Carver Road Baptist Church sits on a single property off Carver Road on the north side of Griffin, Georgia, where a newer tan industrial building on the right and an older red brick building on the left share a parking lot. The congregation has been in the same small city for nearly a century, but the way it describes itself points well past its own address: "Where we don't just come to church, we ARE the church, seeking to BE the church." That line sets the tone for everything from Sunday worship to a Tuesday morning food pantry and a Friday night recovery meeting.
From "the Rock" Church to a Tan Industrial Building
The congregation dates back to 1932, when it began downtown Griffin off Cherry Street as a church known around town simply as "the Rock." In 1975 the church relocated to Carver Road, and in 2007 the current tan industrial building on the right side of the property was completed and became the main place of worship. The older red brick building on the left still stands and is used for classes and the Friday night Celebrate Recovery meetings, which can be confusing for first-time visitors trying to figure out where to go.
For more than eighty-five years the church has identified with the Baptist tradition, and it affirms the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 as its doctrinal framework. Its stated identity is conservative and Bible centered, summed up in its doctrinal language: "Our doctrine is conservative in nature and centers on Jesus being the way the truth and the life in all we say & do."
What a Sunday Morning Looks Like
Small groups meet at 9:30 am and the main Worship Celebration Service runs from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm. Worship is held in the newer tan industrial building on the right side of the parking lot; greeters help direct visitors who arrive early. The church describes the gathering in plain terms: "friendly and authentic people, engaging and relevant music and worship, compelling preaching from the Bible, and an opportunity to encounter God." Visitors are told to expect to be "encouraged, challenged, convicted, excited and, most importantly, welcomed."
Lead Pastor Brandon Foottit preaches through books of the Bible on a steady rotation. The current teaching series walks through 1 Samuel, with recent messages titled "Gods Heavy Hand," "God's Glory is Gone!" and "Perceiving God's Voice." Earlier series worked through 1 John and Revelation. Guest preachers and lay speakers fill the pulpit from time to time, including Will Langford and Grady Caldwell. Services are livestreamed, and the full sermon archive is available with both video and downloadable audio for every message.
The Lord's Supper is observed on the last Sunday of each month, immediately after the morning service. There is no fixed midweek Bible study block; Wednesday evenings center on a shared meal at 5:00 pm that feeds into whatever ministry programming is running that week.
Children, Nursery and the GROW Co-Op
Children's ministry runs every Sunday morning from birth through fifth grade. The nursery, for ages 0 to 3, is staffed during both the small group hour and the worship hour in clean classrooms in the back hallway behind the sanctuary. Children ages 4 to 12 sit with their parents through the music portion of the service and are then called forward to follow volunteers upstairs to the children's area, where they work through a Bible lesson, memorize Scripture and play games. Every volunteer working with children has had a background check.
Children's Director Emily Foottit oversees this work along with outreach and special events, and she also leads GROW, the church's homeschool cooperative. GROW grew out of a parent's desire for an alternative way to educate and was built on the principle that families help one another. Parents teach classes in subjects they are passionate about; others serve in the nursery so that families with preschool-aged children can participate. There is no tuition, only a per-class supply fee set by each teacher and a commitment to an eight-week quarter. Children ages newborn through thirteen are grouped by age and rotate through three or so classes each Thursday morning; classes offered over the years have included Shop and Carpentry, Anatomy, P.E., Astronomy, Science and Art.
Outside of Sunday mornings, the children's ministry runs Fun Fridays once a month with events like Nerf Wars, Hide and Seek and Ice Cream nights, plus an annual Fall Festival, Vacation Bible School and a Kids Camp. The most recent VBS, called Rainforest Falls, transformed the building into a rainforest with games, crafts, snacks, Bible lessons and Scripture memory; the program is free, limited to one hundred children and staffed by vetted volunteers.
Celebrate Recovery on Friday Nights
At 7:00 pm on Fridays, the doors of the older red brick building open for Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered program for anyone dealing with hurts, hang-ups and habits. The format is familiar to anyone who has been to a CR meeting: a time of worship, testimonies, a teaching lesson, the celebration of sobriety anniversaries with chips and tokens, and gender-separated small share groups. Meetings happen rain or shine.
Childcare is provided. A free meal is served before the meeting, and a clothes closet and a lending library are open on site for anyone who needs them. The clothes closet and library are limited to the time before and after the meeting itself. A freewill offering plate is passed each week, but regular giving can also be done online. Newcomers are welcome to come one Friday evening, and volunteers are welcome any time as well.
Tuesdays at the Food Pantry
The church's food pantry opens every Tuesday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and operates out of a building in the back of the parking lot. It is a drive-up operation: visitors check in at the fellowship hall, receive a number, are offered prayer, then drive up to the pantry where volunteers load the food. Households may come twice a month.
To receive food, guests must be Spalding County residents, bring a photo ID and provide proof of address, such as a piece of mail. Everything is free of charge. The pantry is funded by donations from church members and the wider community and is staffed by volunteers; online giving lets the pantry buy food in bulk at minimal cost through regional food bank partnerships. Ten percent of every gift given to Carver Road goes directly to ministries like the food pantry.
Life Groups, Missional Communities and Sunday School Classes
Beyond the worship hour, the church organizes itself around six core ministries: Growth Groups, Seniors, Children, the GROW Home School Co-Op, the Food Pantry and Celebrate Recovery. Growth Groups are Sunday morning small groups that meet at 9:30 am and double as the church's Sunday School. Named classes currently include Career Couples (taught by Marshall Hurd), Pairs and Spares (Raleigh Henry), Woman Warriors (Margie Fausel) and Mighty Men (Brandon Foottit).
The church also describes its Life Groups and Missional Communities, smaller gatherings that meet in homes and around the area during the week. There are currently five Missional Communities, with the stated goal of multiplying more. Members are encouraged to think of these not as programs to attend but as a way of doing life together: eating meals, praying, studying Scripture and serving their neighborhoods. Hebrews 10:24-25 is the group's text: "Let us not give up meeting together... but let us encourage one another."
Beyond Griffin: Dominican Republic and Operation Christmas Child
Two mission partnerships define the church's outward-facing work. Each August the church travels with the Flint River Association and the Dominican Baptist Convention on a trip to the Dominican Republic. The team hosts medical missions clinics at several local churches and runs a Vacation Bible School for the children of families who come, providing medicine and sharing the gospel along the way.
Closer to home, the church partners with Samaritan's Purse to pack Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts each year. The church goes one step further, sending a volunteer team to one of the Atlanta-area distribution centers to help process the boxes before they ship around the world. Other ongoing church partners include Cowan Road Elementary School, Families 4 Families (a foster ministry) and Ruston's Hope. Ten percent of all undesignated giving is allocated to these mission partners.
Giving and What the Church Believes
Giving is described as an act of worship and an extension of the gospel. Online giving is available, with gifts going to support the local food pantry, the church's general ministry budget, and the IMB missionaries supported through the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention. The church gives because God has given first, and money represents priorities and calling as much as it represents budget.
Carver Road Baptist Church is a Bible-believing congregation in cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention through the Flint River Association. It affirms the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, holds to conservative doctrine and centers its teaching on Jesus as "the way, the truth and the life." Its stated vision is captured in this line: "We ARE the church, seeking to BE the church and to save the lost."
Leadership
Lead Pastor Brandon Foottit grew up in Tampa, Florida, where he came to know Jesus, got married and first sensed a call to ministry. He moved to New Orleans to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, started a family and spent several years pastoring in Louisiana before the Foottit family moved to Griffin in 2020. He currently leads the church and also teaches the Mighty Men Sunday School class upstairs.
Emily Foottit serves as Children's Director and oversees outreach, special events and the GROW homeschool cooperative. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The office team, including Administrative Assistant Judy Lawrence and Financial Assistant Patsy Weathington, anchors the day-to-day life of the church from the office at 334 Carver Rd, reachable at office@carverroad.org.