Oakland Heights Baptist Church

About Us

Mission Statement

“TEACHING GOD’S WORD TO CHANGE HEARTS ONE VERSE AT A TIME.”

Our mission is more fully stated this way:

Oakland Heights Baptist Church is a Great Commission Church that preaches the whole counsel of God and firmly stands on God’s Word as true and trustworthy without any mixture of error. We are dedicated to the glory of God. We exist for leading people to faith in the Lord Jesus and for building up mature Christian servants who minister according to their spiritual gifts. We are committed to building strong Christian families by discipling each member to fulfill their God-given roles. We are dedicated to equipping the saints to defend the faith against error.

Expository Preaching

We are unique in that we are an expository preaching church. That is we explain the Scriptures verse by verse in order to understand its meaning, to explain what is difficult to understand, and to properly show how it applies to one’s life.
Each Sunday morning, the pastor preaches through a Book of the Bible, verse-by-verse. Each Sunday and Wednesday evening, the pastor teaches expositionally by theme. Past studies have included “Heaven,” “The Second Coming of Jesus Christ,” and “The Spiritual Disciplines”

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV)

"They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading." (Nehemiah 8:8, NASB95)

Music Ministry

Our music ministry provides a mixture of traditional hymns and contemporary praise songs that promote sound doctrine. The core of our worship is the preaching of God’s Word, and it is the purpose of the music ministry to prepare our hearts for the hearing of God’s Word.

Sunday School

Sunday School is a focus at our church and is the foundational strategy at Oakland Heights Baptist Church for leading people to faith in the Lord Jesus and for building Great Commission Christians through Bible study groups that engage people in evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, shepherding, prayer, ministry, and worship. We therefore offer classes for all age groups.

Family Oriented Ministries

A primary focus of our church is the family. Although we provide nursery, we do encourage families to attend service and sit together, regardless of age. We pray for our men and encourage them to be the spiritual leaders of their home, and for the women fulfill their God-given roles.We encourage discipling, men with men, women with women, couples with couples, adults and parents with children and youth.

Children’s Ministries

At this time our children’s ministries includes Sunday School, and Wednesday Bible Study. In the future we look forward to offering AWANA Clubs.

Youth Ministries

Our vision for our youth includes: equipping our youth in the Word of God; training them in defending the faith; evangelism; strengthening families; and having fun, but our goal is not primarily entertainment. We do have a Youth Council consisting of the parents of youth that plans activities. Each year we have one major event which is related to learning God’s Word, and has included attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s 20/20 Collegiate Conference.

Fellowship

There is an emphasis on being a loving, friendly, and caring fellowship. We genuinely seek to know and serve one another, each using our spiritual gifts.

We have a fellowship meal the 3rd Sunday of each month. We also have an annual church-wide picnic in early summer.

Evangelism and Missions

We focus on evangelism through personal witnessing, including evangelistic visitation each Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. We participate with the Southern Baptist Convention through its International Missions Board and North American Missions Board. We also seek to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through meeting both the physical as well as the spiritual needs as our resources allow.

Brotherhood

The Brotherhood, seeks to meet the physical and spiritual needs of our church members and the community, including presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to the community when physical needs are met.

Prayer

Prayer is an integral part of our church, with periodic corporate and private fasting and prayer. Our men meet each Sunday morning at 9:20 a.m. to pray for the needs of our church. We also have many committed pray warriors,

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;" (Colossians 1:9-11, NKJV)

Church Governance

Our deacons are a servant, not a ruling, body. We are congregational rule, with the deacons carefully praying over each issue before it is brought to the body with a recommendation. We conduct business meetings on a quarterly basis.

Facilities and Grounds

Our facilities are on an approximately 5 acre campus. Our original sanctuary is now our Fellowship Hall which was completed in June of 1960. Our current sanctuary was completed in June of 1983. We recently purchased an additional 1.5 acres, bringing our total acreage to approximately 5 acres. We are blessed with enough land to construct facilities that can house up to 600 members when the Lord so wills
Membership

One becomes a part of Oakland Heights Baptist Church through membership, although visitors are warmly welcomed. Membership requirements include being a born-again believer of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to have been baptized by immersion according to the Scriptures.All members are expected to use their spiritual giftedness to serve and to attend a class entitled The Fundamentals of the Faith, which lasts approximately 16 weeks.

History of Oakland Heights Baptist Church

The beginning of Oakland Heights Baptist Church was a tent set between two houses located on Newsome Road, a few yards from the present sanctuary. In the fall of 1954, a vacant house was rented on Bringle Ferry Road, east of the I-85 Bridge. At that time it was named the Crusade Baptist Mission. In 1956, the Crusade Baptist Mission moved into a vacant house on Newsome Road, which was located in front of our present Fellowship Hall. In 1957, the mission was taken under the watch care of Trading Ford Baptist Church. The church body then moved into our first new building in June of 1960, which is now our Fellowship Hall. In June, 1962, the church’s name was changed to Oakland Heights Chapel. In the spring of 1967 Trading Ford Baptist Church turned Oakland Heights Chapel over to the Rowan Baptist Association. Then in 1967, Oakland Heights Chapel was taken under the watch care of First Baptist Church of Salisbury. Oakland Heights Baptist Chapel was constituted into a church in June 1970 and then became known as Oakland Heights Baptist Church. Our current sanctuary was built and dedicated on June 26, 1983.

The pastors of Oakland Heights Baptist Church include:

Rev. Gerald Lanier (Fall of 1954-Fall of 1957)
Rev. Johnny Propst (1957-Sept. 1958)
Rev. R.N. Honeycutt (Interim) (1958-1959)
Rev. Bob Nash (May 1959-June 1962)
Rev. E.M. Fain (Dec. 1962-Nov. 1965)
Rev. Richard Peek (1966)
Rev. John Carter (Interim) (1966)
Rev. Kenneth Payne (Sept. 1966-Oct. 1969)
Rev. John H. Simpson (Oct. 1969-Mar.1977)
Rev. Ralph Thompson (Feb. 1978-July 1985)
Rev. Roby Linebarger (Jan. 1985-Mar. 1992)
Rev. Edward Bitner (Sept. 1992-2001)
Rev. Jerry Reardon (June 2002-March 2008)
Currently in search of new pastor