A South Bend Church Built Around the Word
Community Baptist Church gathers on the south side of South Bend, Indiana, at 5715 Miami Street. Locally governed and Baptist in conviction, the congregation anchors its identity to a single aim: preaching the Bible with clarity and extending its reach through every part of its life. A Welcome Team meets visitors at the front doors, and a Christian school, a spring soccer league, and a Spanish-speaking congregation all flow out of the same building and the same vision.
Exalt, Equip, Encourage, Engage, Extend
CBC organizes its ministry around five verbs it calls the Five E's. Exalt means lifting God through Word-centered worship, expository preaching, fervent prayer, joyful singing, generous giving, public Scripture reading, and observance of the ordinances. Equip points to raising up biblically literate believers of every generation through a historic, orthodox commitment to Scripture that works itself out in loving holiness. Encourage covers the fellowship side of church life, nurturing relationships that reflect the love of Christ. Engage is the local outreach arm, taking the gospel into South Bend through relational evangelism and family-oriented events. Extend pushes the work outward, fulfilling the Great Commission through church planting, missions trips, and strategic gospel-centered partnerships.
Expository Preaching at the Center
Expository preaching sits at the center of everything the church teaches. Senior Pastor Joe Fant earned a Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching from The Master's Seminary, and the teaching calendar moves through books of the Bible verse by verse. The current Sunday series walks through the book of Acts, with sermons archived online for those who miss a week.
Sundays on Miami Street
The Sunday rhythm opens with Sunday School and Adult Bible Fellowship at 9:30 AM. Classes run for all ages, and the Welcome Team is on hand to point families in the right direction. The morning worship service follows at 10:30 AM. A smaller evening service gathers at 6:00 PM on the first three Sundays of each month, with the evening service set aside on the fourth and fifth Sundays. Both services are livestreamed, and recordings stay available for later catch-up on the sermons page.
What a First-Time Visitor Finds
Drivers enter from the south side of the property and park in the South Lot, where reserved spaces are set aside for first-time guests. The front doors sit under a main canopy. Inside, the Welcome Team waits at the front of the Welcome Center, ready to give directions and answer questions, and one of the pastors stops by after the service with a small thank-you gift. Beyond the gathering, classes run across every stage of life, nursery care is available for every service, and a Wednesday program gives every age a place to belong. A plan-a-visit page walks through the same details.
The Pastoral Team
Community Baptist fields a staff team of pastors with clearly defined lanes of ministry.
- Pastor Joe Fant serves as Senior Pastor. He grew up in a pastor's home in South Carolina and came to CBC in 2017 after years in camp and youth ministry. His focus is preaching, casting the mission and vision, leading the staff, and developing leaders. He and his wife Becky have four children: Karis, Kossler, Shiloh, and Prisca.
- Pastor Ben Jacquot oversees Sunday worship, the Ministry Training and Development program, and children and youth ministries. He teaches Adult Bible Fellowship classes and preaches on some Sundays. He holds a B.A. in Bible from Bob Jones University and is pursuing an M.A. in Historical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wife Holly have two children, Justus and Eva.
- Pastor Matt Tracy leads Community Baptist Christian School, the church's largest ministry arm, and superintends children's Sunday School. He earned a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Educational Leadership from Bob Jones University and was ordained to gospel ministry in 2022. He and his wife Heather have four children and also care for a foster child.
- Pastor Shawn Alexander oversees Missions, new member assimilation, and Men's Ministries, and teaches Adult Bible Fellowship classes. He grew up as a missionary kid in Brazil and holds a B.A. in Bible from Bob Jones University and a M.A. in Christian Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife Susanna have three children, Piper, Paisley, and Strad.
- Pastor Brent Sivnksty joined CBC in 1998 as Youth Pastor and now spends a large portion of the year traveling in evangelism, returning to serve at the church when he is home. He and his wife Becky have two sons, Hunter and Konner.
- Pastor Nicholas Perea leads the Spanish-language congregation, Iglesia Bautista de la Comunidad. He and his family shepherd the Spanish-speaking ministry from the same campus.
Wednesdays: Midweek Equipping
Wednesday evenings are set aside as the church's midweek equipping time. The youth group meets for a focused hour in the Word, with leaders intentionally guiding young people through life's hard questions inside Scripture. Community Groups, including a Sermon Review group, meet in homes across the city, with the Sermon Review gathering on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM to revisit the previous Sunday's sermon. Two seasonal studies round out the week: a Men's Bible Study through the Attributes of God meets weekly at the church during the spring, and a Ladies' Proverbs study gathers weekly in homes during the fall.
Children, Youth, and the Nursery
CBC invests heavily in the next generation. Children's Sunday School classes rotate through a year of Answers in Genesis material, with a fall Kids4Truth program layered on top, designed to build a strong gospel foundation from the earliest years. The youth group's Wednesday gathering centers on Scripture reading and discussion, with a sustained emphasis on the discipleship and sanctification of teens.
A Nursery Built for Littles
The church calls its nursery a vital ministry, not a side offering. Recently remodeled rooms include a separate infants and toddlers side and a private room for nursing mothers. Care is available during every church service, staffed by a rotation of dedicated volunteers.
Community Baptist Christian School
The school, often called CBCS, functions as the church's largest ministry arm. Operating year-round out of the church campus, it draws on the same doctrinal convictions and is led by Pastor Matt Tracy. The school is treated as a year-round platform for gospel impact across South Bend, with its own staff and website separate from the church.
Iglesia Bautista de la Comunidad
Inside the same campus meets a Spanish-speaking congregation called Iglesia Bautista de la Comunidad, translating the church's name into Spanish. Led by Pastor Nicholas Perea and his family, the fellowship describes itself as one body in Christ with a single aim: glorifying God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Its mission centers on seeking the lost (Luke 19:10, Romans 3:23) and preaching the true gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). Those interested in the Spanish ministry can call Pastor Nicholas at (269) 532-3957.
Upward Soccer and Local Outreach
Each spring, CBC launches an Upward Soccer league on its own grounds, with registration and details flowing through Upward's parent network. The league has drawn strong interest from area families and become one of the church's main neighborhood doorways. The church also runs a Vacation Bible School in the summer and a Family Fun Fair, each designed as gospel-touching outreach rather than a fundraiser.
Missions Near and Far
CBC supports missionaries around the world through financial giving, personal visits, and ongoing prayer, with longer medical and work trips layered in over the years. The missions arm sits under Pastor Shawn Alexander's oversight. Locally, the Christian school and Upward Soccer league together represent the church's largest ongoing mission fields, alongside the church's neighborhood presence through family events.
What the Church Believes
A twenty-five-point Statement of Faith anchors the church's teaching. It opens with a full view of Scripture as the verbally inspired Word of God and continues through the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the reality of a literal hell, the nature of Satan, the fall of man, salvation by grace through faith in Christ's blood alone, the believer's assurance, the Christ-centered character of all Scripture, the unity of all believers in one body, the personhood of the Holy Spirit, the Christian walk, the eternal state, the personal and premillennial Second Coming, the church's missionary obligation, believer's baptism by immersion, the Lord's Supper, gender and marriage as God designed them, the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, and the gospel call to repentance and faith.
The church practices baptism by immersion as a prerequisite to membership and observes the Lord's Supper as an open table for all true believers. The doctrinal statement also includes a Staff article committing every employee and volunteer to the full statement. CBC identifies itself simply as Baptist in belief and practice while explicitly noting that it is unaffiliated with any denomination or association of churches; the congregation is locally governed and rooted in Scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Planning a Visit
Sunday mornings start at 9:30 with Sunday School for every age, followed by the worship service at 10:30. A smaller evening service follows at 6:00 PM on the first, second, and third Sundays. Visitors park in the South Lot and enter through the south doors under the main canopy, where the Welcome Team points the way. Children's classes for every age, nursery care for every service, and a full Wednesday program mean there is a place for every member of a family. Services are livestreamed and sermons stay archived. Giving is available online.