A Community of Christ on Jefferson Highway
Community Bible Church, often shortened to CBC and online as 516 Church, meets on Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge, where two Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:45 AM draw families, students, and adults from across the metro area. Its mission statement reads simply: "To be a community of Christ in order to reach our community for Christ." In practice that means a congregation built around expository preaching, community groups that meet in homes and on campus, and a deliberate effort to take the Bible seriously from one end of the church year to the other.
Senior Pastor Steve Foster, who has led CBC since May 2010, often points newcomers to the second service, since the 9 AM gathering tends to fill the room first. The two services are identical in worship style and preaching content, and both are livestreamed on YouTube so the Sunday message reaches beyond the building.
The 5:16 Church and the 3:16 Foundation
Everything at CBC is loosely keyed to a pair of Bible verses. The congregation calls itself a "5:16 Church" and draws five marks from chapter and verse 5:16: A Church of Prayer (James 5:16), of Integrity (Galatians 5:16), of Initiative (Ephesians 5:16), of Impact (Matthew 5:16), and of Praise (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Those five qualities are the church's vision, and they show up in how ministries are organized, how Community Groups gather, and how the staff describe their work.
Underneath that vision sits what the church calls a "3:16 Foundation": a congregation set apart by the Gospel of Christ (John 3:16), growing in love for one another (1 John 3:16), and built on the foundation of God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16). The two pairs of references are not a coincidence; they are baked into the church's branding, and even the email address, info@516church.org, points back to them.
What the Bible Sounds Like on Sunday Morning
Preaching at Community Bible Church is expository and sequential. The current series, "Journey to Freedom" in Exodus, has worked its way through the book chapter by chapter since January 2025; a sermon handout is posted each week for anyone who wants to follow along. The two most recent messages walk through Exodus 22:21-23:33 ("Living Out the Law's Priorities") and Exodus 24:1-18 ("Ratifying the Covenant"). Past series have included a year-long walk through Genesis ("The World According to God"), an exposition of Matthew titled "Thy Kingdom Come," a thorough study of Romans ("Good News for a Broken World"), a journey through 2 Timothy, and standalone series through Jude, Ecclesiastes, Nehemiah, Titus, and the Psalms. Sermon handouts and study guides for every series going back several years are archived online.
Worship music at the services blends familiar hymns with newer songs. Ryan Miller, Minister of Music, leads a volunteer worship team; a seasonal choir joins for special services and an annual Christmas concert. Luke Sands, Minister of Creative Arts, oversees the tech team that runs ProPresenter, PowerPoint, and the YouTube and Facebook broadcasts. The church maintains a weekly Spotify playlist so visitors can hear in advance what the band will be playing on the upcoming Sunday.
Sundays on Jefferson Highway
The church meets at 8354 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge. Visitors arriving early can expect a sanctuary-style worship center with overflow space handled by CBC's growth, plus on-campus rooms for nursery through kindergarten care during the 9 AM hour. The 9 AM gathering tends to be fuller; the 10:45 AM gathering, the staff notes, generally has more room. Both services share the same sermon and the same worship arc, so choosing one over the other is largely a matter of preference.
Between services and during the week the building hosts nursery and preschool care, age-graded Community Groups, a year-round calendar of men's, women's, youth, and family programs, plus training hours in the Colson Fellows Program. The campus includes a Worship Center, Fellowship Hall, a foyer, a Children's Ministry Building, a Youth Building, an Education Building, and a gym.
Community Groups: The Relational Core
If Sunday morning is the front door, Community Groups are where CBC expects newcomers to land. Bill Young, Associate Pastor of Community Groups, oversees this ministry. Groups meet in homes and on campus during the week and on Sunday mornings, and they are designed to be the smaller, more relational space that complements the larger services. As the ministry page explains, "you will meet new people, you will get to know people in a deeper and more personal way, you will have meaningful discussion about how to apply the Word of God, you will have the opportunity to pray for one another, you will enjoy fellowship with one another, you will be encouraged by other people in the group, you will feel a stronger connection to this church family." Interested visitors can fill out an online form on the church's Community Groups page and get matched to a group.
Community Kids: Nursery Through Sixth Grade
Family Ministry Director Joy Atchison and Elementary Ministry Director Stephanie Lavespere oversee CBC's children's ministry, organized under the name Community Kids. Care begins at 9 AM in the Children's Ministry Building, where rooms 2 and 3 host nursery and toddler care for newborns through age 2 1/2. Across the hall, rooms 1 and 4 host Children's Church for ages 2 1/2 to 5 (preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten), where children worship through songs and an age-appropriate Bible lesson. Children in first through sixth grade remain with their families for the main service.
At 10:45 AM, the children's ministry shifts into Community Group mode. Preschoolers (2 1/2 to 3) and PreK/Kindergarten (4 to 5) continue in the Children's Ministry Building; first through sixth graders move to the Education Building, where classes are grouped by age and grade. The whole program is built around partnering with parents "to help children grow in genuine love for God and deepening knowledge of Him and His will." VBS and other special events round out the year, and the elementary director trains on Lutheran-school grade-schooling principles like safe, supportive environments for every child.
Student Ministry: Seventh Through Twelfth Grade
Zach Benton, Associate Pastor, leads the 7th-12th grade Student Ministry. On Sunday mornings at 10:45 AM, students split into three groups: middle school (grades 7-9), high school guys (10-12), and high school ladies (10-12), each meeting in the Youth Building. On Sunday evenings from 6 to 8 PM, the whole ministry comes together for "The Gathering," described in four movements: a shared meal, games, worship, and life-application Bible study. The youth ministry publishes an annual fall retreat (a recent one was held at Camp Istrouma in Greenwell Springs) and a year-round calendar.
College and Career: The Eighteen to Twenty-Five Crowd
A peer-led College and Career ministry serves post-high-school young adults between 18 and 25. Members meet Sundays at 9 AM in Education Building, Room 3 for light snacks, prayer, and discussion-based Bible study. A monthly Fellowship Night, held on the fourth Friday in the Youth Building and Gym, brings the group together for a meal, hangout time, worship, and another round of life-application study. At 10:45 AM on Sunday mornings the group joins the larger congregation for the main service, since "our ministry is rooted in the local church."
Men's Ministry: 5:16 Men
CBC's Men's Ministry takes the church's 5:16 vision and adapts it for men. The stated objective is to help each man become a 5:16 man: a man of prayer, integrity, initiative, impact, and praise. A monthly Men's Breakfast meets on the second Saturday at 8 AM in Fellowship Hall. An annual Men's Retreat takes the men to Lion King Retreat Center for a weekend of teaching and fellowship. The ministry's underlying aim is "to help each man become all that Christ created him to be at home, at work, and as a witness of Christ in this world."
Women's Ministry: Study, Fellowship, Encouragement
The Women's Ministry focuses on Bible study, fellowship, and mutual encouragement. Activities include Sunday Community Group, breakfasts and brunches, and weekend retreats. Mom's Book Club meets on the fourth Sunday from 6 to 8 PM in the CBC Foyer; the current book is "Every Thought Captive" by Kyle Idleman. A Women's Brunch, hosted in the CBC Gym, gathers women around a meal and testimonies from women in the church. The ministry invites newcomers to "grow in fellowship with the Lord and with each other" and to live "purposeful lives of prayer and worship with the Lord and with one another."
Worship and Creative Arts
The Worship Ministry is run by Ryan Miller (Minister of Music) and Luke Sands (Minister of Creative Arts). The Worship Team and Seasonal Choir serve the Sunday services; the seasonal choir joins for any special service and a yearly Christmas Concert. The Tech Team volunteers run ProPresenter, PowerPoint, and the YouTube and Facebook broadcasts; inquiries about volunteering go to Luke. The Worship Team welcomes new volunteers who are members of the church and follow a pathway through Ryan, the worship leader.
Discipleship, the What Do You Believe Course, and Colson Fellows
Ken Courville, Associate Pastor of Discipleship, oversees pathways for spiritual growth. One regular pathway is the What Do You Believe Course, an 11-week Sunday morning class at 9 AM in Fellowship Hall led by Pastor Ken and Marshall Atchison; it covers the basics of the faith for newcomers and longtime members alike.
For deeper formation, CBC partners with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview to host the Colson Fellows Program on campus. The ten-month program covers Christian apologetics and worldview, with monthly meetings at CBC on the first Saturday of each month, twice-monthly video webinars, daily devotionals, a teaching practicum, and a StrengthsFinder assessment. Tuition is $650 for CBC participants, compared to $900 for the program at large, and participants also buy a reading list. The 2026-2027 cohort closes registration on August 1, 2026, and graduation takes place at the Colson National Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May 2027.
516 Global: A Local Church with a Worldwide Reach
Missions are organized under 516 Global, and the church currently partners with over 40 missionaries around the world. CBC calls its approach "mobilizing" and lays out five roles for members to consider: Sender (giving, encouraging, serving), Mobilizer (helping others discover their role), Goer (short-term or long-term cross-cultural service), Welcomer (building relationships with international neighbors), and Intercessor (praying for missionaries and unreached people). Specific ministry partners highlighted on the church's Missions page include Harvest Arad Church and Vertical Ineu Church in Romania, along with a wide list of organizations including Avant Ministries, Cru, Connections Ministry, World Venture, Mission to the World, UWM, Global Serve, Christian Outreach Center of Baton Rouge, Turlac Mission, Bulembu, Mercy Childcare, CTLM, Ratio Christi, and the MacLaurin Institute for Theological Training.
What CBC Believes
Community Bible Church holds to an evangelical doctrinal statement that distinguishes between core beliefs ("We believe") and firmly held convictions ("We teach"). Core beliefs include the inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Christ, his substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, the eternal security of believers, the divine enabling of spiritual gifts for service, and the visible return of Christ. The church practices two ordinances, water baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Among the firmly held convictions (the "we teach" tier) is a cessationist view of sign gifts: the church believes that tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracle-working gifts, and healing gifts served specific purposes in the transition from the Old to the New Covenant and are not normative gifts given to individual believers today. Other firmly held convictions include a complementarian view of marriage and human sexuality (marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and sexual intimacy is reserved for that union), a dispensational understanding of the church's relationship to Israel, and a pre-tribulation rapture followed by Christ's millennial reign. As a diverse congregation the church frames these as "firmly held convictions" rather than essentials of fellowship.
Pastoral Staff and Leadership
Senior Pastor Steve Foster holds degrees from Southeastern Bible College, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Biblical Theological Seminary. He came to CBC in May 2010 after serving as a youth pastor in New Orleans and an associate pastor in New Jersey, and is married to Liz with four sons. He blogs at heelcatcher.com and has published Heelcatcher: The Story of Jacob Revisited for Those Who Are Anxious, Tired, and Struggling to Make Life Work.
Bill Young, Associate Pastor of Community Groups, grew up in Dixon's Mills, Alabama, and first came to CBC as Senior Pastor in 1990. He served in that role until 2009, returned after fifteen years at Madison Bible Church in Alabama, and rejoined CBC in late 2024. Ken Courville, Associate Pastor of Discipleship, is a graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Zach Benton, Associate Pastor (youth and young adults), joined the staff in 2020 and has been in youth and college ministry for more than a decade.
The church is governed by a board of elders: Brandon Baird, Steve Foster (as teaching pastor), Drew Fillingame, Michael Lavespere, Carlton Jones, Stephen Punkay, Darryl DeMaris, and Nash Stewart. A Missions Committee, chaired by Julie Kennedy, oversees 516 Global alongside members Matthew Anderson, Tori Finley, Ava Lancaster, Chris Lowery, and Becky Young.