A 150-Year-Old Spring of Refreshment on Barbara Avenue
Enon Chapel Baptist Church sits on a quiet residential stretch of Barbara Avenue in Midway Park, a small town just inland from the North Carolina coast in Onslow County. The congregation has been gathering on this same road since 1872, when a group of brothers and sisters with a vision for spreading the gospel planted a church in what was then a coastal Carolina settlement. Today, more than 150 years later, the name "Enon" still defines the place, because the Hebrew word means "springs" or "a place of refreshing." Pastor Brandon Denson and the members describe that meaning as the heartbeat of the church: to refresh lives with the hope of the Gospel.
The church building and grounds hold the main worship center along with the Paul S. Odum Children's Building, an Education Building, a Fellowship Hall, and the church office across the street. The 101 Barbara Avenue address is the heart of the campus, while the food pantry operates out of the office just across the road and the Ladies' Brunch and cancer support gatherings meet in the Fellowship Hall at 102 Barbara Avenue. The whole property feels like a small village of ministries, and members say the goal has not changed since the founding generation: to lead people to honor and glorify Jesus Christ.
What to Expect on a First Visit
Visiting a new church can feel intimidating, so Enon Chapel has built its guest flow around making strangers feel like family. There is plenty of parking, and in bad weather a covered portico lets loved ones drop off or pick up visitors right at the front door. When you walk through the main entrance you are immediately greeted by the Welcome Center and a friendly deacon whose job is to answer every question. Clean, well-staffed nurseries for infants and toddlers are open during Sunday School and the worship service, and the children's wing has an active camera system that is monitored at all times by two deacons. Doors are kept locked and entry is monitored while services are in progress.
Clothing is a non-issue. The church's simple guidance to guests is, "Come as you are - God meets us where we are, and so do we." Children of all ages belong in every part of the morning, and age-appropriate ministries run alongside the regular services so the whole family can worship together.
Sunday at Enon Chapel
Sunday begins at 9:45 AM with Sunday School. The Sunday School program is the front door of the church and runs from the nursery all the way through the adult years. Children are grouped by age in the Paul S. Odum Children's Building, youth meet upstairs in Room 200 at 9:45, and adults split into more than a dozen small groups that gather in classrooms across the campus. The belief behind this design is simple: everyone has a voice in the discussion, so the church learns from one another and grows together.
At 11:00 AM the Sunday Morning Worship Celebration begins. Pastor Darby Worrell, who has served as worship pastor on two occasions since 1998 and again from 2000 onward, leads the music from the platform with a choir, a praise team, and an orchestra. Pastor Darby is known for blending classic worship hymns with the contemporary Christian songs of today and for building a worship environment where people are ready to encounter King Jesus. The service includes a time of prayer, the preaching of God's Word, and a time of giving. The sermons are built on Scripture, with the stated aim of transforming lives to be more like Jesus Christ. Twice a year the music ministry brings larger seasonal celebrations around Christmas and Easter, and these draw guests from across the community who would not otherwise visit a church.
Wednesday Nights at 6:30
Wednesday evenings carry the same spirit as Sunday mornings, with worship at 6:30 PM led again by Pastor Darby and the musicians. It is a smaller, more intimate gathering that keeps the same choir and orchestra working each week.
Two major programs run alongside that service. HALFTIME, the youth ministry, meets from 6:00 to 7:30 PM for middle and high schoolers. It opens with games, snacks, and time together, then breaks into small groups by grade, with Doug and Jessi Miracle leading middle schoolers, Kelsey Gladden leading underclassmen, and Darryl Lovelace and Nicholas Gladden leading upperclassmen. HALFTIME leaders understand that teens have jobs, sports, and extracurriculars, so they would rather a student arrive late than not at all.
In Room 212 at the same time, Financial Peace University runs its nine-week course on budgeting, eliminating debt, and building wealth through biblical financial principles. The class, adapted from Ramsey Solutions, is open to the public with childcare available. Books cost $80 and can be purchased securely through the church's Pushpay giving page.
Children from Crib to Fifth Grade
Children's ministry is organized around one mission: to train children, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to love God, love others, and love themselves, all for the glory of God. The verse anchors are Matthew 22:37, Matthew 22:39, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, John 1:12, Matthew 28:19-20, and 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Sunday mornings offer a full progression of programs. The nursery welcomes infants through two-year-olds during the 11:00 worship service, staffed by loving, well-trained volunteers who have all submitted to a background check. Two and three-year-olds gather for Worship Toddler Style, a Bible-based spiritual journey through stories, hands-on activities, games, and play. Four and five-year-olds move into Worship Preschool Style, where a multimedia curriculum keeps them actively engaged through activities, videos, games, and music. First through fifth graders meet for Worship KidStyle, a hands-on program with innovative teaching, interactive lessons, games, Bible memory challenges, and small-group time. All of this happens in the Paul S. Odum Children's Building between 9:45 and 10:45 on Sunday mornings. Family events such as the Easter Egg-Stravaganza, the Gingerbread Bash, Splish Splash Bash, Popsicles in the Park, Twist and Turns Vacation Bible School, Spark Studio VBS, Fall Festival, Trunk or Treat, the chili cookoff, Cupcake Wars, and Breakfast with The Shepherd on the Search round out the year. Parents can follow Enon Kids on Facebook for the latest updates.
Youth Anchored in Christ
The Youth Ministry aims for every student to know Jesus Christ and to find ultimate joy and satisfaction in Him. The teaching deepens understanding of the greatness of God and offers encouragement in the pursuit of godliness.
Sunday mornings at 9:45 bring the youth upstairs to Room 200 for Bible study and fellowship. The current curriculum, Anchored, is a small-group study that helps students find common ground within the faith so they can engage a changing world. Doctrinal and apologetical lessons tackle difficult topics, and both students new to faith and students who grew up in church find themselves equally stretched. The middle school class (grades six through eight) is led by The Merriets and The Cardiels, and the high school class (grades nine through twelve) is led by The Gladdens. Wednesday nights at HALFTIME add the games, snacks, and small groups that give teens a place to belong.
A Patchwork of Adult Classes and Bible Studies
Adults at Enon Chapel are not funneled into one Sunday School class. There are more than ten adult options meeting across the campus at 9:45, and the church encourages everyone to find the small group that fits their stage of life and their questions.
Young men in their twenties and thirties meet in Room 210 for "The Disciples Cross," a study led by Patrick Cochrane and AJ Thompson that walks through what it means to deny oneself, take up the cross daily, and follow Christ. Young ladies gather upstairs in Room 206 for "Experiencing the Heart of Jesus," a year-long study led by Amye Baker and Sarah Bishop for women just out of high school, young married women, and singles. Middle adults meet in Room 208 for a study on the Gospel of John led by Tom Oliver and Ryan Thomas. Median adults in their thirties through sixties meet in Room 212 with Rick Nyman, walking the talk of Christianity together. Adults in their fifties through eighties have three additional choices: Bible Study for Life with Ron Sirmans in Room 302 of the Education Building, which serves breakfast the first Sunday of every month; Masterworks with Jerry Huffman and Randy Eubanks in Room 101; and Explore the Bible with Jim and Sandy Gant along with Harold and Phyllis Orr in the choir room off the fellowship hall, with a ZOOM option for those who cannot attend in person. The Friendship Class, an all-women group led by Cathy Lagasse with Judy Vickers and Susan Turney, meets in Room 124. The Agape Class, led by Kathy Rhoades, welcomes women of any age for a study through John MacArthur's fundamentals curriculum in the downstairs Room 110. Senior Ladies (mainly sixty-five and older) form the Ritchie Class, led by Linda Mann and Michele Hickman in Room 103. Senior Men over eighty gather in Room 108 with Lyndell Bush for a chapter-by-chapter walk through the Bible, coffee, and conversation.
Beyond Sunday morning, two Monday night Bible studies keep adults in the Word during the week. The Men's Monday Night Bible Study, led by Pastor Brandon Denson, meets in Room 101 at 6:30 PM for a study through the book of Acts. All that is needed is a Bible, a notebook, and a pen. The Women's Monday Night Bible Study meets at the same hour in the Fellowship Hall under the leadership of Christy Hoosier and Cathy Lagasse, with rotating studies that have included works by Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Melanie Newton. Childcare is provided for both studies.
Missions Far and Near
Missions is a serious commitment at Enon Chapel. Nineteen percent of the church's undesignated funds go directly to missions each month, and the congregation partners through the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program, the unified giving plan that supports state conventions and SBC mission work, including Lottie Moon for international missions and Annie Armstrong for North American missions.
The 2025 mission family stretches from the mountains of Kentucky to the university towns of Hungary. Ron and Katie Dodge serve with INFAITH in Kentucky. Cathy Doyle represents the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Onslow County schools. Atti and Flora Egressey minister to university students in Hungary, and the church has watched their children grow each time the family visits. Terry Veazey travels the world with his "World Alive" evangelism campaign, often visiting with his cousin Harry. Pritt and Dana Adams, who helped plant churches and small businesses in Haiti through Rehoboth Ministries, still worship at Enon Chapel while their son John carries the work forward. Closer to home, the church partners with H2O Outreach Ministries in Sneads Ferry and Jacksonville, which provides spiritual, financial, and life-skills education along with housing services for people facing homelessness and recovery challenges. Hope First supports women and men through unexpected pregnancies. The Baptist Children's Homes of NC care for children whose lives have been marked by hard circumstances. The New River Baptist Association, the local Baptist association that connects Great Commission churches across the region, partners with Enon Chapel in bringing the gospel into Onslow County. The church also adopted Hunter's Creek Middle School as a local mission, providing back-to-school breakfasts for teachers and boxes of school supplies for students.
Food Pantry, Sewing Sisters, and the Hands of the Church
The Enon Chapel Baptist Church Food Pantry is a walk-up ministry providing free non-perishable groceries and personal care items to anyone in need. It operates out of the church office at 101 Barbara Avenue, across the street from the main church, on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and on Tuesday from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Food donations are always welcome.
CHEW, Children Healthy Eating on Weekends, is the church's local mission partner for feeding children. For every Share and Connect card that is turned in by a visitor or member, Enon Chapel donates funds so that no child goes home over the weekend hungry. Senior Pastor Brandon Denson says the simple act of filling out a card is already making a difference in the community.
Sewing Sisters is an outreach ministry of women who meet on Thursdays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM to quilt. The quilts are made on site with machines provided for anyone who does not own one, and they are given away as tokens of love to people experiencing the storms of life. No experience is necessary. The group opens each meeting with a devotional and prayer.
On the second Thursday of every month at 6:15 PM, the Nursing Home Ministry team drives to Premier Rehabilitation and Nursing Center at 225 White Street in Jacksonville for devotion and fellowship with the residents. Bingo begins at 6:45 PM, with snacks, conversation, prayer, and music shared throughout the evening. The aim is simple: to remind seniors that they are valued, loved, and never forgotten.
Counseling and Care for Hard Seasons
Cassandra "Sandy" Gant serves as the church's Christian Counseling Minister, offering marriage and family counseling across a broad range of issues, including addiction, behavioral, and emotional concerns. She holds a Master of Divinity in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and has been on staff since 2000. The Counseling Ministry also includes Titus 2 Women and Naomi's Friends, two women's ministries that pair older and younger women for mentoring. Appointments can be scheduled by calling the church office.
A Cancer Support and Prayer Group meets regularly for anyone going through treatment, recovering, or caring for a loved one. The simple invitation sums up the heart of the ministry: "No one should fight cancer alone."
What Enon Chapel Believes
Enon Chapel's beliefs are organized around the core doctrines of the Christian faith. The Bible is the complete Word of God, with the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments inspired by the Spirit of God as originally written and standing as the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. The church confesses one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, and eternal, existing in three equal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is confessed in His full deity, His eternal existence with the Father, His work of creation, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection, His triumphant ascension, His mediatorial ministry, and His personal return. The Holy Spirit is confessed as fully divine and personal, who convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment, who regenerates, indwells, seals, sanctifies, illuminates, and comforts believers, and who baptizes believers into the Body of Christ and bestows spiritual gifts sovereignly as He wills.
The church also affirms that Adam was divinely created in the image of God, that by his sin of disobedience he fell from that state, that all his posterity inherited spiritual depravity, and that all people are therefore guilty before God and condemned to physical and spiritual death. Salvation is by the sovereign grace of God: Christ voluntarily suffered a propitiatory death, justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and those whom God has effectually called shall be divinely preserved and ultimately perfected in the image of the Lord.
The Staff and Leadership
Pastor Brandon Denson is the senior pastor. He is a former Chairman of Deacons and a long-time Sunday School teacher at Enon Chapel, and he is married to Amanda Denson. Pastor Darby Worrell is the worship pastor, leading the choir, praise team, and orchestra each Sunday and Wednesday. Kelsey Gladden serves as Minister to Youth, working with teens since 2018 and a graduate of Liberty University. Sandy Gant serves as Christian Counseling Minister. Amanda Denson is Minister to Children, having joined the team in October 2020 with experience in children's ministry across six different churches in the United States and overseas. Amye Baker serves as Director of Education and Sunday School director. A Church Leadership Team provides overall direction and watches over the spiritual needs of the church, while twelve deacons, including Rick Nyman as Chairman of Deacons, serve the congregation.
The Preschool on Barbara Avenue
The Enon Chapel Baptist Church Pre-School operates as part of the church's ministry to families in the community. The 2026-2027 school year includes a two-and-a-half-year-old program on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, a three-year-old program on the same three days, and a four-year-old program that meets Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Tuition is $160 for the three-day program and $225 for the five-day program, with a $30 non-refundable registration fee and supply fees of $30 for three-day classes and $50 for five-day classes. Tuition and fees are paid online through the church's Pushpay giving app under the PRESCHOOL account. The preschool is dedicated to helping each child develop spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially in a safe, Christian-values-based environment, with classrooms that are brightly lit, well maintained, and equipped with learning aids.
Gifts to Enon Chapel can be made online, by texting "EnonChapelJax" to 77977, or by mail to the church office. Members and friends who want to serve can fill out the Get Involved form to be matched with a place to use their gifts.