To hear pastor Ron Dillon describe how God has worked in the life of First Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant, one might think it sounds like a movie script with a happy ending. But in this story of God’s providence and multiplying for his kingdom, the ending is only the beginning, Dillon says.
“We feel God has led us every step of the way and has shown us what he wants us to do,” Dillon said. “We’ve tried to be obedient in following the Lord,” including being obedient long before God’s plans for a second church became clear.
In 1978, the congregation purchased 34 acres of land several miles away in North Mt. Pleasant with the thought of building a mission church. Church members had no way of knowing that the property, located on the busy Highway 17 thoroughfare, would someday be surrounded by an upsurge of commercial and residential development.
About six years ago, the church began praying about how God would use the land. “We were challenged to consider how we could bless this second community and reach people for Christ,” Dillon said. A group of about 125 original church members began meeting for worship near the new location on Sunday evenings, and were soon joined by new people.
The church held successful fundraising campaigns, formed prayer and planning groups, and worked with an architectural team to draw plans that ultimately required a lot of resources. About that time, the church received an unsolicited offer to purchase part of the land it owned for a substantial amount. That providential letter set in motion the building of the Church at LifePark, a ministry of First Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant.
“LifePark is part of us. We sent our people out to start it, which is different from starting a new church elsewhere,” Dillon said.
The first phase of the Church at LifePark – including a maple-floored gymnasium used for worship, a commercial-grade kitchen, and a caf? – was completed in March 2010. LifePark now regularly ministers to about 670 people each Sunday, including an estimated 250 original church members who left to help start the new church.
Mt. Pleasant First Baptist also shared some of its own staff members as staff for the new church. Chad Moore, formerly headmaster of First Church’s Christian school, is the campus pastor at LifePark.
“The church building was designed to be community-friendly, and we are a community of believers within the community,” Moore said. “LifePark is in a transient area, and people are longing for relationships, so the church is a great source of connection to reach lonely people.”
Dillon sees LifePark as a place where normal transactions can lead to life transformations. “One man from within the community – with great personal and business loss – watched LifePark being built and came to worship because he was curious. A few weeks after joining a small group, one member led him to Christ.” Moore reports that there have been 50 baptisms since March at LifePark, and they continue to see new faces every week.
Dillon acknowledged that the remaining congregation felt a variety of emotions after the Church at LifePark was launched, but now has caught a vision for what can happen at the older campus. The church elected elders to help with the new communication and leadership loads. Dillon said God is also calling young men and women from within the congregation to go into ministry.
“God’s had his hand on this all the way,” Dillon said. “And we are praying about whether God might want us to do this again somewhere else.” – SCBC