A KJV Church on the West Side of Naples
Located just off Immokalee Road on the northwest side of Naples, Naples Independent Baptist Church meets in a single-story building at 5860 Autumn Oaks Lane, where Pastor Joseph Baxter has been preaching since 2019. The church was formerly known as Naples Baptist Temple, and the old name still appears on its tax filings as a DBA. Visitors from Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, and Marco Island find a congregation built around three commitments: the Authorized King James Version as the only Bible used in the pulpit, the great hymns of the faith sung from hymnals, and a plain, expository style of preaching meant to point every listener to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The church's motto is "In Spirit and In Truth," and the body of believers gathers around the conviction that true worship and true service belong together, at church and in everyday life. Every service is meant to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ through the preaching of God's Word, the sharing of the gospel, and practical compassion toward the surrounding community in Collier County.
The Preaching: From the King James Bible, Every Service
Every sermon at Naples Independent Baptist comes straight from the Authorized King James Version. The statement of faith calls the KJV "divinely preserved in the English language" and names it the official and only translation used in the church. Scripture is read in its normal grammatical-historical sense, and the preaching aims to declare the Bible in such a way that the Holy Spirit can press its claims on each hearer.
Recent sermon series posted online include "The Office of Pastor," a Wednesday evening walk through the twenty-two biblical requirements for the pastorate set out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1; "Peace in Conflict," a Sunday morning study through the Psalms on godly peace in turbulent times; and "God's Orders - GO!," a Sunday School series on personal evangelism that walks through the Four States of the Soul, dealing with skeptics, and the power of a personal testimony. Each series is also available on the church's YouTube channel, so members who are traveling, ill, or providentially hindered can keep up with the teaching.
Music follows the same intentional, traditional pattern. The congregation sings the great hymns of the faith from printed hymnals, with special music that the church describes as nourishment for the soul, an old-fashioned music in the best kind of way.
Sunday: Sunday School, Morning Worship, and Evening Service
The Lord's Day begins at 10:00 AM with Sunday School. Classes are offered for every age, and every class works through the King James text. Children are grouped by the ministry that suits them, while adults gather for the auditorium class.
At 11:00 AM, the morning worship service gathers the whole church family for hymns, prayer, and preaching. Visitors are welcomed with a brief note about the service: preaching straight from the KJV, with every message meant to point people to Jesus, lift up the downhearted, and challenge everyone in the room.
The day closes at 6:00 PM with the Sunday evening service, a quieter gathering of singing and preaching to close out the Lord's Day. Members who cannot attend in person can join every one of these services through the livestream on the church's YouTube channel.
Wednesday Night: Coffee, Prayer, and the King's Kids
Midweek, the building opens its doors at 6:30 PM for coffee and fellowship, a casual half-hour that lets regulars and newcomers share a cup before the study begins. At 7:00 PM, the adults gather for the Bible study and prayer meeting, described simply as "Prayer and Growth," where the church works through a passage of Scripture and prays together.
At the same 7:00 PM hour, the children's wing comes alive with King's Kids, the church's midweek program for kids. Children learn Scripture, sing, and play in an environment shaped by the same KJV teaching that fills the auditorium. Parents drop their children at 7:00 and head into the prayer meeting, knowing their kids are in a program designed to match the church's doctrine.
Children and Students: Nursery Through Teen
Naples Independent Baptist takes the biblical charge to train the next generation seriously, and the children's ministries are designed so that no family has to choose between a service and a safe place for their child.
- Loving Nursery. Qualified, authorized care for infants and toddlers ages 0 to 3 during services.
- Junior Department (Junior Church). A children's service for ages 4 to 12, held during the regular preaching hour, filled with Bible teaching, activities, and games tailored to the age group.
- King's Kids. The Wednesday night program that meets at 7:00 PM alongside the adult prayer meeting.
- Teen Department. A separate track for teenagers that meets during the Sunday School hour.
Every class uses the King James Bible, so children grow up hearing the same translation they will hear from the pulpit for the rest of their lives. The Sunday School hour at 10:00 AM is built around this vision, with classes for every age grouped under one roof.
Adults: Ladies, Men, College and Career, and Recovery
Beyond Sunday School and the regular services, the church runs a number of ministries aimed at the particular seasons of adult life.
- Ladies Fellowships. Regular gatherings for women to study Scripture and encourage one another.
- Men's Meetings. Times for the men of the church to pray, fellowship, and hold one another accountable.
- College and Career. A ministry for young adults navigating the transition out of the home, with teaching and fellowship aimed at their stage of life.
- Addictions Recovery. A discipleship and support ministry for those struggling with addictions, grounded in the gospel and the church's pastoral care.
- Van Ministry. An outreach effort that provides rides to services for those who otherwise could not attend, a tangible expression of the church's call to go and bring.
- Bible Studies. Additional structured times of learning and applying Scripture, often in small groups.
Beliefs: An Independent Baptist Statement of Faith
Naples Independent Baptist identifies as an Independent Baptist church, a local, visible assembly of baptized believers who govern themselves under Christ and are not part of any convention or hierarchy. The statement of faith runs through the historic Baptist doctrines in detail.
The Bible is held to be the verbally and plenary inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God, with the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as the complete divine revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, who accomplished redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice and was raised bodily for our justification; He now sits exalted at the right hand of God as High Priest, Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. The Holy Spirit is a person who convicts, regenerates, indwells, and seals believers, with the sign gifts such as tongues and the gift of healing treated as temporary gifts that have ceased.
Salvation is the gift of God, received by personal faith in the finished work of Christ, and the church explicitly rejects the notion that only the elect may be saved, holding instead that the gift is freely available to "whosoever will." Once saved, the redeemed are eternally kept by God's power through the sealing of the Holy Spirit. Two ordinances are observed: baptism by immersion of the believer in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (with baptism understood as a prerequisite to church membership), and the Lord's Supper as a closed or restricted observance limited to members in good standing.
The church also holds to a literal six-day creation, a personal Satan, dispensational eschatology, and a pretribulational rapture followed by a personal, visible return of Christ to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom. The statement includes clear positions on human sexuality, marriage as the union of one man and one woman, the sanctity of unborn life, biblical separation from worldly pleasures, the prohibition of lawsuits between believers, and tithing as the baseline for Christian giving. Only men who have always been men are eligible for the offices of pastor and deacon.
On missions, the church follows the Great Commission in its classic Baptist shape: evangelism, baptism, and discipleship, with the most biblical form of missions understood as the planting of local New Testament Baptist churches. The body meets annually for Faith Promise Giving to support missionaries at home and abroad.
Online Learning: Bible Studies You Can Take at Your Own Pace
For those who want to dig deeper on their own, the church maintains a Learning page of video-based, online Bible studies. They are described as hassle-free, no spam, no cost, and no conflict, with a presentation that lets the Bible speak for itself rather than carrying a denominational agenda. The aim is to give every viewer enough material to weigh the evidence and judge for themselves, whether they are seekers, skeptics, or seasoned believers.
A companion Glossary page defines key terms from Adoption to Zion in the church's own words, covering doctrines such as the Trinity, the pre-tribulation rapture, biblical church autonomy, the inspiration of Scripture, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Together, the Learning and Glossary pages amount to a small theological library written in plain English for visitors who want to read along at home.
The Pastor: Joseph and Karis Baxter
Pastor Joseph Baxter answered the call to preach in 1996 under Pastor Leon Gray, who began sending him out to fill pulpits. Before moving to Naples, he served in nursing-home ministries at Berean Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri, and did a stint of long-term pulpit supply at Wilson Avenue Baptist in Monett. Joseph and Karis have been married since May of 1999, and they have six children: Kendra, Evan, Titus, Nolan, Liam, and Colin. Evan and his wife Taylor now have two children of their own, Miles and Reagan. The Lord has also called both Titus and Nolan to preach.
Pastor Baxter has been at Naples Independent Baptist (then Naples Baptist Temple) since 2019. He is a frequent preacher on the church's YouTube channel, and his recent series on the Office of Pastor makes plain the kind of pulpit he wants to keep, grounded in the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.
Plan Your Visit
The church makes a first visit as easy as possible. Visitors can simply show up at 5860 Autumn Oaks Lane, Naples, FL 34119, slip into a pew, and let someone greet them at the door. Those who would rather not walk in unannounced can fill out a short online form on the Plan Your Visit page, and someone will watch for them at the door.
Parking wraps the whole building, so there is room whichever way you come in, and two spaces by the south door are reserved for handicapped parking. The building is accessible, and the church's preference for gathering in person is biblical rather than stylistic: the statement of faith affirms the biblical command to worship together in person and rejects the idea that any technology or legal mandate can replace the assembly.
Every service, Sunday School, morning worship, evening service, and Wednesday prayer meeting, is also livestreamed on YouTube and on the church's streaming page, so that members providentially hindered from attending can still keep up. Visitors are welcome to come as they are and to stay for a coffee after the service. No pressure, just genuine connection.
Giving and Staying Connected
Giving is available online through a secure form on the Giving page, with categories for the general offering, missions, building, and special offerings. The church is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization under the name Naples Baptist Temple, DBA Naples Independent Baptist Church, and no goods or services are provided in exchange for contributions other than intangible religious benefits.
For ongoing communication, the church maintains an active presence on Facebook (Naples Baptist), Instagram (Naples Independent Baptist), X (Naples Baptist), Pinterest, and a YouTube channel that hosts the live stream, the recorded sermon series, and additional teaching. A WhatsApp contact line is also available for quick questions.
A Church That Says What It Means
Naples Independent Baptist is, by design, exactly what its name suggests: an Independent Baptist church that preaches the King James Bible, sings the old hymns, observes baptism and the Lord's Supper as a confessing body, governs itself under Christ alone, and welcomes any visitor who wants to hear the Word of God taught straight. The doors open on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM for Sunday School, 11:00 AM for morning worship, and 6:00 PM for the evening service, and again on Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM for coffee and at 7:00 PM for prayer and the King's Kids program. Every service is also online for those who cannot be there in person. Whether a guest has been following Christ for decades or has never opened a Bible, the invitation is the same: come, sit, and join the church family around the Word of God.