Calvary Baptist Church sits on Old Jacksonville Highway in north Tyler, less than half a mile north of the FRESH by Brookshire's market, between Grande Boulevard and the market on either side of the church's address at 6704 Old Jacksonville Highway. It is a reformed Southern Baptist congregation, affiliated with both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and its motto, "All of Life for the Glory of God," sets the tone for everything on the weekly schedule. The church describes itself as "a gathering of sinners redeemed by Jesus Christ seeking to glorify God by improving our walk with Him, growing together as a family in Christ, and ministering to those in need of Christ in our community and throughout the world." The building itself is a straightforward worship center with age-graded classrooms branching off it, and the rooms where the youngest children gather during worship - WC 115 and WC 116 - sit just to the right of the sanctuary entrance.
Priorities and Beliefs
Calvary affirms the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as a reformed Baptist congregation, holding dual membership in the Southern Baptist Convention (the national body) and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (the Texas state body). Three priorities shape everything the church does, each grounded in Scripture.
1 Peter 4:7-11 sets the umbrella text: "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace..."
The first priority is One Passion: To Reflect the Grace of God Upward through Worship, drawn from the greatest commandment to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is One Mission: To Apply the Grace of God Inward through Discipleship, taken from Jesus' words in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. The third is One Body: To Extend the Grace of God Outward through Mission & Ministry, drawn from Ephesians 4:15-16, where every part of the body, joined and held together, builds itself up in love.
Preaching moves book by book through the Bible. A long series in Revelation ran from 2025 well into 2026, tracing the throne room of heaven, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls of God's wrath, with companion studies on the four horsemen, the 144,000, and eschatology. Recent months have centered on a walk through Psalms - from Psalm 1 ("The Blessed Man We Could Never Be") through the soaring doxology of Psalm 145 ("A Cascade of Praise"), with deeper dives into individual psalms like Psalm 23, Psalm 90 ("A Prayer for the Church"), and Psalm 139 ("Massive Truths for Meaningful Worship and a Missional Walk"). Series through Philippians, 2 Timothy, Jonah, and Matthew have all appeared in the archive, along with a few topical series on church polity.
A Sunday at Calvary
A Sunday at Calvary runs from morning to evening with three distinct gatherings, each drawing a different shape of the church family into the life of the body.
At 9:00 AM, Bible Study for all ages fills the building. Children open the Gospel Project, a curriculum that walks the whole Bible as one connected story pointing to Christ; students gather in the Youth Room for their own small-group hour; and adults meet in age-graded classes during the same hour. Ushers greet guests at the front entrance and walk families to the right classrooms and seats.
At 10:15 AM the congregation moves into the Worship Center for the main service. Music follows a blended style that brings hymns and contemporary songs into the same room, and the preaching is expositional, working through books of the Bible passage by passage. The service runs until about 11:45 AM, with nursery and extended care available throughout for children four and under.
Sunday evenings shape the final layer of the day. From 5:00 to 7:00 PM, community groups - capped at about twelve mixed-age adults - meet in the homes of church members scattered around the area. Childcare is provided so parents can take part.
Wednesday Nights for Every Age
Wednesday nights extend the Bible-centered approach into the middle of the week. From 6:00 to 7:00 PM, the adults gather for a Systematic Theology study - currently an in-depth walk through the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. In the same hour, Student Ministry moves into the Youth Room for a combined time of worship and Bible study (currently a verse-by-verse walk through the Book of Hosea), and Calvary Kids opens for children with the New City Catechism and plenty of time to get the wiggles out.
The midweek rhythm is short and focused - one hour of concentrated teaching and conversation. Two other recurring gatherings broaden the week. A Women's Bible Study meets on Monday evenings at 6:00 PM in the Worship Center, and B.A.L.L. Club, a monthly senior fellowship, gathers at 11:30 AM in the Fellowship Hall on the third Thursday of each month.
Calvary Kids
Children are a deliberate emphasis at Calvary. The Children's Ministry, directed by Kasey Winters, anchors its work in Matthew 19:14 - "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" - and backs that priority with safety policies. Anyone working in the children's department passes a background check before serving.
On Sunday mornings, children join the 9:00 AM Gospel Project Bible Study, where the Old and New Testaments come alive through videos, music, and hands-on activities. From 10:00 AM until the close of the worship service, nursery and extended care cover children four and under in rooms WC 115 and WC 116, immediately to the right of the Worship Center. Children five and up are welcomed in the worship service itself - a posture Calvary calls family worship - so that even very young children learn by watching how their parents and church family lift their hearts to God.
Student Ministry
The Student Ministry exists to glorify God by ministering alongside parents to develop students into passionate followers of Christ, grounding its identity in 1 Corinthians 10:31 ("whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"), Colossians 1:28, and Colossians 3:23.
Middle and high schoolers meet twice a week. On Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM they gather in the Youth Room for small groups, and on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 7:00 PM they gather for The Gathering - a combined time of worship and Bible study that is currently working verse by verse through the Book of Hosea.
Community Groups in Members' Homes
Community Groups are the church's main vehicle for the kind of discipleship that happens best around a kitchen table rather than a sanctuary. Each group is intentionally small - twelve or fewer mixed-age adults - and the groups meet in the homes of Calvary members around Tyler rather than at the building on Old Jacksonville Highway. Childcare is provided.
The time centers on three practices: fellowship with one another, discipling one another, and praying together. The groups meet weekly on Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, and a sign-up table at the welcome center connects new members and visitors to a group nearby. Anyone curious is invited to ask a staff member on Sunday or reach the church office at (903) 939-3200.
Venture Academy
Venture Academy is the church's homeschool hybrid program, directed by Becca Hall. The academy operates in partnership with Calvary and has its own website at venturetyler.com for families looking for a classical-style, church-anchored education in the Tyler area.
What to Expect as a Visitor
For first-time visitors, Calvary lays out what to expect in straightforward terms. Ushers greet guests at the front entrance and walk families to the right classrooms and seats before Bible study begins at 9:00 AM. Worship follows at 10:15 AM in the Worship Center.
Visitors will not be asked to give money, wear a visitor badge, or stand up to be introduced, though anyone is welcome to fill out an attendance card so the church can keep a count of who is gathering. Dress is "whatever you're comfortable worshipping in." Some arrive in their Sunday best, others in jeans and a T-shirt, and the church treats that range as normal.
For children, nursery and extended care serve kids four and under during the worship service in rooms WC 115 and WC 116, while children five and up are encouraged to attend worship with their families. The service runs about ninety minutes, ending around 11:45 AM.
Pastors and Elders
Dr. Andrew O'Kelley serves as Lead Pastor. An Atlanta, Texas native and East Texas Baptist University graduate, O'Kelley attended medical school at the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine and still practices family medicine and hospice medicine in Tyler. He and his wife Cortney have four children.
Kent Boring joined the team as Associate Pastor in 2022 when he and his wife Stephanie and their three children moved to Tyler from Denton, where they had lived for seventeen years. He grew up in Coldspring, Texas, holds degrees from Sam Houston State University and the University of North Texas, and works in customer success for a software company focused on community engagement for government entities.
Kasey Winters, a graduate of Dallas Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies, directs Children's Ministry after completing Pine Cove's eight-month Forge discipleship program in Tyler.
Two elders round out the pastoral leadership. Jason Hall, a Texas State University and UTSA graduate who joined Calvary in 2000, manages regulatory affairs for the North American operations of an international chemical company and lives in Tyler with his wife Becca and their three grown children. Dr. Henry Dennard, a Tyler native who spent 28 years in banking before becoming an independent personal financial planner, is married to Christi; they have five adult daughters, three sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren.
Becca Hall, who oversees Venture Academy, is a UTSA Health Science Center nursing graduate who met Jason in high school.
The Church Covenant
A written Church Covenant - a less common feature in many Protestant congregations - sets the standard for life together at Calvary. Every member reaffirms this document as part of joining the body. It opens with a confession that the members have been "led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and have been baptized on that profession of faith, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
From there, the members covenant to work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; to walk together in Christian love with affectionate care and watchfulness over one another, faithfully admonishing and entreating one another as occasion may require; not to forsake the assembling of themselves together or to neglect praying for themselves, their leaders, and others; to endeavor to disciple all who may at any time be under their care, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of family, friends, and neighbors; to rejoice at one another's happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear one another's burdens and sorrows; to seek, by divine aid, to live holy lives in the world, "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts"; to submit faithfully to the Word of God "through careful study, sober meditation, and passionate proclamation of all that our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to us, understanding and cherishing, that every word of God is pure, whether Old or New Testament, and is infallibly given to us and profitable for us for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness"; to work together for the continuance of a faithful evangelical ministry in the church, contributing cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and "the spread of the Gospel through all nations"; and, when they move from Tyler, to unite with another faithful church where they can carry out the spirit of the covenant and the principles of God's Word. The covenant closes with the apostolic benediction: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen."
Giving
Tithes and offerings can be given online at calvarytyler.churchcenter.com/giving.