One Church, Two Campuses
On Smyrna Road in Conyers, just southeast of Atlanta, Rockdale Baptist Church has gathered for worship since 1847. Today the congregation lives out the slogan "One Church: Two Locations," sharing pastors, mission dollars, and a common purpose across its original Conyers campus and The Church at Stanton Springs in neighboring Social Circle. The mission statement puts it plainly: to glorify God by loving Him, loving others, and laboring to see all people become disciples of Christ.
From the Conyers campus at 1295 Smyrna Road, Senior Pastor Billy Moss and a full team of pastors and ministry directors shepherd the work of Sunday School, discipleship, music, missions, and pastoral care. Twenty miles east in Social Circle, the Stanton Springs campus at 306 Thurman Baccus Road is led by its own worship leader, Buddy Moss, but shares the same budget, doctrinal commitments, and mission partnerships with the Conyers body. Anyone driving between the two campuses on a Sunday morning will hear the same gospel preached and sing the same songs an hour apart.
A Heritage Spanning Eight Generations
Rockdale Baptist Church was constituted on May 29, 1847. Its founding ministers were Reverends James R. George, Nathan Johnson, Stephen Mayfield, and James Nix, with Rev. George serving as the first pastor. The thirteen charter members included John E. and Mary Reagan, William and Elizabeth Pitts, the McClung family, the Dameron family, the Snead family, and Elias Wooley. Their founding article of faith remains a striking summary of Baptist conviction: "We believe in one only true and living God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three in One. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God and the only rule of faith and practice."
For the first quarter-century, members met in the "old Rock Dale baptist meeting house." Around 1872, a new house of worship was built across the street from the present campus and served the church until 1902, when the white wooden sanctuary the longtime members remember was erected. A Community Building with Sunday School rooms, auditorium, and kitchen was dedicated in 1951 and later destroyed by fire. The pastorium followed in 1955, an educational building in 1963, and the present sanctuary was dedicated on August 10, 1969, after ground was broken on Valentine's Day of that year. A fellowship hall replaced the burned Community Building in 1977, and a two-story preschool annex was dedicated in 1986. Thirty-seven pastors have served this church across its history, and through changes in by-laws and building codes, the original purpose has remained steady.
The Stanton Springs story began in 2015, when Oasis Faith Baptist Church of Social Circle merged with Rockdale Baptist. Oasis had itself been shaped by Rockdale: its pastor, Nelson Goddard, had been ordained to the gospel ministry by Rockdale Baptist a decade earlier. When Goddard sensed a call to another pastorate, he suggested that Oasis become the east campus of Rockdale, and the two congregations became one. Since that merger, the Stanton Springs campus has grown from roughly 58 to nearly 100 in weekly attendance, added a new playground, and moved into an expanded building at 306 Thurman Baccus Road that now provides space for cradle-to-senior-adult Sunday School and corporate worship.
Sunday Mornings in Conyers and Social Circle
Sunday is the heart of the week at both campuses, though the order of the hour differs by an hour. At the Conyers campus, Sunday School begins at 9:00 a.m. and Morning Worship follows at 10:30 a.m. The Media Center is open from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. for parents who want a place to take restless little ones during the Sunday School hour. At the Stanton Springs campus in Social Circle, the schedule runs in the opposite order: Morning Worship at 9:00 a.m. and Sunday School at 10:30 a.m. A Sunday evening meal and discipleship hour round out the day at Stanton Springs during the Equip semester.
Sunday School at Conyers offers classes for every stage of life. The Preschool Department, directed by Linda Childs, welcomes babies and toddlers in Room 104 and twos-through-fours in Room 110. Children from kindergarten through fifth grade meet in Room 208 under Children Director Rebecca Brown. Middle and high schoolers gather in the Youth Area, and a College and Young Professionals class for ages 18 to 25 meets alongside adult classes such as Connecting Point, CrossTalk, Salt, and Lost and Found, and senior adult classes such as Truthseekers, Loyalty, Radiant, and Sonshine. At Stanton Springs, classes follow the same all-ages pattern, from babies through twos, kindergarten and first grade, second through fifth grade, college and career, young adults, the Outliers, middle and high schoolers, and the Legends class for senior adults.
The Equip Semester and Wednesday Nights
Equip is Rockdale Baptist's small-group discipleship ministry, and it runs on a college-semester calendar rather than a year-round schedule. Winter semester runs from January through early April, and fall semester begins in September and lasts through November. Courses are offered for everyone from infants through senior adults in subjects such as Christian finance, leading a godly home, godly marriages, Bible book studies, theology, mentoring, and general spiritual growth.
On the Conyers campus, Equip meets on Wednesday nights. Discipleship classes begin at 4:00 p.m., followed by supper at 5:00 p.m. (seasonal), the prayer meeting at 6:00 p.m., and the Sanctuary Choir and band rehearsal at 6:30 p.m. Student mid-week worship and Bible study also meet at 6:30 p.m. The Joyful Senior Saints choir rehearses earlier in the day at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesdays. At the Stanton Springs campus, Equip meets on Sunday evenings: dinner at 5:00 p.m. and classes at 6:00 p.m., with the band rehearsing on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. A current semester highlight is the Experiencing God study, led by Seth De Foor at Conyers and Doug Smith at Stanton Springs, with childcare provided for preschoolers through fifth grade.
Family Ministry from the Nursery through College
The Family Ministry team at Rockdale Baptist treats communication with parents as one of its core commitments, walking alongside families through Vacation Bible School, summer camps, and a series of milestone celebrations that include Baby Dedication, First Bible Presentation, Baptism, and a High School and College Graduation Ceremony. The preschool department uses Lifeway's Gospel Project curriculum, which comes with a parent app for at-home follow-up during the week. All teachers in the preschool and children's areas pass background checks and complete training before they serve.
Extended Teaching Care, known as ETC, is available during the morning worship service for parents who prefer to leave their preschoolers in a classroom while they attend worship. The children's ministry for kindergarten through fifth grade focuses on making Sunday meaningful and special, with dedicated teachers, background-checked workers, and a space designed to help each child feel loved and valued. For students in sixth through twelfth grade, Student Ministry Director Cody Bourland oversees Sunday School classes, Wednesday night Bible studies, and a calendar of events and activities throughout the year. The College and Young Professionals class is geared toward young people either still in school or already launching careers, with the goal of helping them find their place in ministry within the larger body of Christ.
Joyful Saints, Sanctuary Choir, and the Worship Band
The Worship Ministry at Rockdale Baptist is built around three musical groups. The Sanctuary Choir leads worship each Sunday morning at the Conyers campus and presents seasonal musicals and worship services throughout the year; it is open to anyone in ninth grade or older, and rehearsals happen on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. in the Music Suite. The Worship Team and Band is an auditioned group of singers and instrumentalists who lead worship on a rotation alongside the choir during weekly services and special events. The Joyful Senior Saints, directed by Rick Gattoni, rehearses on Wednesday mornings and sings in worship periodically, then takes the music on the road to nursing homes and other senior facilities around the region. The group is known for travel as well: members have sung in Ellijay, Blue Ridge, Pensacola, and many other places, and new members are always welcome. A Media and Technology team supports all of this with sound, lighting, presentation software, video directing, camera operation, video editing, and graphic design.
On Mission: Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the Ends of the Earth
Rockdale Baptist structures its missions strategy around the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8, building concentric circles of impact that begin at home and reach around the globe. Locally, the church partners with the Refuge Center in Conyers, supports the annual Baby Bottle Campaign for pregnancy resource work, hosts families through Family Promise, and cooperates with the Stone Mountain Baptist Association. Across North America, the church sends volunteers and dollars to Bold Mission Builders for sheetrock and construction projects, supports the Bridge City church plant in Cincinnati, Ohio, and works with the North American Mission Board. Internationally, the church supports a church-strengthening and evangelism conference in Cuba, partners with Sus Hijos (His Children) in El Salvador, and gives through the International Mission Board. Members are encouraged to find their own way to be on mission, through prayer, giving, sending, or going.
What Rockdale Believes
Rockdale Baptist Church and The Church at Stanton Springs are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Their doctrinal positions are outlined in The Baptist Faith and Message 2000; no pastor, leader, or member is asked to sign the document, but it conveys what the church teaches. The congregation holds that the Scriptures are true, authoritative, and sufficient; that there is one true God, Creator of heaven and earth, who eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that all things exist for the glory of God. All humanity, apart from Christ, is sinful by birth and by action, and the deserved penalty for sin is physical and spiritual death. The church confesses that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, born of a virgin, fully God and fully human, who died as the substitutionary sacrifice to pay the penalty for sin, physically rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will one day physically return. There will be a future physical resurrection of the dead: those who turn from sin and to Jesus in faith and repentance will be raised to eternal reward, and those who do not will be raised to eternal punishment. Reconciliation with God, and the gift of true life and joy, come only through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and repentance from sin.
From a small gathering of thirteen charter members in a wooden meeting house in 1847 to a two-campus congregation nearly 180 years later, Rockdale Baptist Church continues to point its heart, home, music, mission, and ministry to the cross of Jesus Christ.