A Baptist Congregation on Kuser Road in Hamilton Square
Faith Baptist Church sits at 2111 Kuser Road in Hamilton Square, Mercer County, just minutes from the Trenton border, and has made that stretch of Kuser Road its home for decades. The church's motto, displayed in two short lines, captures the entire reason it gathers each week: Love God Supremely & Love Others Sacrificially. A fuller vision statement expands the idea into a single sentence: the church exists to be a community of disciples who glorify God by loving Him supremely and loving others sacrificially. It is a Baptist church in conviction and practice, and the building on Kuser Road is its only campus.
From that single location on the corner of Kuser and its cross street, Faith Baptist Church runs a full weekly rhythm of worship, small groups, midweek Bible study, children's clubs, a youth ministry, a separate Spanish-language congregation, a Christian academy, and a missions program that reaches across the Americas and the Pacific. First-time visitors are greeted by signs pointing the way to reserved parking, and the welcome desk in the lobby is staffed to help families get where they need to go.
Sunday in Three Gatherings
The Sunday rhythm begins at 10:00 a.m. with the Morning Worship service. Translation in Spanish and sign language interpretation in ASL are provided during this gathering, so that the same sermon can be heard by English speakers, Spanish speakers, and members of the deaf community from a single pulpit. A typical service runs about an hour, and the musical style is blended, meaning the congregation sings contemporary worship songs alongside the great hymns of the Christian faith. Preaching draws directly from the text of Scripture; the church seeks to exegete Scripture and to exegete life from the same passage.
Immediately after the morning service, at 11:15 a.m., the church opens its Sunday Small Groups. These are the discipleship hour, when children, students, and adults break into age-appropriate classes for Bible study and fellowship. The evening closes with a 6:00 p.m. Sunday Evening Worship, a second congregational gathering that mirrors the format of the morning service for those who cannot attend earlier in the day.
Wednesday Night and the Bible Study Hour
On Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., the church gathers for its midweek service. The format is Bible teaching and prayer, and the building fills with adults as well as the student ministry. The youth group, known as 180, meets at the same hour, so middle-schoolers and high-schoolers can worship with their families or join their own track of teaching. All three regular services, the 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship, the 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening service, and the 7:00 p.m. Wednesday Bible study, are livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, with a backup feed available through Sermon.net for anyone whose connection is fussy.
What a First-Time Visitor Should Know
Visitors are asked to look for the Visitor Parking signs on their first trip. From the parking lot, the welcome desk in the lobby is the natural first stop. A typical service lasts about one hour, and members dress in a range that reflects the blended style of the music, from casual to business casual. The whole family is welcome, including babies, and the church maintains well-stocked nurseries that provide everything a young child might need except milk, formula, bottles, and pacifiers. Parents are asked to label anything they bring to the nursery and to tell the volunteer staff about any allergies or special needs their child may have. New families with young children are encouraged to arrive about fifteen minutes before the service starts so the welcome desk team can point them to the right room.
The church takes accessibility seriously. The Sunday morning service is interpreted in ASL and translated into Spanish each week, a practice that has long been part of who the congregation is rather than an occasional accommodation, and reflects a broader concern for making the room easy to enter.
A Statement of Faith Built on the Whole Bible
The church's published Statement of Faith covers the full scope of historic Baptist doctrine. Scripture is held to be the verbally inspired, inerrant Word of God and the sole authority for belief and practice. The Godhead is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in nature and distinct in office. The church confesses the historic doctrines of creation in six days by direct act (not by evolution), the fall of man into sin and total depravity, salvation by grace through faith in the atoning death of the risen Christ, and the security of the believer.
Two ordinances are observed. Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water and is treated as a prerequisite to church membership. The Lord's Supper is observed as a memorial of Christ's death, always preceded by baptism and preceded by careful self-examination.
On the last things, Faith Baptist Church holds a premillennial, pretribulation view: Christ will return before the seven-year tribulation to catch away His church, then return with His church at the close of the tribulation to set up His earthly kingdom. What distinguishes the church even from some Bible-believing Baptist churches is its position on the timing of the rapture and second coming; members may disagree on those details while agreeing on the events themselves.
The statement also addresses marriage and sexuality from a traditional reading of Genesis, Matthew, and Ephesians, defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman and teaching that sexual intimacy is designed by God to take place only within that union.
Children: AWANA Clubs on Tuesday Nights
Children's discipleship takes a structured, character-building shape through AWANA Clubs, which meet on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. between September and May. The program is designed to bring boys and girls to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and to train them to serve Him, and it divides children into three clubs by grade level. Cubbies is for children ages three and four (the two years before kindergarten), with Bible stories, memory verses, hands-on projects, games, snacks, and a puppet show. Sparks covers kindergarten through second grade and adds a more developed handbook time alongside the Bible lesson and game time. T and T, which stands for Truth and Training, takes third through sixth graders through deeper Bible study, scripture memory, and creative activities. A follow-on program called TREK is available for those who graduate out of T and T. Parents can register their child online and pick up welcome packets with club-specific information from the church office.
Students: 180 Youth Ministry
Middle-school and high-school students belong to 180 Youth Ministry, which meets on Sundays at 11:15 a.m. in the small-group hour and again on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. for youth night. The ministry's stated purpose is to connect youth to God, help them grow in their relationship with Him, and equip them to serve the world. Anchoring the program is Romans 12:2, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. The teens also have a merchandise store, called the 180 Merch Store, that lets them wear what they are learning.
Mosaic Baptist Church: A Spanish-Speaking Congregation
Housed under the same roof is Mosaic Baptist Church, a Spanish-language congregation pastored by Rey Edwards. Pastor Rey joined Faith Baptist Church in 2015 after more than thirty years in ministry, holds a Master's Degree in Expository Preaching, and is the founder of Spanish Mission Builders, a missionary ministry focused on evangelizing Latin America. He and his wife Julia have three children: Elizabeth, David, and Hannah. Mosaic extends the reach of the Kuser Road building beyond English-speaking worshipers and feeds directly into the church's wider Latin American missions vision.
Faith Christian Academy
Faith Christian Academy is the church's Christian school, operating with a separate identity. The academy gives the congregation a way to disciple children during the school day as well as on Sundays, and it pairs naturally with the church's AWANA and youth tracks. The academy serves as a partner ministry alongside the other programs that run from the Kuser Road campus.
Missions Across the Americas and Beyond
Missions are woven into the identity of the church. Faith Baptist supports a slate of missionaries and church-planting families that spans the United States, Latin America, the Pacific, and the deaf community in America. The current roster includes Carolyn Curtis in the United States; Rey and Julia Edwards in Latin America; Nathan and Marllorys Arce in Venezuela; Jeff and Deanne Davoll in Ecuador; Mitch and Zhava Glaser in the United States; Jim and Terry Bracelin serving the deaf in America; Juan and Melissa Santafe in Colombia; and Jim and Emi Civale in the Samoan Islands. The mission team also includes Nathan Arce, and several of the families serve alongside organizations such as the Spanish Mission Builders and Chosen People.
The Pastoral Team
Six pastors share the work of ministry on the Kuser Road campus. Senior Pastor Lance Walker has served at Faith Baptist Church since 1996 and holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Divinity from Central Seminary in Minneapolis; he and his wife Kristine have been married for more than thirty years and have three adult children. Administrative Pastor Steve Carpenter has served alongside him since 1996 and holds the same seminary degrees from Central Seminary; he and his wife Christine have one adult child. Education Pastor Jim Civale joined the staff in 2022, holds an M.A. in Educational Administration, and has spent years planting churches and schools as an overseas missionary alongside his wife Emi; together they have four children and three grandchildren. Associate Pastor Dave Crompton came on staff in 2015 with a B.R.E. from Baptist Bible College and a Master of Divinity from Baptist Bible Seminary, and has been married to Lin since 1980; they have four grown daughters and nine grandchildren. Mosaic Baptist Church Pastor Rey Edwards has been in ministry for over thirty years. Youth Pastor Lawrence Lartey also joined in 2015, holds a B.S. in Youth Ministry from Lancaster Bible College, and met his wife Amanda there; they have three children, and he spends his downtime playing sports with the teens.
Supporting the Ministry
The church makes giving straightforward. Members and visitors can give online through the church's Breeze ChMS portal, set up a one-time or recurring gift, text a dollar amount to (609) 552-8339 to give by text, place a check or cash in one of the offering boxes during any service, or send money through Zelle to the financial secretary's email. Zelle works through most major banks, and members should include a memo line so funds are directed correctly.
Core Values that Shape Everything Else
Underlying the programs, services, and mission partnerships are four core values that the congregation asks its members to share. Biblical Authority holds that the Bible is God's inspired truth and the sole foundation for belief and practice. Authentic Community calls the church to be a shared life of encouragement, accountability, and genuine love. Corporate Worship seeks an environment where people personally and collectively encounter the Lord Jesus Christ. Missional Engagement sends disciples out to share Christ with their lips and with their lives in every area of life. Those four values give the rest of the church's work its shape and explain why a single building on Kuser Road can host a bilingual, intergenerational, and globally connected ministry.