A House on Main Street
Williamston First Baptist Church sits at 116 East Main Street in the small town of Williamston in Anderson County, South Carolina, in a setting that locals still refer to simply as "downtown." The church's mailing address is P.O. Box 477, Williamston, SC 29697, and the phone line into the office rings at (864) 841-8770. The building is flanked by the kind of fellowship and educational spaces that generations of small-town Baptist congregations have added over the years, and the church refers often to its Christian Life Center, or CLC, which functions as the busy crossroads for most of the week's activities.
The church describes its calling with a single sentence that hangs over everything else: "Williamston First Baptist exists to make a difference for today and tomorrow in our city through Jesus Christ our Lord." The phrase is not an abstraction. Members back it up with a building that opens early on Sunday mornings for breakfast, stays open through choir rehearsal on Wednesday nights, and hosts a food pantry drop-off, a backpack ministry, a Child Development Center, Vacation Bible School, women's conferences, youth mission trips, and an annual Fall Festival with trunk-or-treat on the parking lot.
Worship and the Sunday Morning Rhythm
The Sunday rhythm at Williamston First Baptist is built around three deliberate stops: a shared meal, a study hour, and a gathered worship service. Breakfast is served in the CLC and gymnasium at 9:00 AM, giving families a chance to sit down together before Sunday School begins at 9:30 AM. The 10:30 AM Worship Service is the weekly gathering of the whole church and is livestreamed on Facebook Live each Sunday at the same hour.
The congregation worships in the traditional Baptist mold with congregational singing, a choir, and the regular use of instruments. The music ministry's own description of worship says that "God created music to express thoughts and feeling in a deeper way than words alone ever will," and that the choir and instrumentalists seek to draw the community together in praise. Children are part of the morning until they are dismissed with their leaders after the announcements and opening songs; preschoolers through fifth graders then head to Kids Own Worship, a children's service tailored to their age level.
Wednesday Nights Around the Table
Wednesday is the busiest night of the week at Williamston First Baptist. The CLC fills with the smell of a shared supper at 5:30 PM, and from that meal the night branches in three directions. Children in preschool (ages 3 and 4) through fifth grade gather for KidzLife from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, a program built around games, an age-appropriate message, and small-group discussion. Sixth through twelfth graders meet on the second floor of the CLC for Remix, the youth group, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, with time for music, games, and teaching. Adults head into Adult Prayer and Bible Study at 6:30 PM, and the adult choir rehearses in the music room or sanctuary at 7:15 PM. Visitors are explicitly welcomed into the choir: "everyone is welcome" is the standing invitation.
The Wednesday night schedule is set up so that families can arrive together at 5:30, eat, and then move their children and students into their own programs while the adults settle into prayer and study. The KidzLife and Remix registration page notes that the program runs the length of the school year, beginning in mid-August and finishing in mid-May, with a snack supper for the children each week.
Children's Ministry: KidzLife and Kids Own Worship
Children's ministry at WFBC has two weekly touchpoints and a big summer week. On Sunday mornings before worship, children join age-appropriate Sunday School classes. During the worship hour, Kids Own Worship gathers preschoolers through fifth graders in the CLC after the announcements and opening songs; it is described as "a worship service designed with your child in mind."
On Wednesday evenings, KidzLife runs from 6:00 to 7:30 PM and combines games, a relevant Bible-based message, and small-group time. The program's own description says it is "centered on helping children know God through His Word." Parents are asked to fill out a registration form each year so that children can be checked in safely.
Each summer the church hosts Vacation Bible School, generally a Monday through Friday week in late June or early July, with supper served at 5:30 PM and VBS programming from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Children ages 4 through fifth grade are invited. Registration is handled through vbspro.events, and church-member volunteers are asked to complete a background check.
Youth: Remix and Mission Trips
Students in grades six through twelve meet on the second floor of the CLC for Remix on Wednesday nights, beginning with supper at 5:30 PM and the meeting itself at 6:30 PM. The rhythm is intentionally simple: music, games, and time in God's word together. Summer adds a mission trip component, with the church coordinating a youth mission trip that has included trips to Charleston in past years and a Parent Meeting in the weeks beforehand to handle health forms and travel details.
Women: WMU and the Bloom Conference
The women's ministry at Williamston First Baptist is built around the Women's Mission Union, or WMU, a Baptist tradition of women organized for missions, prayer, Bible study, and fellowship. Each month the WMU takes on a project to support ministries in the local community; recent months have focused on collecting supplies for the Ronald McDonald House, with donations including large dinner napkins, disinfectant wipes, paper towels, bottled water, and granola bars. The group also promotes the Janie Chapman Mission Offering, a South Carolina missions offering with an annual congregational goal.
Periodically the women host a one-day conference called Bloom, a four-hour gathering for worship, brunch, a workshop, and a guest speaker. Childcare is provided during the conference, and the day includes a craft and coffee from True Vine Coffee Co.
The Choir and Music Ministry
The adult choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings at 7:15 PM in either the music room or the sanctuary. According to the music ministry's own description, "God created music to express thoughts and feeling in a deeper way than words alone ever will. It is a valuable instrument of God to reach out to us and for us to praise Him beyond words themselves." The choir is open to anyone who has been thinking about joining; "come on out," the invitation reads, "everyone is welcome." Lana Pack serves as the Director of Music.
Operation Care and the Backpack Food Ministry
Local outreach at WFBC is organized through a Ministry Opportunities page that lists two standing food ministries. Operation Care is the church's partnership with the Palmetto Baptist Association's food pantry; canned goods and non-perishables can be dropped in the crates by the door to the main parking lot, and volunteers are also needed to help stock and distribute food at the Operation Care facility at the association office.
The Backpack Food Ministry fills backpacks with non-perishable food that local schools then distribute to children who need extra meals over the weekend. The list of items is specific: ramen noodles, boxes of mac and cheese, canned pastas with meat, canned chicken noodle soup, Vienna sausages, single packs of instant grits or oatmeal, single-serving boxes of cereal, microwave popcorn, single servings of canned fruit, single packs of chips or crackers, and peanut butter. Donations are placed on a table in Old Fellowship Hall.
The Child Development Center
Next door to, or adjacent to, the main church campus sits the Williamston First Baptist Child Development Center, a weekday preschool program that operates under the church's umbrella. The CDC has its own phone line at (864) 841-8772 and its own email at wfbccdc2026@gmail.com, and families interested in enrolling are encouraged to reach out directly. The CDC is one of the more visible ways the church stays present in the lives of local families during the week.
Leadership and Baptist Identity
The church is led by Trey Haning, who serves as Lead Pastor. Joel Lopez is the Student Minister, working with the youth ministry, and Lana Pack directs the music ministry. The congregation is identified on its own Leadership page as a Baptist church, "where each member is a vital resource to fulfilling our call as a church community," and where members choose those who serve in various ministries and leadership positions. The church is affiliated with the Palmetto Baptist Association, a regional network of Baptist congregations in the upstate of South Carolina, and the Palmetto Baptist Association sponsors events such as Sunday School Leadership Training that WFBC hosts and attends.
Pastoral leadership at WFBC is supported by a rotating council of deacons who are nominated and elected by the membership. The most recent published process called for nominations of four men to serve alongside the existing council, with scriptural qualifications drawn from 1 Timothy 3 and Acts 6 guiding the prayer and discernment.
Vision, Purpose, and Beliefs
The Vision page lays out the church's understanding of its calling in plain language. "A church should not offer just a band-aid approach to dealing with life, but rather should practically address how God speaks and guides us through the issues of our day." Six ministry areas organize the work of the church: Ministry, Prayer, Discipleship, Outreach, Fellowship, and Worship.
The overriding purpose is described as being Christ-like, with members pursuing total commitment of life, personality, and possessions to the Lordship of Christ. The Family Worship Guide that is published weekly for households reflects that discipleship focus: it walks families through a passage of Scripture, gives application points for adults and children, and ends with reflection questions and prayer.
The church's newsletter, called Baptist Beams, keeps the congregation informed week to week and is available online. Giving is handled through Tithe.ly. Visitors who want to keep up with the church between Sundays can follow the church's Facebook page, where Sunday worship is also livestreamed at 10:30 AM each week.
Finding the Church
The building is at 116 East Main Street in Williamston, and the church can be reached by phone at (864) 841-8770 or by email at williamstonsec@gmail.com. The mailing address, for those who prefer to send a note, is P.O. Box 477, Williamston, SC 29697. The first thing visitors encounter on a Sunday morning is the smell of breakfast in the CLC and gymnasium at 9:00 AM, followed by Sunday School at 9:30 AM and the morning worship service at 10:30 AM, and on Wednesdays the doors open again at 5:30 PM for supper before the week's ministries begin.