We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men supernaturally inspired by God. We believe in plenary and verbal inspiration. We believe that the Bible is truth without any mixture of error in its content; therefore, it is, and shall remain to the end of the age, the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, the true center of Christian unity, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be judged. By “Holy Bible,” we mean that collection of sixty-six books, from Genesis to Revelation, which not only conveys and contains the Word of God, but also is the very Word of God.

By “inspired,” we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have been or ever will be inspired.

We believe the King James Version, as translated in 1611, to be the preserved Word of God for English-speaking people today and the final authority for all doctrine and practice.

(II Tim. 3:16–17; II Pet. 1:19–21; Acts 1:16; Acts 28:25; Ps. 119:105, 160, 130; Ps. 12:6–7)

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead, there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

(Ex. 20:2–3; John 4:24; Ps. 83:18; Ps. 147:5; Ps. 90:2; I John 5:7)

We believe Jesus Christ to be the one and only Savior of mankind. We believe He is eternally God and possesses all attributes of Deity. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was virgin-born, that He is God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to reveal God, to redeem man, 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 and, at the end of it, offered Himself for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin.

This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. It was accomplished through the shedding of His blood on the cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the time to receive His church at the rapture, and that He will return seven years later to rule and reign on earth as King for one thousand years.

(Ps. 2:7–9; Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6; Isa. 43:11; Micah 5:2; Matt. 1:25; Luke 1:26–35; John 1:1, 3, 14, 18, 29; Rom. 3:19–25; Rom. 5:6–15; Phil. 2:5–11; I Thess. 4:13–18; I Tim. 2:5; I Tim. 3:16; Titus 2:10–15; Heb. 7:26; Heb. 9:24–28; I Pet. 1:19; I Pet. 2:2; I John 1:3; Rev. 20:1–6)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature. He was active in creation. In His relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled. He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment; bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; and is the agent in the new birth. He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.

(John 14:16–17, 26; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 9:14)

We believe that Satan was once holy and enjoyed heavenly honors, but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, he fell and drew after him a host of angels. He is now the malignant prince of the power of the air and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God, the accuser of the saints, the author of false religions, the chief power behind present apostasy, the lord of the antichrist, and the author of all the powers of darkness. He is destined, however, for final defeat at the hands of God’s Son and for eternal judgment in hell, a place prepared for him and his angels.

(Isa. 14:12; Ezek. 28:14–17; Rev. 12:9; Rev. 20:10; Matt. 25:41)

We believe in the Genesis account of creation and that it is to be accepted literally, not allegorically or figuratively. Man was created directly in God’s image and likeness. His creation was not a matter of evolution or development through long periods of time. All plant and animal life was made by God according to His law, that each should bring forth “after its kind.”

(Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:11; Acts 4:24; Col. 1:16–17)

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state. As a result, all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint but by choice, and are therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse.

(Gen. 3:1–6; Rom. 5:12, 19; Rom. 3:10–19)

We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner; born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son.

(Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18–25; Luke 1:35; Mark 1:1; John 1:14)

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through the mediatory office of the Son of God, who, by appointment of the Father, freely took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin; honored the divine law by His personal obedience; and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins. His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but in the voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place—the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. Having risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in Heaven and, uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection, is in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate, and all-sufficient Savior.

(Eph. 2:8; Acts 15:11; Rom. 3:24; John 3:16; Matt. 18:11; Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2:14)

We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be born again. The new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus. It is instantaneous, not a process. In the new birth, one who is dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God. This new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension—not by culture, character, or the will of man, but wholly and solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth—thus securing our voluntary obedience to the Gospel.

(Jn. 3:3-6; II Cor. 5:17; I Jn. 5:1)

We believe in God’s electing grace and that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the Gospel. It is the immediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial, penitent, and obedient faith. We believe that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth except his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel, which rejection involves him in an aggravated condemnation. Once a person is born again, the believer is eternally secure in his salvation by the power of God.

(I Thess. 1:4; Col. 3:12; I Pet. 1:2; Titus 1:1; Rom. 8:29–30; 10:13; John 6:37; John 10:27–30; Isa. 55:6–7; Eph. 4:30; Heb. 7:25; I Pet. 4:1–5; Jude 24–25; Acts 2:38)

We believe that the great Gospel blessing which Christ secures to those who believe in Him is justification. Justification includes the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life on principles of righteousness. It is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood, His righteousness being imputed unto us.

(Acts 13:39; Isa. 53:11; Zech. 13:1; Rom. 8:1; Rom. 5:1, 9)

We believe that repentance and faith are solemn obligations and inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the quickening Spirit of God. Deeply convicted of our guilt, danger, helplessness, and the way of salvation through Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy, while at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ and openly confessing Him as our only and all-sufficient Savior.

(Acts 20:21; Mark 1:15; Acts 2:37–38; Luke 18:13; Rom. 10:13; Ps. 51:1–4, 7)

We believe that a Baptist church is a congregation of baptized believers associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. We believe that its ordained officers are pastors or elders whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures.

We believe the true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission: first, to make individual disciples; second, to build up the church; and third, to reach and instruct others as He has commanded. We do not believe in the reversal of this order.

We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. The one and only Superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit. We believe that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with one another in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel, and that every church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation. In all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline, and benevolence, the will of the local church is final.

(Acts 2:41–44; I Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22–23; Eph. 4:11; I Cor. 12:4, 8–11; Acts 14:23; Acts 6:5–6; I Cor. 16:2)

We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, with the authority of the local church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and of our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. We believe that baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to participation in the Lord’s Supper.

We believe that, in the Lord’s Supper, the members of the church commemorate together the dying love of Christ through the sacred use of the bread and the fruit of the vine always preceded by solemn self-examination. We further believe that neither of these ordinances possesses or provides any saving efficacy.

(Acts 8:36–39; Matt. 3:16; Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:41–42; Matt. 28:19–20; I Cor. 11:23–28)

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked. Those who, through faith, are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem. All who continue in impenitence and unbelief are, in His sight, wicked and under the curse. This distinction exists among men both in this life and after death, resulting in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting suffering of the lost.

(I Jn. 2:29; I Jn. 5:19; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 6:23; Luke 16:25; Matt. 25:34, 41)

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society. Magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed, except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience and the coming King of kings of the earth.

(Rom. 13:1-7; Acts 23:5; Titus 3:1; Acts 4:19-20; Dan. 3:17-18)

We believe in and accept the sacred Scriptures on these subjects at their face and full value. Concerning the resurrection, we believe that Christ rose bodily “the third day according to the Scriptures”; that He alone is our “merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God”; that “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven”—bodily, personally, and visibly; that the “dead in Christ shall rise first”; that the living saints “shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump”; that “the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David”; and that “Christ shall reign a thousand years in righteousness until He hath put all enemies under His feet.”

We believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church saints, followed by a seven-year tribulation. We believe in the premillennial return of Christ to the earth and His literal rule for one thousand years. Following this thousand-year reign is the Great White Throne Judgment and then the new heaven and the new earth.

(Matt. 28:6-7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; I Cor. 15:4; John 14:3; I Thess. 4:13-18; I Thess. 5:1-9; I Cor. 15:42-44, 51-58; Phil. 4:20-21; Rev. 19-22)

The command to give the Gospel to the world is clear and unmistakable, and this Commission was given to the churches.

(Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Rom. 10:13-15)

We believe that scriptural giving is one of the fundamentals of the faith. Under grace, we give the tithe rather than pay the tithe. We are commanded to bring the tithe into the common treasury of the church.

(I Cor. 16:2; Heb. 7:2-4; Matt. 23:23; Lev. 27:30; Mal. 3:10)

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that marriage is a divinely ordained covenant established by God and is exclusively between one man and one woman.

(Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1; 6:9; I Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4)