New Home Baptist Church sits five miles past the bridge on Elmore Road in Wetumpka, Alabama, drawing families and visitors from the Millbrook area and beyond to a campus where Sunday mornings have long filled the auditorium. The church's motto sets the tone: "An Imperfect & Broken People Worshiping & Serving the Perfect Savior." Scripture quoted alongside it, John 20:31, explains the purpose: that those who come here might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through that belief have life in His name. Wetumpka families who walk through the door find a congregation that treats that motto less like a slogan and more like a working plan, with weekly services for every age, a three year Bible institute, a senior adult travel club, an outreach basketball and cheerleading league, and a missions program that keeps more than two dozen missionaries in regular prayer.
A Sunday Built Around Word and Worship
The Sunday schedule at New Home is built to give every member of the family a place. An AM Worship gathering begins at 9:30 in the morning, followed at 10:30 by Sunday School classes for every age group, from nursery through senior adult. The evening brings AWANA children's programming at 5:00 and a PM Worship service at 6:00. Greeters wait at each of the three entrances, two in front and one in back, and are ready to walk first-time visitors to the right classroom or to the auditorium. Guest parking is set aside in front of the main building and on the left side of the campus.
Music on Sunday mornings ranges from traditional hymns to more modern songs, and worship leaders describe the services as "a celebration of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, our Savior." Dress is whatever someone would wear to a family gathering: suits are common, but jeans and casual wear fit right in. Children are welcome in the auditorium with their families, and nursery care is offered during every service. A children's worship service called SPLASH runs during the morning for ages two through third grade, while ages three through sixth grade attend New Home Kids on Sunday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00.
Wednesday Family Night
Wednesdays at New Home look like a family night at church. A Midweek Worship gathering meets at 6:30, and at the same hour the Youth Center opens for teens and the children's wing hosts Bible Challenge. Bible Challenge uses a curriculum designed for hands-on learning, taking children from third through sixth grade beyond verse memorization into the context of key passages and the stories around them. Nursery care for children from birth through age two is offered from 6:30 to 7:30 so parents can attend adult services knowing their little ones are covered.
Children from Nursery Through Sixth Grade
Steve Vickers oversees both children's and senior adult ministry at New Home, and the children's wing is full on any given week. Nursery is open during every service block, including Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30, Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 7:00, and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30, for babies and toddlers up to age two, with security procedures in place so parents can leave their children in confidence. Sunday morning Sunday School classes for ages two through sixth grade meet at 10:30 with dedicated teachers who focus on the love of the Savior and how children can grow and serve Him. SPLASH children's church runs during the morning worship service, and New Home Kids on Sunday evenings adds singing, games, and a devotion tailored to the same elementary age range. Bible Challenge handles the Wednesday night hour for the older elementary class.
Students: Investing In, That They Might Invest In God
Cody Craven, the youth pastor, leads a student ministry built on the conviction that teenagers should not just show up on Sundays but should know how to follow Jesus on their own. Sunday School for students meets at 10:30 in the morning, and on Wednesday nights at 6:30 the youth shift from games and gym time to serious Bible study aimed at discipleship. Throughout the year the teens take part in community service projects, conferences, camps, concerts, gym nights, and Vacation Bible School, with every activity aimed at the same goal: deeper faith in Christ as Savior and surrender to Him as Lord.
GRANDS: Senior Adults on the Go
GRANDS, the senior adult ministry at New Home, treats the experience of retirement as an open invitation. The group meets every month, and often twice a month, for special outings and lunches that have included museums, gardens, parks, and an obligatory lunch stop along the way. It is the kind of fellowship that turns a free afternoon into a road trip and a Sunday afternoon into a meal shared with friends.
Faith Bible Institute and Spiritual Growth
For adults who want more than a Sunday morning, Faith Bible Institute offers a three year course that walks students chronologically through the entire Bible and systematically through every major doctrine. The classes, founded and taught by John T. Yates, senior pastor of Rowland Road Baptist Church in Monroe, Louisiana, meet only once a week using a DVD video format combined with student workbooks, charts, three-dimensional maps, and images. At New Home, FBI runs in the fall and spring on Thursdays at 9:00 in the morning and again at 6:00 in the evening, with registration always open. Yates has taught verse by verse through the Bible eleven times and authored the curriculum's seven volume Old Testament commentary, seven volume New Testament commentary, four volume theology set, and works on Bible prophecy, angels, creation, personal evangelism, and discipleship evangelism.
Beyond FBI, Sunday School at 10:30 offers classes for every age group with the goal of teaching through the Bible, and the ladies of the church gather seasonally on Tuesdays at 10:00 for Bible study, with sign-ups posted on the Ladies' Bulletin Board inside the building.
UPWARD Basketball, Cheerleading, and the Choir
New Home also serves the wider community through UPWARD Basketball and Cheerleading, which invites families from across the area to take part in an eight week season that begins each January. Evaluations come at the end of the fall, and the league updates a dedicated Facebook account throughout the year.
The church choir, led by Music Minister David Wiersema, is open to any member who wants to praise the Lord through song. Rehearsals happen at 5:00 on Sunday afternoons in the sanctuary, and the choir sings during both Sunday morning and evening services. Christmas and Easter cantatas are annual highlights, and anyone interested is welcome to sit in on a rehearsal or two before committing.
What the Church Believes
New Home lays out a classic Baptist doctrinal foundation in considerable detail, treating the Bible as the verbally inspired, all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. The church confesses one personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It holds to the Genesis account of creation, the fall of humanity into sin, the virgin birth and deity of Jesus Christ, His substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, and the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ for His saints. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the eternal security of every believer who trusts in Him is taught as a settled promise of the gospel.
Two ordinances are observed: baptism, by immersion of penitent believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and the Lord's Supper, a memorial ordinance restricted to the members of the observing church. Two church offices are recognized, those of pastor and deacon, filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy. Each New Testament church is described as an independent, self-governing body with no other ecclesiastical authority over it. Marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman. Freedom of worship without interference from the government is affirmed alongside the duty of civil obedience wherever Scripture allows.
A Friend to Missionaries
Missions sit at the center of the church's identity, and the desire to be known around the world as a friend to missionaries shapes the calendar. Since 2014 the church has hosted an annual Missions Revival each September, inviting three missionary families to join for a week of refreshment and fellowship. New Home supports more than twenty-five missionaries, missions, and Bible seminaries around the world. The list reads like a global atlas: workers in Japan, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, Kenya, Romania, Brazil, the Solomon Islands, and Macedonia, along with families serving in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Louisiana. Other supported works include a Lighthouse Jail Ministry, Pathway Resource Center, The Gideons International, Eyes on Christ, and the Elmore County Food Pantry. The church partners with Emmaus Baptist College in Brandon, Florida, and Mississippi Baptist Bible College in Pearl, and cooperates with the American Baptist Association through its Office of Secretary and Treasurer.
Steps of Faith
For those weighing what it means to follow Jesus, New Home lays out a five step path. It begins with the Gospel itself, the good news that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, and that salvation is received through faith by calling on the Lord. Baptism follows as the first act of obedience, an immersion in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, publicly testifying to faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior. Church membership comes next, a privilege and responsibility that means worshiping, serving, giving, and praying alongside a local body of believers. Giving and serving round out the path: tithes and offerings as a steward of what God has entrusted, and service through any of the church's many ministry areas, from Sunday School teaching to choir to Vacation Bible School to providing meals for families in need.
Visiting New Home
From downtown Wetumpka, New Home is five miles past the bridge on the right. From the Millbrook area, the church is just past Edgewood Academy on the left side of the road. The church office can be reached at 334-567-5966 or newhomebc@gmail.com. The latest sermon is posted on the church's YouTube channel, and giving is available online through the church's secure giving portal. For first-time visitors, the practical questions are covered in advance: parking, doors, music, dress, children's care, and a warm greeting from people who count it a high honor to host a guest.