A Growing Church on Avenue J
First Baptist Church Shallowater sits at 703 Avenue J in Shallowater, a small town on the northwestern edge of the Lubbock area. From that location, FBC Shallowater, as the church calls itself, has grown into one of the busiest congregations in the region, drawing families from Shallowater and the surrounding South Plains with two Sunday morning worship services, a third hour full of small groups, a deep children's ministry, an energetic student program, and a busy preschool called Kids Day Out.
The church's vision is to serve all of Shallowater with grace and truth, and its mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Christ. Four words capture how the church carries that out: Worship, Grow, Serve, Go. Everything from Sunday morning gatherings to midweek Bible studies and short-term mission trips is built around those four movements.
Sunday Mornings: Two Services and a Full Hour of Grow Groups
After several years of growth, FBC Shallowater moved to a three-hour Sunday morning schedule. Worship services are held at 8:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., with Grow Groups for every age filling the 10:00 a.m. hour between them. The two-service format allows the church to accommodate new families while preserving the space for the kind of small-group connection the staff considers essential.
Each worship service runs about an hour and fifteen minutes. The worship team leads about twenty minutes of upbeat, contemporary songs, mixing celebratory music with quieter moments of reflection. A welcome, announcements, and an offering follow, then a Scripture-based message from the pastoral team. Communion is observed once a month, and anyone who has made a decision to follow Jesus is welcome to participate, though visitors are not expected to. A prayer team is stationed near the left exit of the Worship Center throughout the service, and at the close anyone who would like prayer can come to the front of the room.
The atmosphere is intentionally casual. Greeters hand out bulletins, ushers help with seating, and visitors are not asked to stand or be identified. First-time guests are encouraged to fill out a Connect Card from the bulletin (a QR code makes it simple) and are welcomed with a fresh apple pie as a thank-you. There are no saved seats in the auditorium, coffee is welcome, and sitting alone is fine. Dress ranges from jeans to suits.
Kidzville: The Children's Wing
Jesus is the only story told in every room of the children's wing, which the church calls Kidzville. From babies through sixth grade, children experience a safe, age-appropriate environment built around Bible teaching, worship, and relationship.
On Sunday mornings, Nursery and Pre-K classes run during both worship services. KidzChurch for K through 3rd grade meets at 8:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. from August through May. During the 10:00 hour, children join KidzVille Grow Groups, organized by gender and grade: Nursery through Toddlers in Room 103, Pre-K three- and four-year-olds in Room 101, Kindergarten in Room 208, 1st and 2nd grade girls in Room 201, 3rd and 4th grade girls in Room 205, 1st through 4th grade boys in the KidzChurch room, and 5th and 6th grade classes split between Rooms 202 and 210. In the summer months, K through 6th grade sit with their parents in the Worship Center so children can see baptisms, the Lord's Supper, and adult worship modeled.
Wednesday nights run the children's ministry again from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. during the school year, with Team Kid for K through 6th grade. Security is taken seriously: parents check children in at the Kidzville entrance, receive a printed name tag with a barcode security number, and matching parent receipts ensure the right child goes home with the right adult.
Children's Pastor Julie Batten has served at FBC Shallowater since 2005. She works closely with parents, helping them see themselves as the primary spiritual leaders in their children's lives, and provides resources for families walking through a child's decision to follow Christ.
Stampede Ministries: Middle and High School
The student ministry at FBC Shallowater goes by the name Stampede Ministries, drawn from Hebrews 12:1 and the imagery of a herd on the move. The name unifies the middle school and high school programs under one banner and ties into the agricultural roots of the area.
On Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m., students gather for Bible study, working through passages and splitting into small groups for discussion. Wednesday nights are the marquee gathering. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for a meal, with the full program running from 6:45 to 8:00 p.m. The evening includes games, announcements, a worship set led by a student worship band, and separate teaching tracks for middle school and high school followed by age-specific small groups. Wednesday nights pause during the summer.
Special events run through the year, including a Fall Kick Off, See You at the Pole, Fields of Faith, a Middle School Fall Retreat, a High School Weekend, a Night of Worship, Color Wars, and Senior Sundays each spring. The ministry is led by Cam, who joined the staff in June 2025 after teaching and coaching in the area and playing college football at Wayland Baptist University, and Michael, who has been on staff since June 2021 and holds a Bachelor's degree in Christian Ministry from Wayland Baptist University.
Kids Day Out (KDO)
Beyond Sunday and Wednesday programming, FBC Shallowater runs a thriving weekday preschool called Kids Day Out (KDO). Children from six weeks to five years old attend Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., September through May, in a Christ-centered environment that includes learning time, story time, art, music, free play, and playground time.
Tuition is $185 a month for all ages, with a one-time $75 registration fee. The toddler classroom requires diapers, the twos classroom is set up for either diapers or potty training, and children entering the fours class must be fully potty trained. Current KDO families re-enroll in late March, with general public registration opening April 13. The program is led by Lezlee Swan, who joined FBC Shallowater in 2021 as a KDO teacher and became Preschool and KDO Director in August 2024.
College and Career
The College and Career ministry is built for people between eighteen and twenty-five, navigating the transition from high school to career. The group takes seriously the questions that arise in that season - how faith holds up under ideas encountered on a college campus, how to follow Christ in a job that seems far from the church - and meets for Bible study, conversation, and fellowship. Newcomers are welcome; dress is casual and the expectation is good conversation and a relevant study.
Adult Grow Groups and Life Groups
The backbone of life at FBC Shallowater is the small-group system. The staff teaches that authentic community happens in circles, not rows, so getting connected at FBC Shallowater means participating in a Grow Group. Grow Groups meet during the 10:00 a.m. Sunday hour, with classes for every age and stage of life, while Life Groups meet on weeknights in homes and on campus.
Adult Grow Groups include The Lighthouse, The Well, Chaos (a young-adult group), Grace, Calm, Deeper, Sunshine, and Barnabas. Life Groups include Caldwell, Eastwood, Encore 60, Fishers of Men, Kliedbrink and Gill, Rendon, and The Table. Many of the Life Groups are organized around geography or life stage, giving people a regular place to study Scripture, pray, and do life together.
Senior Adults: Encore and Legacy Care
Adults age sixty and older find their own community at FBC Shallowater through Encore, a once-a-month program that meets on the second Monday for a meal and a speaker. Encore encourages older adults to inspire and not just retire, to engage in ministries that advance the kingdom, and to invest their talents and experience into younger generations.
The Legacy Care Ministry extends that care to seniors and others who cannot attend regular services because of health issues. Volunteers make regular visits and phone calls, remember birthdays, assist with the livestream, and serve communion alongside the deacons, especially during holidays.
Worship, Discipleship, and The Gospel Project
The worship team is led by Jeremy, who began serving as interim worship leader in June 2020 and was hired as part-time Worship Pastor in February 2022. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Church Music from Wayland Baptist University and a Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of the Southwest, and he also serves as Director of Education, Recreation, and Spiritual Development at Texas Girls and Boys Ranch in Lubbock.
Discipleship across all ages is coordinated by Anna Jackson, Discipleship and Development Coordinator. A former teacher, counselor, and administrator with a Master of Education in Counseling, Anna helped introduce a unified curriculum for the church called The Gospel Project. The Gospel Project walks through the Bible chronologically from Genesis to Revelation, with every age group studying the same passage each week so families can continue the conversation at home. The curriculum is Christ-centered, theologically rich, and missionally minded, and it anchors the church's Grow Groups for adults, students, and children.
Men's, Women's, and Marriage Ministry
Wednesday night Bible studies are split by gender, with men's and women's studies meeting at 6:30 p.m. during the school year. Marriage ministry includes an annual Marriage Impact weekend - a time of encouragement, laughter, and biblical teaching aimed at strengthening relationships whether they are thriving or struggling. The most recent gathering centered on the theme Faithful Through the Fight.
The women's ministry also runs a sewing and crafts group called Stitches of Love, a meal team that provides food for families in need, and a team that prepares funeral meals for grieving church members.
Support, Grief, and Family Resources
The church hosts GriefShare, a thirteen-week support group for people walking through loss, with each session focused on a different aspect of grief. The group is open to the community and is structured so that consistent attendance builds the strongest support.
Family ministry includes RightNow Media, a streaming library of Bible study, marriage, parenting, and youth content available to church members at no cost. A curated list of family resources covers online safety, parenting youth culture, pornography, sexuality and gender, anxiety, and depression, drawing on trusted ministries such as Focus on the Family, The Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, Brave Parenting, Protect Young Eyes, and Rooted Ministry.
Serve Teams and the Beyond These Walls Campaign
FBC Shallowater runs more than thirty serve teams, covering every area of church life. Worship, audio-visual, greeting, hospitality, nursery, children's ministry, students, Legacy Care, outreach, fellowship, pie making (yes, the apple pie first-time guests receive is baked by a church team), Stitches of Love, the meal team, the funeral meals team, Grow Group leadership, Mustard Seed (a hospitality team), Apples of Gold (a teaching and hospitality ministry for women), Not Forsaken Orphan Care, the hospital visitation team, and the prayer team are all coordinated through the Serve Team pipeline.
To accommodate the growth that has come with the new Sunday schedule, the church launched a capital campaign called Beyond These Walls, designed to remodel the facility and expand community reach. The campaign includes a forty-day season of prayer and fasting, three-year pledges, and a vision to update and expand children's ministry facilities, build an all-new foyer and community gathering area, and position the church as a gathering place for the town of Shallowater. Campaign leadership includes Pastor Brad Miles as Lead Pastor, Steve Nieman as Campaign Director, Kindrea Longway as Prayer Team Leader, Emily Davis as Event Team Leader, and Audra Caldwell as Media and Admin Leader.
A new Bus Ministry is also underway, designed to help children in the community get to church, build relationships, and hear about God. Volunteer drivers, riders, welcomers, and relationship builders are being recruited through the church's registrations page.
Leadership and Governance
The pastoral staff is led by Senior Pastor Brad Miles, a singer, songwriter, and musician who joined FBC Shallowater believing God had called him to encourage, equip, and inspire people to live the Christ-life. He and his wife Amy have two children, Carsen and Sadie.
A Leadership Team of eight church members, alongside the Senior Pastor, supports specific areas of church life. Members bring spiritual gifts, talents, and wisdom to function as servants, discerners, and guardians of the church and its mission. The current chair is Kaleb Rendon (Chairman of Stewardship); Kindrea Longway serves as Vice Chair and Worship Representative; John Everitt as Secretary and Deacon Representative; Mike Gable as Chairman of Properties; Kristi Barker as Serve Representative; Brice Foster as Go Representative; and Robin Williams as Grow Representative. Mike Gable also serves as a Deacon.
A long list of deacons supports the pastoral staff in ministry to the congregation, including Bart Greer, Ben Wells, Bret Holloway, Chris Williams, Damon Crabtree, David Blackburn, David Sewell, Doug Choate, Doug Taylor, Glen Harville, James Norton, Jason Fisher, Joe Kirk Smith, JT Holt, Justin St. Clair, Kerry Sarchet, Kyler Kliedbrink, Lyndal Trout, Rodney Vincent, Russel Martin, Sandy Peters, Steve Nieman, Steve Rackler, Terry Rasco, Todd Dipprey, Troy White, Wally Davis, and Walt Pene.
What the Church Believes
First Baptist Church Shallowater aligns itself with the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. The church teaches that the Bible is the divinely inspired revelation of God and the unfailing rule of faith and practice. There is one true God, eternally revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God the Father reigns with providential care over creation. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death on the cross for the redemption of humanity, rose again in a glorified body, ascended to the right hand of God, and will return personally and visibly in glory. The Holy Spirit inspired Scripture, illuminates truth, convicts of sin, exalts Christ, baptizes believers into the Body of Christ, cultivates Christian character, and seals believers until the day of final redemption.
Humans are made in the image of God but fell into sin through the temptation of Satan, inheriting a nature inclined toward sin. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, encompassing regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Repentance and faith are inseparable gifts of grace.
The church is described as an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant, observing two ordinances - baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper - and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Last things include the personal, visible return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, everlasting punishment for the unrighteous, and eternal reward for the redeemed. The church also teaches that every Christian is called to give cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the kingdom.
Media, Podcasts, and Staying Connected
Worship services are livestreamed on YouTube and uploaded as the Weekly Worship Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean. Three additional podcasts round out the church's media footprint. First Things First, hosted by Pastor Brad Miles, is a weekly conversation with guests from the church, community, and around the world about faith and life in Shallowater. The Deep Dive walks through a book of the Bible week by week, with Pastor Brad discussing the passage alongside a special guest and listeners reading along using downloadable study guides for Genesis, Hebrews, Mark, and Philippians. Stampede Ministries Podcast is the youth ministry's voice, featuring Bible studies, youth group stories, and leader testimonies.
Connect with the church through Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, and YouTube, and manage registrations, giving, group sign-ups, and the church directory through the Church Center app. The mailing address for gifts and Beyond These Wall campaign contributions is FBC Shallowater, 1008 8th Street, Shallowater, TX 79363. The church office is open Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and can be reached at (806) 832-4511.