A Church Plant on Thirteen Pecan Acres
First Baptist Church of Lexington sits at 415 Barr Road in Lexington, South Carolina, on a thirteen-acre campus dotted with the pecan trees that give the church's outdoor gathering area its name. The congregation held its first service on October 14, 1990, meeting at Lexington Middle School after a season of knocking on doors. Volunteers placed 12,000 phone calls in the community and identified 1,200 unchurched families, then followed up with personal invitations by mail. As attendance grew, the new church searched for land and eventually purchased the pecan-shaded property where the campus stands today. A 46,000-square-foot Worship Center, preschool wing, and children's ministry area were built, and the original school-style auditorium was later converted into a Student Center with a cafe and game area.
Lead Pastor Ralph Schneck serves a congregation that organizes itself around eight core values: God Focused, Bible Centered, Blessed to Bless, Multi-Generational, Excellence, Rescue Station, Global, and Circle of Friends. The church's stated mission is to teach biblical truths, love God, and live for Him.
Two Sunday Morning Services
The church offers two Sunday services in the Worship Center. At 9:00 AM the traditional service features the FBLex Choir and Orchestra leading blended music drawn from hymn arrangements and contemporary worship songs. No audition is required to join the choir, though a conversation with Worship Pastor Roy Stenstrom is encouraged, and instrumentalists are welcome as well.
At 10:30 AM the contemporary service is led by a band of six or more vocalists, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums, and keys. Participation in the band is by availability, mini-audition, and interview with the Worship Pastor. Each service runs about an hour, and greeters in the parking lot help direct first-time guests to the Connect team, who wear red shirts in the Worship Center lobby.
What to Wear and Where to Park
There is no formal dress code. Visitors are invited to come in whatever they are comfortable wearing. The greeters can assist with parking, and arriving fifteen minutes early gives first-time guests time to meet the Connect team and check children into their classrooms.
Wednesday Nights: Dinner, Bible Study, and AWANA
Wednesday evenings are a weekly rhythm at First Baptist. The night begins with a family dinner in the Fellowship Hall from 5:00 to 6:15 PM. Pricing is $5 for adults and children thirteen and older, $3 for children six to twelve, $2 for children two to five, and free for children under two, with a family maximum of $25.
At 6:30 PM the church splits into a wide range of studies and programs that run until 7:45. Adults can choose from a verse-by-verse study of Acts, an introduction called "What is the Bible?," several men-only options including New Life in Christ, "More Than Just Stories," and "Twelve Ordinary Men," and ladies-only classes such as "Strength in the Struggle" and "Find Your People." A co-ed Trauma Reboot support group also meets. Children from toddler through fifth grade take part in AWANA in the preschool hall and upstairs elementary rooms, middle schoolers gather for Amplify in Modulars 5 and 6, and high school students meet for The Fallout in the Student Center. The FBLex Choir and Orchestra rehearse on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 as well.
Adults: Small Groups, Men, Women, and Seniors
Small groups are central to the church's discipleship. Life Groups meet on campus on Sunday mornings, Home Groups meet in homes during the week, Core Groups gather in restaurants in groups of about four, and Spiritual Spotters are larger men-only or women-only accountability groups that meet around the community. A Discipled Veteran Group meets year-round on Wednesdays at 4:00 PM in Modular 2. A Barn Builders team also serves once a month, using handyman skills to perform minor carpentry, electrical, and plumbing projects for people in need. A new Home Connection Ministry is forming to provide visits, cards, errands, and rides for church members who can no longer get out easily.
Man Up is the men's ministry, designed to equip men as the spiritual leaders of their households. It includes the Man Cave Mondays Bible study at 7:00 PM in Modular 1 and the Spiritual Spotters accountability fellowship. FBLex Women brings together women of all ages through YOUNIQUE, a Sunday morning life group at 10:30 AM in Fellowship Hall Room 201/202, and ENCOURAGERS, a Wednesday morning group at 10:00 AM in Fellowship Hall Room 206/207 for women sixty and older. O.W.L.S. (Older, Wiser, Loving Seniors) hosts regular outings and luncheons, including a Veterans Day luncheon with special music guests, monthly cookouts, and trips to local restaurants and farms.
Children, Preschool, and the Weekday School
On Sunday mornings the Creation Station welcomes infants through kindergarten during both worship services. Children use The Gospel Project curriculum at 9:00 AM and have a more activity-based hour at 10:30 that includes circle time with a Bible story, song, and prayer. Older children in first through fifth grade meet in two Sunday school blocks and on Wednesday nights attend AWANA. AWANA programming also continues on Wednesday at 6:30 PM, with Puggles for two- and three-year-olds, Cubbies for three- and four-year-olds, and Sparks for kindergartners. KidsJAM, the children's choir for K4 through fifth grade, rehearses on Sundays at 5:00 PM with programs each spring and fall. A summer Vacation Bible School runs four nights each June.
FBLEX Weekday Preschool is a separate ministry of the church that serves children from 1K through 4K from 8:45 AM to 12:30 PM, Monday through Friday. The school offers four-day and five-day class options with monthly tuition between $270 and $375, plus extended care until 2:00 PM. Registration and supply fees apply. The preschool's mission is to nurture children in God's love through hands-on experiences, age-appropriate academics, creative play, music, and Bible-based lessons.
The After School Program ministers to 4K through eighth-grade students from 2:00 to 6:00 PM on school days, with pickup service from several local elementary and middle schools. The program includes seasonal Spring Break and Summer Camps and serves more than one hundred students each afternoon. Trail Life USA Troop SC-1:9 meets on the campus as a church-based, Christ-centered, boy-focused mentoring and discipleship program, and a Lexington Homeschool Co-op uses the facilities on Mondays during the fall and spring semesters.
Students: Amplify, FBLEX Youth, and College
Middle school students in grades six through eight are part of Amplify, which meets for a Sunday life group at 9:00 AM and a Wednesday worship gathering at 6:30 PM in Modulars 5 and 6. Middle School Pastor Kevin Salley oversees the ministry.
High school students in grades nine through twelve gather through FBLEX Youth. Sunday life groups meet at 9:00 AM, and on Wednesday nights The Fallout runs from 6:30 to 8:00 PM in the Student Center with worship music, teaching, and small groups. High School Pastor Tripp Hutto leads this ministry.
A College and Career Ministry serves young adults ages 18 to 25. There is a Sunday morning life group at 9:00 AM in Modular 3 and a Wednesday night small group Bible study at 8:00 PM in the Student Center. Tripp Hutto also serves as the College Pastor.
Celebrate Recovery and Ministries of Support
Celebrate Recovery is one of the church's largest and most visible outreaches. Based on the Beatitudes and the Twelve Steps, the program meets every Tuesday night at 6:45 PM in the Student Center, with an optional meal in the Fellowship Hall beforehand. The evening includes worship and teaching, Open Share small groups divided by gender and issue, and a Cross-talk Cafe with snacks and fellowship. The program is open to anyone in the community, regardless of church membership, and childcare is offered through Celebration Place for infants through fifth grade. A teen counterpart called Flashpoint meets in Modular 5 on most Tuesday evenings during the school year.
Surrounding Celebrate Recovery is a wide network of support ministries. DivorceCare and GriefShare run as structured video-based programs. Alzheimer's Support meets on the third Sunday at 3:00 PM in Fellowship Hall 202. Healing Strong, for people facing cancer and other diseases, gathers on the second Thursday at 7:00 PM. Umbrella Support Group, focused on mental health, meets at Williams Place in Cayce on the third Thursday at 4:00 PM. UPLIFT, for those with MS or other chronic illnesses, and a Caregivers Encouragement Group both meet on the fourth Thursday at 6:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall. The church also partners with Bridge of Hope Counseling Center and offers Celebrate Peers peer support and Recovery Rides transportation to medical, counseling, and recovery appointments.
Going Beyond Lexington: Global Missions
Missions are a defining part of the church's identity, with more than twenty missionary families and a long list of partner organizations supported financially and through prayer. Missionaries serve in Thailand (Brooks and Sadie Anderson, Jason and Poh Lai Goh), Albania (Will and Olivia Beers), the Philippines (David and Jill Coltrane), Australia (Nathan and Rene Foth, Dwayne and Valerie Keefe), Japan (Robbie and Briana Hughes), Moldova (Loreen Ittermann), Kenya (Ole and Renee Konnerup), Chad (Bert and Debbie Oubre), Haiti (Deb Runge), Costa Rica (LaMar and Joanna Salley), Romania (Gerald and Kristin Ziemer, Michael and Alina Ziemer), Nigeria (Corina Ziemer), Texas and previously Atlantic Canada (Greg and Collene Kent), and other restricted-access regions in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Christi Farley works with CRU at the University of South Carolina and Columbia College. Joe Youngblood leads church revitalization efforts in the United States.
The church's mission partners include Boys Farm, Equip International, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Gideons International, Island Encounters Fiji, the Jamaica Christian School for the Deaf, LaVie Pregnancy Care Center, Lifeline, Light of Messiah Ministries, Lighthouse for Life, MANNA Worldwide, and Providence Home of Columbia. Annual mission trips are sent to Thailand, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Jamaica, among other destinations, and the FBLex EJ Mission House provides housing for missionaries on temporary stateside assignment at a daily rate of $25 with a $100 deposit.
What the Church Believes
First Baptist Church of Lexington holds to historic Baptist beliefs. The sixty-six books of the Bible are considered the inspired and inerrant Word of God and the final authority for faith and practice. God exists eternally in three co-equal persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, the unique God-Man, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross as the full payment for sin, rose again, and now intercedes in heaven. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, gives new life at salvation, indwells believers, and empowers Christian living. Humanity was created in God's image but fell into sin through disobedience and is helpless to save itself.
Salvation is a gift of grace received by repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus Christ alone; once given, eternal life cannot be lost. The church teaches a literal heaven and hell, eternal security of the believer, and the visible, organized local church as the body of Christ on earth. Missions is treated as the primary task of the church, carrying the gospel to every nation and every generation. The church also holds to a future bodily return of Christ, a period of tribulation, a thousand-year reign of peace, and the creation of a new heaven and new earth.
Plan a Visit
First-time guests are encouraged to stop by the Connection Point desk in the Worship Center lobby before services. The Connect team can answer questions about worship styles, help families check children into Creation Station or AWANA, and connect visitors with a small group. Sunday morning services take place at 9:00 AM (Traditional) and 10:30 AM (Contemporary). Services are livestreamed on YouTube, recorded and posted to Vimeo, and devotional videos are available on the church's Vimeo page. Giving is available online through Pushpay. Daily encouragement emails, Right Now Media access, and Bible study resources are all part of the church's digital ministry, and a Discovery Class walks newcomers through membership and the church's beliefs.