A Southern Baptist Witness in Plainfield
Plainfield Baptist Church sits on a 12-acre property at 1575 Reeves Road on the west side of suburban Indianapolis, in the Hendricks County town of Plainfield, Indiana. The congregation identifies as a fellowship of G.R.A.C.E. - an acronym it has built into its own purpose statement. G is for Glorify God through biblical worship. R is for relating together as a Christian family. A is for applying God's truth through discipleship. C is for cultivating a lifestyle of service. E is for expanding God's kingdom through evangelism. The church's stated aim is to provide the best opportunity for people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus in that kind of community.
Members and visitors gather each Sunday morning for Sunday School at 9:15 a.m. and a corporate worship service at 10:30 a.m. The congregation is a Southern Baptist church, and the preaching ministry that fills those hours is built around expository, book-by-book teaching through Scripture. That rhythm of gathering around the Bible is what the church wants both longtime members and first-time guests to experience when they walk through the doors.
From a Library Basement to Reeves Road
Plainfield Baptist Church has a long local memory. The congregation's history begins on December 2, 1956, when a group of Christians interested in establishing a Southern Baptist church in Plainfield first met on Sunday evenings in the old library basement at 120 South Center Street. Within a few weeks interest had grown enough that the group moved to the American Legion Hall, and the Marwood Baptist Church of Indianapolis stepped in to sponsor the Plainfield group as a mission.
On March 31, 1957, the church was formally constituted with 24 charter members. By June of that year the young congregation had voted to purchase the building at 301 South Center Street that a Methodist church was vacating, along with the adjacent parsonage at 301 South Vine Street. The first service in the new building was held on August 17, 1958. Over the next two decades the property grew: a parsonage at 1422 Stafford Road was acquired in 1968, the Era Gibbs lot next to the auditorium was converted into parking and activity space that same year, and in 1977 the house at 302 South Vine Street was added to the campus.
By the mid-1980s the congregation was ready for a larger home. The Stafford Road parsonage was sold in 1986, and the church purchased a 12-acre parcel on Reeves Road. In the spring of 1987 the downtown Center Street properties were sold to St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and construction began on a new facility. Much of the work was carried out by volunteer labor teams from Mississippi, Alabama, other states, and many of the church's own members. The first services in the 14,000-square-foot building were held on the last Sunday of August 1987. That Reeves Road campus remains the church's home today.
Planting new congregations has been part of Plainfield Baptist's identity from the start. In July 1961 the church extended a hand to the Brownsburg community by sponsoring what became Memorial Baptist Church. It supported a work in Lebanon until that group constituted on its own in 1963, and in 1965 it began assisting a Danville Baptist Chapel that eventually organized as Hillcrest Baptist Church on August 4, 1974. The church's own history notes that it has continued to expand its ministries as the population of west suburban Indianapolis has grown.
The Sunday Rhythm: Sunday School at 9:15 and Worship at 10:30
Sunday morning at Plainfield Baptist has a steady two-part shape. Sunday School classes meet at 9:15 a.m. for every age from infants through adults. Every class studies the same curriculum - The Gospel Project, produced by LifeWay - so that families with children of different ages end up covering the same passage of Scripture on the same week. The Gospel Project is a chronological, Christ-centered Bible study that walks through the storyline of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.
At 10:30 a.m. the congregation moves into the auditorium for the corporate worship gathering. The service is the weekly focus of the church's life, and the staff and volunteers have designed the morning to support both longtime members and first-time visitors. The preaching at the 10:30 gathering is consistently expository, working steadily through books of the Old and New Testaments rather than jumping between disconnected topics.
Expository Preaching Through Books of the Bible
The sermon archive makes the church's approach to Bible teaching especially clear. Senior Pastor Jared Skinner has worked through 1 John, 1 Peter, Philippians, Titus, Ruth, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, and major sections of Exodus, 2 Corinthians, and Isaiah, among other books. Recent months have included a long series through the Gospel of Luke, with sermons on passages such as Luke 13:6-9, Luke 13:10-17, Luke 13:18-21, Luke 13:22-30, Luke 13:31-35, Luke 14:1-6, Luke 14:7-11, Luke 14:25-35, and Luke 15:1-10. The pace is steady - a chapter or a portion of a chapter each week - and the goal is to let the text set the agenda.
The pulpit is not limited to the senior pastor. Guest preachers have included Dr. Guy Lancour, Dr. Thomas Schreiner, David Bunce (associate pastor at Geist Community Church), Josh Pagel, Andrew Scherer, Dick Williams Jr., Rev. Kasey Clark, Rev. Jonathan Tapp, Rev. Jeff Tague, Rev. Ben James, Rev. Jason Hampton, Rev. Nathan Brock, Rev. Kelly Wright, Rev. Dwayne Gibbs, Tim Steinbuch, and Chris Stratton, who have brought passages from 1 John, 2 Timothy, Psalms, Ezekiel, Colossians, John, Philippians, Habakkuk, 2 Corinthians, and Revelation to the Plainfield pulpit over the past several years. The church's preferred translation is the Christian Standard Bible, and many of the sermon pages link directly to passages on Bible Gateway in the CSB.
Students: Sixth Through Twelfth Grade
Plainfield Baptist takes seriously its ministry to teenagers. The student ministry focuses on students in sixth through twelfth grade and is designed to partner with parents. The aim, as the church describes it, is to help young people grow as followers of Jesus and to show them how the Bible speaks to everyday life. Student Ministry volunteers want each student to know the love of God in Christ and to desire to make him known to others.
Students meet for their own Sunday Youth Class at 9:15 a.m., alongside the adult Sunday School hour, so that families with teenagers can be in their respective classes at the same time. The student ministry is built around relationships between adult volunteers and teenagers, and the church is intentional about training up the next generation in the same expository approach to Scripture that shapes the rest of the congregation.
Women of PBC: Bible Study and the Baptist Center
The Women's Ministry at Plainfield Baptist has two main expressions. In the spring and fall the women of PBC meet for a Women's Bible Study, a time of working through a book of the Bible or a particular book study, set aside for prayer and fellowship. The stated goal of these gatherings is that each woman would be encouraged to follow Christ and to apply his Word to her daily life. Anna Leigh Skinner and Tricia Sloan are the contacts for the Women's Bible Study.
The second expression of the women's ministry is service. The women's ministry coordinates much of the congregation's involvement with the Metro Baptist Center, an inner-city ministry partner in Indianapolis. Anita Bunten is the contact for upcoming projects, and the women of PBC have taken on a significant share of the volunteer and supply work that keeps that partnership going. The arrangement reflects the church's C in G.R.A.C.E. - cultivating a lifestyle of service.
Men's Ministry and the Fall Retreat
The Men's Ministry at Plainfield Baptist centers on a yearly Fall Men's Retreat. The retreat brings men of the church together for Bible study sessions, typically led by the senior pastor, along with fellowship and time away. It has become one of the highlights of the men's ministry calendar and a place where the men of the church can deepen friendships and study the Bible in a more focused setting than the regular Sunday morning rhythm allows.
The Senior Pastor: Jared Skinner
Jared Skinner has served as senior pastor since April 2017. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where, as he tells it, the Lord saved him from his sins at a young age by the gospel of Jesus Christ through the faithful witness of his parents and local church. He attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. He is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He and his wife, Anna Leigh, are the parents of four boys. He carries the bulk of the preaching and pastoral ministry at the church.
Music, Hymns, and the Church's Heart for Worship
The musical life of the church is woven into the rhythms of worship. During the COVID-19 season the church posted sermon audio along with the music and lyrics that would have been sung that Sunday, and the songs that show up there offer a window into the church's musical character. The congregation has been led in songs such as Keith Getty's "O Church Arise" and the Getty, Kauflin, Merker, Papa, and Boswell collaboration "Christ Our Hope in Life and Death." These are substantial, theologically rich hymns and modern songs with roots in the broader reformed and evangelical tradition, which fits naturally with the church's expository, Bible-saturated approach to preaching.
Reaching Out: The Metro Baptist Center
Beyond the walls of the Reeves Road campus, Plainfield Baptist has long partnered with the Metro Baptist Center in Indianapolis. The women's ministry is the primary organizer of PBC's involvement, but the work belongs to the whole church. Members serve by gathering supplies, volunteering, and walking alongside the Center's ministry to the city. The partnership is one of the practical expressions of the E in G.R.A.C.E. - expanding God's kingdom through evangelism - and a reminder that the church sees its mission as reaching well beyond Plainfield itself.
Online Giving, Sermon Audio, and Staying Connected
Plainfield Baptist makes it easy to stay connected between Sundays. Online giving is available through Tithe.ly for those who want to support the ministry. An extensive archive of sermon audio stretches back to 2017 and earlier, organized both by book of the Bible and by series. Recent series have included multi-year walks through Exodus, 1 Peter, 1 John, 2 Corinthians, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Gospel of Luke, giving newcomers a long runway to listen in and get to know the church's preaching voice. The church is also active on Facebook and YouTube, where updates and recordings are shared.
Joining the Journey
Plainfield Baptist Church is, at its heart, a teaching church. Whether someone is a lifelong Hendricks County resident or a family that has just moved into the growing west suburban Indianapolis corridor, the pattern of life here is simple: gather on Sunday morning, open the Bible together, study it in age-appropriate classes at 9:15 a.m., worship and hear it preached at 10:30 a.m., and then live it out the rest of the week in women's studies, men's retreats, student ministry, and service partnerships like the Metro Baptist Center. The address is 1575 Reeves Road, Plainfield, Indiana 46168, and the phone is 317-839-6815 for anyone who wants to call ahead.