"Not a Regular Church" on South Moreland Road
First Baptist Church Bethalto sits on South Moreland Road in Bethalto, Illinois, a small town in Madison County. The congregation brands itself with the slogan "Not a Regular Church," and that ethos shapes the welcome: greeters wait near the main entrance, parking staff hold guest spots up front, and the whole church from preschool through senior adults flows through the same hallways on a Sunday morning.
The church describes itself as "a group of Christ followers who want YOU to join us" and frames its life around three words: Gather, Grow, Go. The mission statement reads, "To Gather, Grow, Go as a Family in Bethalto and the world." Gathering is what happens when a guest walks in the front door. Growing is what happens in small groups, Bible study, and discipleship. Going is the outward reach that pushes members toward the five people closest to them and on into the broader community and the world.
What Sunday Morning Looks Like
Sunday begins with small-group Bible study at 9:00 a.m. for every age group: preschoolers, children, students, younger adults, and senior adults meet simultaneously across the building. The regular Sunday worship service gathers at 10:15 a.m. in the church gym, where seating opens up and families fill the room together.
Worship is described as "rich in theology and contemporary in style," mixing classic hymns with current praise songs. The rotation is published on a Spotify Digital Hymnal so newcomers can hear the songs ahead of time. A Bible-based sermon follows the music, grounded in Scripture and aimed at everyday life, and the whole service runs a little over an hour.
Sunday evenings extend into children's and student programming. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade meet for Salt & Light at 6:00 p.m. Students in grades 6 through 12 gather for The Grove at 6:30 p.m. for food, small groups, and games.
What First-Time Guests Can Expect
Parking is available in two lots on the north and south sides of the building. The south (main) lot has reserved guest spots near the front door, and handicap parking is close to both the north and south entrances. Inside, a welcome desk sits just inside the main entrance, where a greeter will walk newcomers around.
The building has two floors. Preschool, children, and student departments sit upstairs on the second floor, along with a few younger adult classrooms. Senior adult classrooms are on the main level, along with the gym where Sunday worship is held.
On attire, the church's standing invitation is "come as you are": some attenders dress up, others dress casually, and there is no expectation of any particular style.
Seeds, Sprout, and The Grove: A Family Ministry by Age
Children from birth through high school are walked through three stages under one family ministry.
Seeds Preschool serves the youngest children, from birth through Pre-K, in a secure, nurturing environment during every Sunday morning and Wednesday activity. The curriculum teaches foundational biblical truths about salvation and Christian living through activity-based lessons designed to grow problem-solving, sharing, and kindness.
Sprout carries children from kindergarten through fifth grade. Children join the wider Bible study at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays, move into Sprout Worship during the 10:15 a.m. service, and gather again at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evenings for Salt & Light. Wednesday evenings during the school year bring TeamKid, an activity-based discipleship program. Retreats and summer camp fill out the rest of the calendar.
The Grove is the student ministry for grades 6 through 12. Students meet for Bible study at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays and gather again on Sunday evenings at 6:30 p.m. for an evening built around food, small groups, and games. The stated aim is to ground teenagers in their relationship with Christ and send them back out as disciple-makers in Bethalto and beyond.
What the Church Believes
First Baptist Church Bethalto holds to a confession of faith built around eighteen articles. The Bible is described as God-breathed, totally true and trustworthy, and the supreme standard by which all Christian belief and conduct should be tried. God is one being in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - each fully divine. Humankind is made in the image of God, fallen into sin, and in need of redemption.
Salvation is offered freely to all who repent of sin and place personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; it is described as a process that includes regeneration (the new birth), justification, sanctification, and final glorification. The church is understood as an autonomous local body of baptized believers governed under the lordship of Christ through democratic processes, with pastors and deacons as scriptural officers. The New Testament is also read as describing the wider church - the Body of Christ - made up of all the redeemed across every tribe, tongue, and nation.
A separate Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality affirms marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman and identifies sexual intimacy as a gift of God within that union. It articulates the church's position on human sexuality and gender and adds a clear pastoral note: every person, regardless of background, is a sinner in need of redemption and is owed "compassion, love, kindness, respect, truth, and dignity."
Baptism by Immersion
The church has built a careful, question-and-answer page around baptism, an act it calls "an outward expression of an inward change." Baptism does not save; it is a public symbol and celebration of salvation. Following the original New Testament language, baptism is performed by immersion: going under the water pictures the believer's death to sin, and being raised out of the water pictures resurrection to new life in Christ.
Anyone who has personally decided to follow Jesus is invited to be baptized. With children, parents are encouraged to point their sons and daughters toward the gospel, but the church waits until a child is old enough to express and understand his or her own decision before baptizing them. Once a person has been baptized by immersion after coming to faith, the church does not baptize that person again.
Growth Groups and Discipleship Resources
The 9:00 a.m. Sunday hour is just one door into the church's wider discipleship life. Growth Groups meet at other times of the week for Bible study, prayer, and community, and the church maintains an online Resources library organized under Discipleship, Men, Women, Family, and Devotionals. Members are encouraged to build rhythms of "God time and Family time" - personal devotional life and time invested in the family - as part of how they grow.
Serving Behind the Scenes
Five standing teams keep Sunday morning running and connect members to one another. The Hospitality Team handles event food and the Sunday morning coffee setup. The Greeter Team is "the first faces people see when they come to First." The Launch Team handles facility setup for services and special events. The Worship Team leads from the stage and behind the sound, lighting, video, and live-stream boards. The Media Team produces content for services and the church's social media feeds. Anyone in the congregation is invited to plug in where their gifts fit.
Missions: From Bethalto to the Ends of the Earth
The missions page works outward in three concentric circles. In North America, the church partners with the North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Southern Baptist Convention's domestic missions agency, which supports church planting and chaplaincy across the United States and Canada. Internationally, the church supports the International Mission Board (IMB), which sends Southern Baptist missionaries to unreached peoples around the globe. The church also highlights a specific partner, International Missionaries for Christ, a 501(c)(3) that reaches "the poor and displaced peoples of Africa" through church planting and a simple gospel message.
Locally, the church states plainly that it seeks "to spread the good news of the Gospel throughout our local community, our state, our nation, and the rest of the world," rooted in Acts 1:8.
The Pastoral Team
Josh Crisp has served as lead pastor since 2020. He and his wife Bethany have three children. Before entering ministry full time, he served two tours in Iraq with the Army.
Tim Drury joined the pastoral team in 2007. A Bethalto native, he oversees Care Ministry - benevolence, counseling, and member care - along with the day-to-day operations of the church. He and his wife Sarah Jane have two children.
Justin Falloon joined the staff in 2015 after teaching elementary music and serving churches in Missouri and Texas. He oversees worship, video, and media, leads Sunday morning worship, and produces the church's video content. He and his wife Erin have three children.
Practical Details
First Baptist Church Bethalto is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and cooperates with the Illinois Baptist State Association. Sunday services are streamed online through the church's Watch Online channel, and giving is available through an online giving portal. The full confession of faith and the church's Constitution and Bylaws are both publicly available. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a lunch break between noon and 1:00 p.m.