Houston Lake Baptist looks to future after 180 years

We’re old, not cold,” said the Rev. Fred McCoy, of Houston Lake Baptist Church.

“We’re celebrating our 180th birthday May 1 but we’re focusing on the future, not the past. We’re celebrating what God is doing now and what’s ahead.”

According to church records, and records of the local Rehoboth Baptist Association of which Houston Lake Baptist is part, the church was organized in 1836 by 14 charter members. The name at the time was Sand Ridge Baptist Church.

McCoy said Sand Ridge was first located on a road that led to Perry from the old Ocmulgee River landing.

He said Rehoboth records show Sand Ridge was the second Baptist church established in Houston County and possibly the second of any denomination.

Just a few years later in 1841, McCoy said the young congregation helped form the Rehoboth association.

Records show in 1860 Sand Ridge moved to a new location in what was then known as the Houston Factory area of the county. At that time it also merged with two other congregations: Smyrna Baptist Church and Houston Factory Baptist Church. The congregation met on the southwest corner of what’s now the intersection of Arena Road and Houston Lake Boulevard.

In 1953, the congregation’s name was changed to Houston Lake Baptist.

In 1993, the congregation moved just across the street into its current facility on the southeast corner of Arena and Houston Lake.

With tradition reaching back so far, it’s reasonable the church’s present-day slogan is “Alive, traditional and conservative.”

“You might find after 180 years a lot of churches are dead and cold but that’s not us,” McCoy said. “Our sign out front says it: Alive. Traditional. Conservative. Many churches have become contemporary or this or that but that phrase sums up who we are, and God is blessing.”

McCoy said current activities are indicators the church is thriving.

“We have active children and youth ministries that show we’re not just a church for old people,” he said. “Each year for last seven years we’ve had a team from the church go to Moldova, a country that was part of the former Soviet Union. We minister there along with other Rehoboth association members. We give out Bibles, eyeglasses and offer medical care. The country is so poor they’re shutting down orphanages, and Rehoboth is working to buy land to build new ones.”

Adding to the list of proofs of life, McCoy said in the past few years Houston Lake Baptist has licensed and ordained two men into Gospel ministry. He said one pastors in Cochran and another, an Air Force member, helps chaplains and a local church in Germany. He said Houston Lake has also received awards for Sunday School growth and its number of baptisms from the Georgia Baptist Convention as well as from the Rehoboth association.

Plus, he said in two annual Southern Baptist mission offerings the church has given more than $30,000.

McCoy expressed delight in all these achievements but none more than the church’s involvement in Moldova.

“We visit towns and announce eye care and medical care and that we’re giving away Bibles,” he said. “People just come running. It’s equivalent to here if we announced we were giving away gold bricks and PlayStations. It’s really neat to watch some of these people get eye care and glasses for the first time in their lives and then to be able to give them a Bible. Most have never owned one and to see the smile on their faces, and often tears in their eyes, that’s very moving to me.”

To what does McCoy attribute Houston Lake Baptist becoming “old, not cold” after its 180 years?

“It’s the Gospel,” he said. “It’s consistent Gospel preaching three times a week. I attribute it to that. In my opinion, were living in a day when many churches are trying anything and everything to get a crowd but they’re omitting the one thing that will infuse life into a church—the Gospel.”

McCoy said in celebration of the church’s birthday, in its morning May 1 service there will be a variety of greetings and acknowledgments from the Rehoboth association, Georgia convention and Southern Baptist Convention.

During the evening service there will be a presentation by the church’s children’s choir and testimonies from members regarding the church.

Following the evening service there will be a birthday reception with cake and finger foods.

“I’m hoping we’ll have at least 180 there in the evening for our 180th birthday,” McCoy said. “That’s our goal.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Houston Lake Baptist looks to future after 180 years."