Oakland Avenue Baptist Church, at 3265 Oakland Avenue in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, carries the motto Pointing the Way to the One and greets people with Everyone is Welcome! The church is known for its blended morning service and a varied rhythm of Sunday and weeknight worship, study, prayer, music, children, and youth ministry.
Sunday Begins with Study, Then Gathered Worship
Sunday morning begins at 9:00 AM with Sunday school, where congregants meet in small groups for an in-depth study of God's Word. Morning worship starts in the sanctuary at 10:15 AM, after Sunday school. The messages offered by Pastor Mike Blankenship are challenging and uplifting. The service blends contemporary and modern music, with a worship team, choir, piano, organ, and soloists leading worship.
- Sunday school: 9:00 AM
- Morning worship: 10:15 AM in the sanctuary
- Evening worship: 6:30 PM in the sanctuary
- Wednesday prayer meeting: 6:30 PM in the sanctuary
The Wednesday evening prayer meeting is also a time of worship. The church also provides a live-streaming option.
Nursery Care, Pre-K, and a Separate Youth Department
A welcome team member greets families as they enter the sanctuary and directs those with children under three to the nursery. The nursery is safe and secure during the visit. Separate pre-K and kindergarten programs operate during both worship services. Students in grades 7 through 12 are welcome to worship with the congregation during the morning service, but they gather in a separate location during Sunday school.
OABC Youth meets at 6:30 PM on Sundays and Wednesdays in the Youth Department. Children In Action meets at 6:30 AM on Wednesdays in the Lottie Moon Room. Mission Friends for children ages 3 through kindergarten meets at 6:30 PM on Wednesdays in the 3 and 4 Year Room. A seasonal Children's Choir also gives children a place in the church's music ministry.
Visitor Parking Near the Sanctuary
There is plenty of parking for every service, including visitor spaces close to the sanctuary entrance. The welcome team helps families find the nursery and the youth department as they arrive. The church office is open from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
The church asks people planning to attend to share their name, the number attending, and which service they plan to visit. That information can be given by phone at 606-739-4124 or by email. A visitor card in each sanctuary seat also gives newcomers a way to share contact information and speak with someone about receiving Christ or finding a place to plug in.
Visitation, S.H.O.P., and Saturday Prayer
Beyond the main services, regular gatherings include a visitation meeting at 6:30 PM on Mondays at OABC and the S.H.O.P. Group at 10:00 AM on Tuesdays in the Lottie Moon Room. Men's Prayer Time begins at 8:30 AM on Saturdays in the Bold Believers Room. The Adult Choir rehearses on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM in the Choir Room, adding another regular expression of the church's music ministry.
Grace and Faith at the Heart of Salvation
As a Southern Baptist Church, OABC holds to the statements in the revised 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The church believes there is one true and living God, a personal Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler who is eternal and triune as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It holds that the Bible is divinely inspired, truthful, and trustworthy, with Christ as its focus.
Salvation is taught as the redemption of the whole person, freely offered to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The church names regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification as part of salvation, while emphasizing personal faith in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. Its teaching also says that people cannot save themselves by good works: God offers salvation through grace, through his Son, who died on the cross and was resurrected. Receiving salvation involves hearing the gospel, believing in the Lord Jesus, and repenting, or turning away from sin.
Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the Church
Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. OABC describes it as an act of obedience that symbolizes faith in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, the death of the old life, and new life in Christ. The church holds that baptism is a prerequisite for membership and participation in the Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience in which members participate in bread and the fruit of the vine, remembering the Redeemer's death and anticipating his second coming. OABC is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. It observes these two ordinances, operates under the lordship of Christ through democratic processes, and identifies pastors and deacons as its scriptural officers. Both men and women are described as gifted for service, while the office of pastor is limited to qualified men.
Pastoral Leadership and the Music Team
Rev. Mike Blankenship has served as the church's senior and lead pastor since 2006 and has been pastoring since 1987. He graduated from Mid-Continent Baptist Bible College in 1993 and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1997. Chauncey Griffith serves as youth pastor; he has taught in the Boyd County Public School District since 2011 and graduated from Morehead State University and the University of the Cumberlands. Daniel Ferreira has served as music director since 2011. He earned a bachelor of fine arts in music performance from Marshall University in 2012 and a bi-vocational certificate from Clear Creek Bible Baptist College in 2019.
Contentment Without Keeping Score
Mike Blankenship's pastoral reflections on Philippians 4:11 emphasize that contentment is worth more than accumulating what one has not. His teaching distinguishes contentment from settling for every status quo: people are still encouraged to pray and seek improvement where change is possible. At the same time, the reflections place gratitude and trust in God's infinite goodness and sovereign purpose rather than treating blessings as reward points earned on merit.
Oakland Avenue Baptist Church in Catlettsburg gathers around worship, study, prayer, music, and service, with Sunday morning worship and Sunday school at the center of its shared life.