Porter Memorial Baptist Church sits on Nicholasville Road in Lexington, Kentucky, with a second campus, Porter Jessamine Station, on Wilmore Road in nearby Nicholasville. The congregation describes its rhythm of life with four simple words - Connect, Grow, Serve, Go - and the same framework shapes the connection card handed to anyone who walks through the doors. Members pursue Christ together through Sunday worship, weekly Life Groups, Wednesday night studies, and a slate of ministries that ranges from a weekday preschool to an English-as-a-Second-Language program reaching neighbors from more than fifty countries.
Two Campuses Across Fayette and Jessamine Counties
The main campus at 4300 Nicholasville Road is the hub for most of Porter Memorial's ministries and operates throughout the week. Porter Jessamine Station, located at 1351 Wilmore Road in Nicholasville, runs a more focused Sunday schedule with worship at 10:30am and Life Groups for adults, preschool, and kids at 9:15am. The Jessamine campus joins the same Wednesday night programming offered at the Lexington campus, and its calendar includes men's breakfasts, women's craft nights, and small-group classes named after the leaders who host them - Becknell, Fletcher and Williams, Frick, and a College Life Group. Members from either campus share the same staff, the same set of beliefs, and the same mission partnerships.
Sunday Mornings: Worship, Life Groups, and Children
At the Lexington campus, the morning stretches across three hours of activity. Worship services take place at 9:00am and 11:15am, each lasting sixty to seventy minutes and weaving together contemporary songs and time-honored hymns before a practical biblical message from Senior Pastor Nick Sandefur. Between those services, at 8:00am and 10:10am, more than thirty Life Groups meet across the building, each organized by age, life stage, or shared interest. There is no dress code at Porter, and guests are invited to come as they are. First-time guests who enter through the Preschool Entrance, under the canopy facing Toronto Road, are greeted by a team member who guides the family through check-in, with security tags given to both child and parent. All volunteers undergo background checks and child protection training before they serve.
Children from the Crib Through Fifth Grade
Children's ministry at Porter begins in the nursery and continues through fifth grade. New parents are welcome to keep their infants in the sanctuary or step into a mother and baby room that offers a stocked changing station and private areas for nursing. Three morning sessions are offered at 9:00, 10:10, and 11:15am from six weeks through kindergarten, with toys and equipment chosen for each age group. The 10:10am hour uses LifeWay's Gospel Project curriculum. On Wednesday nights the preschool ministry runs Awana Cubbies for ages three through kindergarten, with scripture memory, Bible lessons, and games. Kids in first through fifth grade gather for Kid Worship at 9:00 and 11:15am, mirroring the Bible content from the main service so families can keep the same conversation going at lunch. Remix on Wednesday nights offers Bible skills and drills for first through third graders and hands-on service opportunities for fourth and fifth graders. Recreation runs through the year - Upward Basketball and Cheerleading through the winter months, and Centershot, a co-ed archery program for fourth through eighth graders, on Saturday mornings in the fall and spring. The summer calendar adds a week of Vacation Bible School and a week at Camp Cedarmore for second through fifth graders. Parents can also sign children up for Baby and Child Dedication, offered several times a year.
Students and the College Years
Student ministry gathers middle and high schoolers on Sunday mornings at 10:10am for grade and gender specific Life Groups, and on Wednesday nights at 6:30pm for MDWK, a worship experience with live music and teaching. First-time student guests enter through the Office Entrance at the back of the building and are directed down to the Student Ministry area. Resources include the Beyond Sunday podcast, parent playlists, and special needs support coordinated by the Student Pastor.
College students are invited to a dedicated Life Group at 10:10am, a free lunch in the gym after the second worship service, and an active weekend calendar. The College ministry partners with Cru, BCM, and Wham at the University of Kentucky and BCM at Transylvania, and the church treats regular involvement during the college years as one of the strongest predictors of a faith that survives past graduation. Pastor Neil Bassett oversees this work.
Adults 55+ and the Singing Saints
Pastor John Walker oversees adult ministries for ages 55 and up, including Heart to Heart, a community of widows and widowers supported with prayer and biblical encouragement throughout the year. A Sunday Bible Study for adults 55+ meets at 5:30pm in the Choir Suite, and a Midweek Worship Service is held on Wednesdays at 6:30pm in the Worship Center, a 45-minute gathering for the same community. The Singing Saints Choir, open without audition to anyone 55 and older, rehearses Saturdays from 9:30 to 11:00am September through May. A potluck on the third Thursday of each month at 11:15am in the Fellowship Hall gives the community an unhurried reason to gather.
Welcoming the Nations in Lexington
Porter Memorial's reach into the international community is one of the things that sets the church apart in the Bluegrass. English as a Second Language classes serve students from more than fifty countries and run in two sessions a week, Mondays from 9:30 to 11:30am and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:00pm, with childcare offered on the Monday morning slot. The Izumi Church partner is a bilingual congregation that has been part of Porter since 2023. Pastor John Livingston and his wife Yoriko lead an 11:15am worship service in the youth area conducted bilingually in Japanese and English, with an interpreter present throughout the message. The Deaf Ministry provides ASL interpretation for the 10:10am Life Group classes and the 11:15am worship service, with a separate ASL-interpreted livestream on the Porter Deaf Ministry YouTube channel. A Life Group for the deaf community and another for special education students both meet in the morning hour, and a Portuguese-speaking Life Group is open to anyone who prefers to study in that language.
Local Outreach and Helping Hands
Wednesday evenings at 5:30pm bring together volunteers for the Food Outreach, a weekly distribution that feeds neighbors across Lexington and Fayette County while offering prayer and connection to a local church. Operationally, the church gathers as a body to pray for missions and missionaries around the world, and short-term mission trips go out throughout the year to local and regional church plants and to partners in Brazil, Africa, and Southeast Asia alongside IMB and NAMB missionaries. Operation Christmas Child partners with Samaritan's Purse each holiday season. Food Outreach and ESL together represent the church's largest weekly touch points with the surrounding community.
Women, Men, and MomCo
MomCo, the rebranded MOPS, gives young mothers time together in the Fellowship Hall on Friday mornings from 9:00 to 11:30am, with childcare provided and a calendar of meet-ups that runs from September through April. Women's ministry offers Bible studies, retreats, and large-group gatherings such as evenings with speakers like Jennifer Rothschild and Ann Voskamp. Men's ministry combines Bible study with outdoor adventure, service projects, and social gatherings, and runs a chili cook-off and worship night each fall. Heart to Heart supports widows and widowers across the church family. RightNow Media is offered as a free digital library to anyone in the church, with thousands of Bible study videos from Christian publishers available on demand.
Wednesdays at Porter Memorial
Wednesday night programming at 6:30pm is the second rhythm of the church week. Awana Cubbies serves preschoolers in the Preschool Area, Remix gathers first through fifth graders in the Kids Worship Area, and MDWK fills the Student Area with middle and high schoolers. An Adults 55+ midweek worship service takes place in the Worship Center, and ESL classes for adults run in parallel. The Worship Choir and Orchestra rehearse at 7:30pm in the Choir Loft and Worship Center, and the Building and Grounds team works through the campus in the background. Newcomers are welcome to drop in, and a Wednesday meal is followed by programming for the whole family.
2x2 Discipleship and the Beyond Sunday Podcast
Discipleship at Porter takes shape in 2x2 groups of four to six people who commit to daily Bible reading, weekly meetings, accountability, and prayer. Each group is encouraged to multiply at least once a year as members raise up the next generation of leaders. The Beyond Sunday Collective is a podcast where pastors continue the sermon conversation, discuss Southern Baptist news, and think through cultural questions, releasing new episodes each Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. The stated goal is to give listeners a tool for the week between Sundays rather than a replacement for gathered worship, Life Groups, or the relationships that make up life in the local church.
What Porter Memorial Believes
Porter Memorial Baptist Church is part of the Southern Baptist Convention and affirms the Baptist Faith and Message (2000). The Bible is taught as the God-inspired revelation of Himself to humanity, and salvation is offered freely through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer, and the Lord's Supper is a symbolic act remembering Christ's death and anticipating His return. The family is described as the foundational institution of human society, with marriage defined as the covenant union of one man and one woman. Personal evangelism and the Great Commission are presented as the duty and privilege of every believer, and the church joins the IMB and NAMB in carrying that mission to the nations.
Getting Connected and Giving
First-time guests are invited to send a note directly to Pastor Nick or to stop by the First Time Guest area on a Sunday morning. Realm serves as Porter's online member database and giving platform, and weekly connection cards can be filled out online. Those who want to get involved can sign up to serve on Sundays through the volunteer form, with open positions on the Greeting Team, Traffic Team, Coffee Team, Camera Team, Usher Team, Counting Team, Preschool and Kids Life Groups, and Sunday Morning Bus Driver teams. Giving is available online through Realm or in person during worship or at the church office between 8:30am and 4:30pm on weekdays. The office at 4300 Nicholasville Road is open Monday through Friday for anyone who wants to talk with a pastor about baptism, membership, or next steps.