveness and discipline of Jesus.
Our Covenant Relationship
We, as baptized believers, covenant together for the fulfilling of our responsibilities to God, to one another, and to the world. These covenant relationships are based on our common salvation experience and the truth of God’s Word. Convicted of our sins and convinced by the Holy Spirit of our need for a Savior, we all entered accountable membership in this Body of Christ by repenting of our sins and publicly confessing the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, demonstrating our faith by being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We accept as our responsibility and privilege the daily walk of faith as we yield ourselves to the fullness of the Holy Spirit realizing that it is only in His power that we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him. We receive the Bible from Him as the foundation and the authoritative guide for all that we do. To that end, we shall strive to acquire Scriptural knowledge, to grow spiritually, and to seek the holiness and righteousness of ourselves and others.
By entering membership in this Body of Christ, each member covenants before God to seek the growth of this congregation in biblical knowledge, in righteousness and holiness, in God-like love, in number, in service, and in resources. Every member of Bethlehem Baptist Church has covenanted to submit to Jesus Christ, to whom all authority has been given both in Heaven and on earth, and to His inerrant Word, The Holy Bible. Jesus Christ is the authority by which we evangelize, teach, proclaim, and call the world to repentance.
We further covenant to live and to serve together in one mind and one accord with focus upon the Great Commission and the Great Commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we covenant that, though we may not do so perfectly, we will seek both to hold one another accountable to the commands of Jesus and to hold ourselves to be accountable to His Word by being accountable to His Body called Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Our Service
Operation Christmas Child (OCC)
In December of 2024, BBC provided 560 Christmas shoeboxes filled with gifts and the gospel to Operation Christmas Child of Samaritan’s Purse. We have provided over 500 boxes each of the last three years. Throughout the year, our ladies shop for specific items for the boxes and find them on sale or sometimes make deals with local stores. Along the way, our members give generously to support the project, and our church sets aside funds from our missions giving to help offset OCC’s shipping costs. Packing day is an amazing experience as men and women of the church and others who are not members of our church gather to fill the boxes and to make them ready for delivery. We know that every child recipient will also receive the gospel and a relationship to local missionaries. We are blessed by this amazing ministry.
Disaster Relief
In September 2024, Hurricane Helene landed in Florida and then settled over western North Carolina and far eastern Tennessee. Our congregation turned our eyes onto North Carolina, which seemed to take the brunt of the worst of it though Florida also was hit hard. NC was close to us, and we knew a pastor of South River Baptist Church in Statesville that had the preparation and the resources to reach and to minister and to relieve communities that had been damaged extensively. While we were not able to join in person, we sent over $7,000 to SRBC that was used to provide meals, deliver food and supplies and medicines, and help with construction work. The Lord blessed us so much as He blessed others through our giving.
Widows & Shut-Ins
We love our widows and our shut-ins, and we love those who are in local nursing homes and facilities. Every month our ladies make cards and gifts to take to our shut-ins and our nursing home residents. Our deacons connect with our widows and shut-ins regularly, checking on them and supporting them as needed. We also recognize that those who cannot come to the church are not able to participate in the Lord’s Supper, so we have begun to go as a church (yes, as a church) to the homes of our shut-ins to worship with them through the Lord’s Supper and to fellowship together with hot chocolate. These events are incredibly meaningful and enjoyable.
Memorial Day Flag Ceremony & Picnic
Starting in 2023, each year we hold a picnic at a member’s home on Memorial Day. A key to the event is the flag raising ceremony in which the member raises, for one hour, a flag that draped the coffin of an uncle who died in World War 2. We remember those who have died throughout the history of this great country on that day. And we enjoy blessed fellowship around good food, including a banana pudding contest!
Prayer
Essential to any church walking together with our Lord and seeking to fulfill the Great Commission is prayer. We are a praying church. While we all pray individually, here are some of the times we pray together:
- Every Sunday morning in Sunday School
- Every Sunday morning in our Worship Service
- Every Sunday evening in our Worship Service
- Every Wednesday evening in our Prayer Service
- Every week our ladies have prayer times together
- Regularly through Prayer Squadrons, small groups that gather to pray for specific matters
- Monthly in our ladies missions meetings and men’s breakfast
Visitation
Believing the Great Commission is urgent and believing Jesus’ words in Luke 14:23 (Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.) to be a pattern for His followers, we physically go into our communities and invite and share the gospel with those we meet and with those who will answer their door. We have seen people saved and lives changed through these feeble efforts, as the Lord answers our prayers and goes ahead of us to prepare people’s hearts to hear the good news.
Our Affiliations
Conservative Baptist Network—The Conservative Baptist Network is a partnership of conservative Christians and churches working together to fulfill the Great Commission and to influence culture with a biblical worldview. The Network exists to encourage, equip, and educate conservative Christians and local churches to fulfill the Great Commission and influence culture with a biblical worldview.
International Mission Board—The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention supports missionaries who share the gospel and make disciples among the nations.
Independent Missions Organizations—We support independent missions organizations as the Lord leads our congregation, to take the gospel into specific areas of need. The organizations we support change from time to time as we assess the work of the organizations and receive reports of their work.
Defending the Faith Alliance—DTFA is a legal advocacy organization that helps churches produce and adopt legal documents and defends churches, church leaders, and others in religious freedom legal actions. BBC is a member of Church Shield, a plan for supporting DTFA and for protecting our church against legal attacks.
Danbury Institute—The Danbury Institute is an association of churches, Christians, and organizations aligned to affirm and preserve God-given rights to life and liberty by influencing culture and public policy, upholding the free exercise of religion, inspiring the vigorous involvement of an informed citizenry, and promoting Judeo-Christian values as the proper foundation for a free and prosperous republic.
Our Challenges
Without challenges, it is difficult, if not impossible, to grow in faith in our God. And without faith, it is impossible to please God. See Hebrews 11:6. So we are incredibly grateful that our Lord has placed numerous challenges before us, that we might trust and see Him overcome and that we might ever grow in our faith in Jesus Christ! Would you like to know some of our challenges?
We are an older congregation. This comes with fixed incomes and fewer younger people and children. God is answering. In a little over two years, He has paid off $250,000 in debt and is calling families to come labor alongside us. Perhaps He will call you to join us in this great mission, whether younger or older.
As we grow, we will grow out of land, and land around and near us is very expensive now since so many are heading our way. When God saved us and forgave us, He performed a far greater miracle than providing some land for a church. We know it is not time, and we have room right now for many more, so we are simply praying and setting this challenge before Him.
In today’s United States, post-covid, many people we speak with believe that watching a preacher on TV or following a Bible teacher online or even just doing nothing other than to claim spirituality is enough before God. Though, according to Scripture, these things are not enough to be in a right relationship with God, people hold onto these ideas. This is a challenge.
Being smaller, we do not have full programs and events for all ages that many larger churches engage. We are not opposed to programs and plans and activities, but we are concerned that investing too much into programs can run counter to what the Scriptures teach about being the church rather than doing church. The Body and Bride of Christ is far more than a vehicle of programming, and we are challenged to seek to fulfill the Scriptural teaching of what it means to be “members of one another.” (Romans 12:5)
To live in Christ and to become like Christ. Paul wrote these challenging words: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) We live to no longer live. We live that Christ would live in us and through us. We live to live by faith in Jesus, who loves us and who gave Himself, even unto death for our holiness and righteousness. What a challenge!
Our Resources
While our challenges are great, our resources are greater.
Our Lord Jesus has granted to us the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to live and to be witnesses to our Risen Savior. The Lord’s Spirit intercedes on our behalf in our prayers and prompts us to live in Christ by faith. He is our power, Christ within us, God among us, the One who binds us together as one Body.
Our Father in Heaven has granted us the great and grand blessing of His Holy Word. He speaks to us constantly through it and strengthens us according to His will and His grace. His Word is what we share, not our own. His Word is what we seek to live, and in it we find hope and love and grace and discipline to be more and more like Christ, individually and together. Jesus is the Truth, and His Word is eternally true, without mixture of error, inerrant, and utterly dependable.
Our fellowship together in Christ in the power of His Holy Spirit is real and can be felt. The most common comment we receive by those who come among us is the genuineness of the fellowship of our people and the openness to and encouragement of others by our congregation, the body of Christ.
The people called Bethlehem are praying people. God’s ears are open to our prayers, and He responds to our prayers in ways we do not expect. We do nothing except by prayer, and He who hears us is ever faithful. We may have challenges, but our God supplies all our needs as we seek Him in prayer. May we pray on your behalf?
God has given us beautiful and functional facilities. We have a lovely sanctuary for worship and two nice buildings for fellowship, teaching, and working.
Gifted and willing people seek to serve and desire to see our Lord glorified. Our Lord is working among us, and through us, He is touching and changing lives day by day.
God has given us many opportunities, and we count opportunities as resources. Not every church has thousands of people moving into its field of service and evangelism. Not every church resides in freedom to preach, to worship, and to live its faith outward toward its community. We have many all around us who have great needs only our Lord can fill.
Our Lord’s Challenge!
We make no challenge to you, but our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ do. We only bring to you our Lord’s message.
First, agree with God openly with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and place your undivided faith in Him. Turn from your sin and receive His forgiveness and His righteousness as your own. Accept the good news that There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
Then come to our fellowship and receive baptism into the Body of Christ. We will open the Bible with you, explain this salvation to you, and answer your questions regarding what the Bible says to you and to us.
If you already have placed your faith in Jesus and are living in recognition that He is Lord, perhaps He is calling you to join us as we worship and serve Him, love Him and one another, and take His good news to the world around us.
Our History
Bethlehem Baptist Church was formed in 1854 when Texas was cattle country and home to the pioneers. To give perspective, Dallas was founded in 1841 and incorporated as a city in 1856, and Fort Worth, otherwise known as Cowtown and the Gateway to the West, was founded in 1849 and incorporated in 1873. Farmersville, Texas, in whose zip code BBC is located, was established in 1873.
In 1845, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Woody purchased 160 acres and built a log cabin near BBC’s current site. A few years later, they opened their home to other believers for Bible study and worship and the church that became Bethlehem Baptist Church was begun.
In 1859, the Woodys donated land to be used for public worship and a schoolhouse, and a building was built that was later destroyed by a storm. A replacement was built in the 1890s and is the oldest standing church building in this area.
The church ceased operations in 1954 and did not officially reopen until 1985. Two women remained faithful and fervently prayed for God’s blessings, Clara Kinamon and her friend Betty Wilcoxson Meeks, granddaughter of Hugh Woody. Betty and Clara continued to come each Sunday praying and singing the old hymns. Betty could remember her childhood days riding to church in a horse-drawn wagon and attending the creek baptisms and she could not give up. Clara was also determined not to leave the church where her husband had served faithfully many years as a deacon.