Located along Old Highway 29 on the south side of Thomasville, North Carolina, Rich Fork Baptist Church carries the tagline Shaping our communities by sharing the GRACE of Jesus Christ. The congregation has planted itself as a regional hub, drawing members and ministry partners from Thomasville and the neighboring cities of Lexington, High Point, Archdale, and Trinity. What visitors find on a Sunday morning is a church that wants to be both large enough to serve and small enough to know you: a contemporary worship gathering in the Multi-Purpose Building, a full floor of children's classrooms downstairs, and a long list of discipleship pathways designed to follow a person from a first visit through years of growth.
Sunday Mornings in the Multi-Purpose Building
Worship is held at 9:30 AM and 11:00 AM in the Multi-Purpose Building, and the same services are available online anytime. The services feature a worship band that blends modern and traditional songs, with the Word of God taught and preached and the good news of Jesus at the center of everything. The current sermon series and weekly discipleship guide are available, and the audio and video archive spans years of messages so anyone can revisit a teaching throughout the week.
For guests, the process is straightforward. After walking in, a greeter team is ready to help, a first-time guest form is available online, and the staff is happy to walk newcomers to the right classroom or class. A set of CONNECT CONVO conversations is offered as a relaxed way to meet the pastors, learn the story of the church, and ask questions without pressure.
Wednesday Evenings Together
When the calendar flips to Wednesday at 6:00 PM, the building fills with a different rhythm. AWANA takes over the children's area for kids from two years old through fifth grade, the Student Ministry gathers in the student area for sixth through twelfth graders, and adults head to GROW groups and training classes. A foster care support gathering meets at the same hour, and an adult open Bible study is available for anyone looking to dig into Scripture midweek. The evening typically runs from 6:00 to 7:30 or 8:00 PM, and childcare is provided for the adult groups.
Children from Birth Through Fifth Grade
Rich Fork's children's ministry is intentionally Gospel-driven and serves families from birth through fifth grade. On Sunday mornings, classrooms are divided into preschool (birth through age five) and elementary (kindergarten through fifth grade), with age-appropriate learning for crawlers, younger preschool, middle preschool, and older preschool. Check-in happens at a downstairs children's entrance at the back of the church, and every child and parent receives a matched security tag for drop-off and pick-up. The team stresses that parents are welcome as they are, that kids do not have to be perfectly put together, and that the classrooms are a judgment-free zone.
Each week, kids explore Bible truths through songs, games, crafts, and storytelling, and a take-home resource helps families continue the conversation during the week. A nursing and cry room is available near the bathrooms behind the Multi-Purpose Room. The preschool curriculum rotates around a small set of checkpoints - God made me and loves me, Jesus is real and cares for me, everything in the Bible is true, God made and loves my family, and people at church love each other - while the elementary ministry focuses on three anchors: God loves me, I can trust God no matter what, and I should love others the way Jesus loves me. All volunteers are background checked and trained, children with signs of illness are asked to stay home until they have been symptom and fever free for 24 hours, and a snack (goldfish and water, with apple slices as an allergy option) is provided in preschool classrooms.
Preschool ministry is led by Caitlin Reardon, preschool director, and family ministries are overseen by Kelly James, family ministries director.
AWANA: Wednesday-Night Scripture Memory
AWANA, the church's flagship midweek program for children, is a global Scripture memory ministry that meets Wednesday evenings for kids from two years old through fifth grade. The acronym stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, drawn from 2 Timothy 2:15. The program is built around four clubs: Puggles (two- and three-year-olds), Cubbies (three- to five-year-olds), Sparks (kindergarten through second grade), and T&T (third through fifth grade). Each week combines large-group teaching, handbook time, games, and verse recitation, and kids earn AWANA bucks for things like attendance, wearing their AWANA t-shirt and tennis shoes, bringing their Bible and handbook, bringing a friend, and memorizing verses. AWANA bucks are spent at AWANA store nights throughout the year. Rebecca Byerly coordinates the program, and the church also participates in AWANA mission efforts, including a quarterly AWANA in Africa drive that supports a public school overseas and an annual canned food drive that benefits Cooperative Community Ministries in Thomasville.
Middle and High School Students
Rich Fork Students, led by student pastor Caleb Starr, exists to equip and partner with parents in developing students into devoted followers of Jesus. The ministry meets in three weekly rhythms. On Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 10:45 AM, students gather in the Student Area for discipleship classes that work through books of the Bible or Christ-centered curriculum. On Sunday evenings from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, middle and high school small groups meet in the homes of student leaders for deeper community and book studies. On Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, students gather downstairs in the student area for musical worship led by a student worship team and verse-by-verse teaching through books of the Bible.
The ministry's key elements are Bible-driven, Christ-centered, gospel intentional, owned by God, dependent on prayer, and directed toward helping students become devoted followers of Jesus. Annual events include D*wknd, a discipleship weekend the first weekend in March that brings together other churches for large-group teaching and small-group time; summer camp; retreats; and a Christmas party. Student leaders are asked to be church members in good standing, to participate in corporate worship weekly, to attend leader meetings and trainings, to submit a leader application and in-person interview with the student pastor, and to be approved by a GROW Group leader and an elder or pastor.
Adult Discipleship and GROW Groups
Adult ministry is organized around a simple framework called GROW: Give your life to Christ, Real-Time with God, Act in Obedience, Commit to Accountability, and Engage Your World. Discipleship pastor Andrew Ward oversees the church's small group network, known as GROW Groups, which meet at a variety of times throughout the week. Sunday school classes meet at 9:30 AM and 11:00 AM, midweek GROW groups meet Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, and additional groups meet on other nights. Groups are organized for men, women, married couples, newlyweds, empty nesters, and young adults, and childcare is available on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.
The young adult ministry, branded Rich Fork Young Adults, gathers adults ages 18 to 25 for large-group time on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 7:00 PM in room 205, with GROW groups meeting in leaders' homes on the first and third Thursdays. The ministry's three goals are evangelism, discipleship, and community, and the focus is on doing life together while digging into sermons, studying the Bible, praying, and worshiping.
Senior adults, ages 55 and up, are shepherded by missions and senior adult pastor Casey Hearn. The senior adult ministry hosts a monthly lunch and fellowship gathering, two chartered day trips each year, and one overnight trip. The group is intentionally integrated into the wider life of the church, with the aim of using the experience of older adults to disciple and enrich others.
Special Needs: Image Bearers
Rich Fork's special needs ministry, branded Image Bearers, serves children and adults with unique needs and their families on Sunday mornings at both 9:30 and 11:00 AM. Caring environments are staffed with trained volunteers and equipped with ability-appropriate lessons and sensory-specific spaces. The ministry operates in the same welcoming rhythm as the rest of the children's ministry, with greeting, registration, security tags, drop-off help, learning time, and pick-up. A relatively new addition is a special needs playground with level, safe spaces for both mobile and wheelchair-bound friends, covered shade areas, inclusive swings, sensory objects, and benches for parents. The playground is open to families to rest and watch their loved ones play.
Family ministries director Kelly James oversees both the children's and special needs ministries, and the church's philosophy is that people of all levels of ability are image bearers of God and valued members of the body of Christ.
Local and Global Missions
Missions and outreach are coordinated by Casey Hearn and are woven through every area of church life. Locally, the church runs a disaster recovery ministry in partnership with Baptists on Mission and the North American Mission Board, with ways to serve including recovery work, mobile laundry and showers, feeding, administration, and chaplaincy. Disaster recovery coordinators Ron and Ade Cromer help organize the response, and the church also participates in Kentucky disaster relief trips and shares stories from the field.
Another long-running local effort is the wheelchair ramp ministry, coordinated by Kevin Burger. A committed team of volunteers builds high-quality ramps for families in need, and anyone ages 13 and up can join a build. Women on Mission, coordinated by Jill Hunt, is a prayer-driven group of women who support community and outreach efforts through service projects and speaker events.
The church maintains an extensive list of partner ministries in the Thomasville and Davidson County area, including the Fairgrove Family Resource Center, the Father's Storehouse, Cooperative Community Ministry, Davidson County Senior Services, the Boys and Girls Club of Davidson County, 1AMJ3 Lexington, Davidson Medical Ministries, Family Services of Davidson County, and Davidson County First Hope Ministries. Each of these partnerships offers different ways for the congregation to give, volunteer, or both.
Globally, the church supports outreach in the Bronx, New York (through Coats for the City and an evangelistic baseball camp in partnership with Graffiti 2 Community Ministries); Red Springs, North Carolina (a domestic missions partnership for families and youth); West Africa (church planting and pastoral support); and Honduras and Costa Rica (church building, children's camps, medical ministry, and door-to-door evangelism, with the Honduras partnership dating back to 1992). The church also partners with NC Baptists and Baptist Children's Homes of North Carolina for foster care and adoption ministry, providing training and resources for families in the community who feel called to foster or adopt.
What We Believe
Rich Fork teaches that the Bible is God's Word and is living and active, and the church subscribes to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The church holds six core beliefs. God is eternal, the creator and sustainer of the universe, existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, died on a cross, and rose again after three days; He is the only way to salvation. The Holy Spirit is equal with the Son and the Father, convicts of sin, and points believers to God through the Son. Salvation is a free gift received by belief in Jesus Christ alone. Mankind was created by God, and all are sinners in need of salvation. The church is a localized group of believers who exist to reach people for Jesus, teach them to live like Him, connect them to the church, help them discover their purpose, and worship God. The church practices baptism by total immersion as a first step of obedience after salvation, and observes the Lord's Supper with bread representing the body of Jesus and the juice representing His blood, remembering His death and resurrection.
The Team and Leadership
Michael Bowers serves as the head pastor and teaching elder, with Matt Bryant as executive pastor. Andrew Ward is the discipleship pastor, Caleb Starr leads student ministry, Justin Branch leads worship, and Casey Hearn oversees missions and senior adults. Kelly James is the family ministries director, Caitlin Reardon is the preschool director, Joshua Quincey leads the A/V team, Rebecca Byerly coordinates AWANA, and Audrey McNeill serves as REACH coordinator. A board of seven elders - Larry Michael, Steve Byerly, Randy Waters, Kevin Parsley, Kevin Black, Keith Black, and Kirby Kanoy - provides spiritual oversight, and a 2026-2027 slate of deacons serves members and the wider church across Thomasville, Lexington, Denton, Trinity, Linwood, High Point, Asheboro, Winston-Salem, Archdale, and Salisbury. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
A Discipleship Pathway: Gather, Grow, Go
Every ministry at Rich Fork loops back to a single rhythm the staff calls Gather, Grow, and Go. Gathering means regular weekly attendance at a corporate worship service. Growing means intentional discipleship through a GROW group or Sunday school class. Going means committing to meet others' earthly needs in order to meet their spiritual needs. Baptism and church membership are woven into the pathway as well, with baptism presented as the first act of obedience for a new believer and Rich Fork 101 offered as the membership class. The class happens roughly every other month, covers the church's story, beliefs, and ministries, and is open to anyone who simply wants to learn more.
Resources and Tools to Grow
For ongoing growth beyond Sunday morning, the church offers a podcast of messages, a sermon archive, weekly discipleship guides, and a Rich Fork App and Church Center login for accessing calendars, group signups, event registrations, and giving. Every member has free access to Right Now Media, a streaming library of biblical video series for adults, youth, and children. The church also points people to a curated bookshelf of recommended titles and study resources, including Bible Ref, Got Questions, Blue Letter Bible, the Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, the Dwell App, the Daily Grace Co., and Lifeway studies. Celebrate Recovery meets Sundays at 5:00 PM for those working through hurts, habits, and hangups, and Grief Share meets Tuesdays at 6:30 PM for those who have lost a loved one.
Getting Connected
Anyone interested in getting involved can fill out a first-time guest form, request a baptism, sign up for Rich Fork 101, register for an event, or browse current GROW groups and serving opportunities. Forms for room requests, weddings, building maintenance, mission trip recommendations, background checks, and prayer requests are all available online. The church office can be reached at 336.476.6258 or info@richfork.com, and the building is located at 3993 Old Highway 29, Thomasville, NC 27360.