A Tanner Church Built Around the Word
First Baptist Tanner is on U.S. Highway 31 South in Tanner, Alabama. The congregation is known for its motto, "Connecting Like Family, Loving Like Jesus," and that promise shapes a church life centered on biblical worship, family care, discipleship across generations, and service. Sunday Connect Groups begin at 9:15 a.m., followed by worship at 10:30 a.m.
At 11590 U.S. Highway 31 South, the church describes its people as regular people who want to honor Jesus Christ and encourage each other to grow in their walk with him. That family emphasis continues through care for children, youth teaching, men's and women's ministries, Connect Groups, and missions work that begins in everyday life. A "See Beyond" building campaign has also given the congregation a shared focus for prayer and service.
The church's office can be reached at 256-232-8440. Online giving is available, and an online connect card provides visitors with a direct way to introduce themselves to the congregation.
A Sunday Built Around Biblical Teaching
Each Sunday service includes prayer, preaching, and giving. Music and worship are built around biblical themes that are timeless. The sermons are grounded in God's Word rather than the pastor's ideas, with the aim of transforming lives to be more like Jesus Christ.
Dr. Gary Enfinger preaches from the pulpit in an expository style, with each message focused on the biblical text being addressed. First Baptist Tanner places a high priority on preaching and teaching, but it also stresses the communal character of worship. The service is a time to come together as a community to learn, be encouraged, and be challenged by God's Word.
The 9:15 a.m. Connect Groups include Sunday School classes, while 10:30 a.m. is the principal worship gathering. People are greeted and welcomed as they arrive. A Sunday worship livestream begins at 10:30 a.m., and recorded sermons extend the church's teaching beyond the sanctuary and into homes, cars, and other places where people can listen.
The two-part Sunday rhythm makes room for both Bible study and shared worship: Connect Groups gather first, then the congregation returns for a service shaped by prayer, song, biblical exposition, and giving.
Your First Sunday in Tanner
First-time guests are offered a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere, with a priority on helping people feel welcome. The music and worship center on biblical themes, and greeters stand at the front doors under the steeple. A parking lot is located near the church, with designated guest spaces close to the entrance.
The church asks that people dress in a way that honors God but places more emphasis on a person's presence than on what they wear. Most members wear business casual clothing. The practical arrival pattern is simple: use the nearby guest parking, enter at the front doors, and meet a greeter who can help a visitor find the right room.
First Baptist Tanner also wants families to know that they belong. Its stated intention is to serve the whole family, regardless of family dynamics, with care available during worship for infants and children through the third grade. The children's program is designed to give young people spiritual training while parents participate in worship.
- Service rhythm: prayer, preaching, and giving, with Bible-centered music and worship.
- Guest parking: designated spaces near the front door, in addition to the nearby parking lot.
- Welcome: greeters at the front doors under the steeple.
- Clothing: no single dress expectation; most members wear business casual.
- Child care: provided during all church services.
Children's Ministry Begins at Two
The mission of the Children's Ministry is to partner with parents and caregivers to raise children who know, love, and serve Jesus. Age-appropriate, Christ-centered curriculum and worship are intended to introduce children to the life-changing message of the gospel. Biblical education, safety, and relationships are treated as essential parts of a memorable church visit.
Sunday School begins at 9:15 a.m. with classes starting at two years old. During the 10:30 worship service, an extended Children's Church class serves preschool children through third grade. Children first worship with their parents through the music, then are dismissed to class when a slide indicates it is time. Caring leaders provide real spiritual training, and the church hopes each child leaves feeling known, loved, and able to connect with other families.
A safe, clean, and loving nursery is provided for all church activities. The ministry also includes special events throughout the year, and Vacation Bible School is another part of the children's calendar. The larger emphasis is partnership: children are taught at church while families are equipped to carry the same goal of knowing, loving, and serving Jesus into daily life.
Children's Ministry Co-Directors Tammy Aldridge and Janet Cottles are part of the staff serving this work.
Wednesday Connection at 6:15
Wednesday Connect Groups begin at 6:15 p.m. Children's groups for three-year-olds through twelve combine crafts and fun activities with Scripture, books of the Bible, and Bible stories. During holiday seasons, the Children's Choir also rehearses on Wednesday evenings. The midweek gathering extends teaching and relationships beyond Sunday, while the nursery remains available for church activities.
Rooted in Christ: The Youth Ministry
The Youth Ministry wants students to know Jesus Christ and find their ultimate joy and satisfaction in him. Its teaching is designed to deepen understanding of God's greatness, strengthen the pursuit of godliness, and help students see that identity and purpose are connected to their Creator rather than to success, relationships, mistakes, or struggles.
Rooted in Christ is the central theme. Drawing from Colossians 2:6-7, the ministry wants students to be rooted and built up in Christ, established in the faith and abounding in thanksgiving. The teaching emphasizes that a trial or failure need not define a student and that human worth is not based on performance. Ephesians 2:10 anchors the related truth that people are created anew in Christ for good works God has planned.
Students are also encouraged to rest in God's unfailing love, to cast their cares on him, and to believe that he cares about ordinary details as well as major struggles. Passages from Psalm 136, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Peter 5, Luke 12, and Ephesians 3 support a message of identity, value, confidence, and purpose.
That teaching is practical: students are reminded that being made in the image of God gives them value, that they are created with purpose, and that God's bold confidence through Christ does not depend on flawless performance or a problem-free life.
Men and Women Equipped for Service
Men's Ministry is committed to spiritual growth through a balanced program of worship, biblical teaching, fellowship, and evangelism. Its mission is to help men connect with God, their families, and one another, then become involved in discipling and training other men. Accountability, deeper relationships with family and God, and help through life's challenges are central aims.
- Affirmation: men encourage and teach one another about God and his Word.
- Quality time: men get to know one another's wants, needs, and desires.
- Gifts: they give to people in need in the community through money and tangible goods.
- Acts of service: they work together on church and community needs through projects and small groups.
Each activity supported by Men's Ministry is intended to support the church and can include worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, and ministry. The emphasis is balanced: men are built as spiritual leaders, but they also spend time knowing one another, give to community needs, and work together on projects and small groups.
Women's Ministry seeks to welcome women with open arms, connect them with God and others through fellowship, and equip them to live out their purpose through discipleship. The ministry also wants women to think through practical applications of faith to everyday life. Healthy small groups, authentic discipleship, and outreach opportunities are central to that mission.
Women are encouraged to put the Great Commandment and Great Commission into practice, sharing Christ's love in service to the surrounding community and beyond. The men's and women's ministries therefore share a common pattern of connection, instruction, accountability, and service, while giving men and women distinct ways to pursue that mission together.
Missions That Begin Where People Live
First Baptist Tanner describes missions as "Reaching the World for Christ" and says giving supports the national and worldwide work of the Southern Baptist Convention, Alabama Baptist State Convention, and Limestone Baptist Association. The church also teaches that missions is more than money: every person has a mission and a mission field designed by God.
That field can be wherever people work, live, attend school, or play. Some are called to live in other nations, while others work in secular businesses or public schools as ambassadors for Christ. Short-term mission trips in the United States or abroad, local and state service, and everyday service to others are all ways that call can be lived.
Local work includes partnerships with schools and CASA of Limestone County. State-oriented examples include God's Love from a Diaper Bag, Edwin Hodges Ministries, and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Global avenues include mission trips, Operation Christmas Child, and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
The common thread is sharing the good news of Christ with people they meet and demonstrating God's love through service. The shape of that service may change as people move through different callings, from family and workplace to cross-cultural ministry, but the church's stated aim remains the same.
See Beyond: A Building Campaign Held in Prayer
The "See Beyond" campaign gives Tanner congregants a shared way to pray for the church's building campaign and participate in its future. Prayer resources include a calendar, a focus sheet, a prayer walk, and four prayer tents. Each offers a specific way to turn the campaign into regular prayer rather than a distant idea.
The Prayer Focus connects three areas: campaign teams doing the work, people supporting those teams, and the groups connected to the church. Each area links with the Prayer Calendar so that people can remember both the ministry effort and the people involved. These materials help individuals and families intercede with specific purpose for the shared campaign.
The prayer walk format uses 11 stations. It begins in the sanctuary with the question "LORD, what..." and continues through ten additional locations throughout the church, each tied to a way to pray for the campaign. This makes the building itself a path for focused intercession and gives families another concrete way to join the shared effort.
The four prayer tents can be folded and placed around home or work. Bible verses appear on the front, while ten ways to pray for the campaign appear on the back. The church describes them as daily reminders to ask what God wants to accomplish through each person and to sustain the building campaign over three years. Alongside the campaign, the church's audio and video ministry carries the message that "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God."
The Pastoral and Ministry Team
Dr. Gary Enfinger has served as senior pastor since 2008 in a bi-vocational role. A Samford University graduate with a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, he previously spent 22 years as senior pastor of Thomasville Baptist Church in southwest Alabama. His responsibilities include preaching, casting the vision, and coaching the staff, and he describes a primary calling of growing disciples of Jesus Christ.
Michael Browning serves as associate pastor of administration. Before joining First Baptist Tanner, he and his family served as church planters in Uruguay after being appointed by the International Mission Board in 2004. His earlier church roles included minister of administration and missions at Clements Baptist Church and minister of education and administration at Sardis Springs Baptist Church. He brought that experience in missions, education, and administration to the pastoral team.
The ministry team also includes Children's Ministry Co-Directors Tammy Aldridge and Janet Cottles, Associate Music Director George Anothony, and A/V Media Director Russell Winfield. Together, the pastoral and ministry leaders support worship, teaching, children's formation, music, and the media work that carries services and sermons beyond the sanctuary.
What First Baptist Tanner Believes
First Baptist Tanner's faith statement places the Bible at the center as the authoritative, inerrant, verbally inspired, and infallible Word of God. The church affirms one true God eternally manifested as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and holds that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, co-equal with the Father and the Son.
Jesus is affirmed as the Savior whose sacrificial death, literal resurrection, and ascension provide redemption. He is believed to be the mediator between God and humanity and to return in glory to judge all people. The Holy Spirit is sovereign in regeneration and indwells, sanctifies, instructs, and empowers believers. The church also affirms the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, including spiritual gifts given to equip believers and build up the church.
The purpose of the church is to glorify God through teaching the Word, fellowship, and fulfilling the Great Commission. Salvation is described as God's free gift of grace to repentant sinners who respond in faith to Jesus Christ, with regeneration accomplished solely by the Holy Spirit. Both the saved and the lost are believed to experience bodily resurrection, and the security of the true believer is affirmed as enduring through God's power.
Christian baptism is held as the practice of believer's baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is understood as an act of obedience symbolizing faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior. These beliefs accompany a practical emphasis on spiritual service, good works, fellowship, and the church's mission to reach the world for Christ.
A Whole-Family Church in Tanner
First Baptist Tanner brings together biblical worship, expository teaching, Connect Groups, family care, leadership development, missions, and a shared campaign of prayer. Sunday begins with Connect Groups at 9:15 a.m. and worship at 10:30 a.m.; Wednesday Connect Groups begin at 6:15 p.m. Children are cared for and taught, women and men pursue discipleship, and young people are grounded in their identity in Christ. The church's continuing identity is simple and particular: connecting people like family, loving like Jesus, and teaching, worshiping, serving, and praying together in Tanner.