A Family of Faith on Hughes Road
Trinity Baptist Church stands on sixteen acres along Hughes Road on the south side of Madison, Alabama, just west of Huntsville. The dream of Trinity is to be a healthy family of faith that serves God's purpose in this world. From a small mission group that came out of the Madison Baptist Association in March 1987, Trinity has grown into a congregation of more than 750 members. Each week around 125 people gather for Sunday school and roughly 250 for Sunday worship. The recurring motto "Your Story. Our Story. God's Story." sets the tone for everything the church does.
From a Union Hall to Sixteen Acres
Trinity began as a mission of the Madison Baptist Association in March 1987, supported by eight local churches and a dedicated core group. The first worship services met in the United Rubber Workers Union Hall. Within a year the mission had purchased sixteen acres on Hughes Road and moved into a new sanctuary and education building. On March 20, 1988, the work officially became a church.
Growth came in measured steps. In 1995 the congregation broke ground for additional education and fellowship space, which was completed in the winter of 2001. By that time Trinity had three full-time staff. In the spring of 2005 the church added a new worship space. Then in the summer of 2009 the congregation moved into a 15,000 square foot education and fellowship building that included a dedicated area for youth ministry. Today the property hosts worship, education, fellowship, the church's weekday preschool, and the Madison City Farmers Market on Saturday mornings from April through November.
Sunday Mornings at Trinity
Sunday mornings follow a steady rhythm. Sunday school for adults, students, preschoolers, and children begins at 9:30 a.m. and runs until 10:50 a.m. The whole church then gathers for worship at 10:30 a.m. in the main sanctuary. Visitors are greeted at the door and pointed toward small groups for their age or stage of life.
Worship blends choral music, congregational singing, and preaching. The Sanctuary Choir, a community of singers who rehearse every Wednesday evening, provides music for the 10:30 a.m. service. Across the month, the Sanctuary Choir is joined in the special music rotation by Heart of Praise, a nine-voice women's ensemble, the Adult Praise Team, a small acoustic band that leads contemporary songs, and Trinity Carillon, a three-octave handbell ensemble. Services are livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person.
Wednesday Nights: A Meal and a Midweek
Wednesday evenings are a second front door into Trinity. From 4:45 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. during the school year, the Fellowship Hall serves a Wednesday Night Fellowship Supper. Adults pay $8, ages 6 to 11 pay $5, ages 3 to 5 pay $2, and children two and under eat at no charge, with a maximum charge of $25 per family. A monthly menu is published in the church's announcements and newsletter.
After the meal, the building fills with choirs, classes, and small groups. The Carillon handbell ensemble gathers at 5:00 p.m. Children's choirs - the Cherub Choir for ages four through first grade and the Hallelujah Choir for second through fifth grade - rehearse from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. The Adult Praise Team rehearses at 5:30, and the Student Ministry gathers at 5:30 for a time of worship, teaching, and small groups. At 6:00 p.m. a prayer meeting convenes, and at the same hour Mission Friends (ages four through first grade) and Mission Kids (second through fifth grade) introduce children to Jesus' mission through projects that serve locally and around the world. An English Language Learners class meets at 6:00 p.m. for international residents who want practical help with reading, writing, and speaking English. Vocal Ensembles rehearse at 6:15 p.m., and the Sanctuary Choir gathers at 7:00 p.m. for its weekly rehearsal in the sanctuary.
Preschool, Children, and the Orange Curriculum
Trinity partners with parents in the spiritual formation of their children using the Orange curriculum, which combines the warmth of home with the light of Christ. On Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m., caring volunteers lead preschoolers through Bible stories and age-appropriate activities. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade gather in their own spaces for the same. Worship Care is offered for infants through age three during the 10:30 a.m. worship service, and four-year-olds through kindergartners are invited to leave the main service before the sermon for worship activities designed for them.
On Wednesday evenings children learn about Jesus' mission and grow in the basics of the Christian faith through Faith Steps, a curriculum that covers the books of the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and Psalm 23. Children's choirs run from September through April each year and lead worship in a Sunday service once a semester, with a special Christmas performance. Each week a take-home page from Parent Cue helps families keep the conversation about God going at home throughout the week. Children are received through a digital check-in that prints security labels for both child and parent.
Students: The Church Now, Not Just the Future
The vision for the Student Ministry is to equip sixth through twelfth-grade students to adopt a lifelong, authentic, and vibrantly holistic Christian faith. The program meets in its own dedicated space in the education building. On Sunday mornings students gather at 9:30 a.m. before splitting into discussion groups for sixth through eighth grade and ninth through twelfth grade at 9:55 a.m. Each group is led by an adult leader and is kept to ten to fifteen students, giving every student a smaller and more intentional setting for spiritual growth.
On Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., the Student Ministry recaps the previous Sunday's sermon or theme in a way that is practical and personal, then breaks into small groups by grade and gender. Students are welcomed to join the church-wide Fellowship Meal in the Fellowship Hall from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays before their program begins. Check-in starts at 5:30 p.m. Throughout the year students take part in mission trips, retreats, and community service days, including an annual fall mission trip and a Community Blitz service day in Madison. Families stay informed by texting "Students" to a dedicated number and by following @tbcmadisonstudents on Instagram. Adults who want to observe a service must pass a background check in advance.
Weekday Preschool Ministry
Beyond Sunday and Wednesday mornings, Trinity runs a Weekday Preschool Ministry (WPM) for children from eight weeks old through age four. The preschool operates Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and follows the Madison City School System calendar. Classes for infants and toddlers run one to five days a week based on availability. Young twos, older twos, threes, and fours attend either Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday and Thursday, or all five days. The program uses the W.E.E. Learn Curriculum from Lifeway and adds pre-K supplements to boost kindergarten readiness. Music, art, stories, science, and indoor and outdoor play round out a day that weaves in age-appropriate Bible lessons. WPM accepts children regardless of race, creed, sex, or religious preference. Spaces often fill quickly, and a waitlist is maintained for several classes.
Adults, Small Groups, and Trinity University
Adults at Trinity have many ways to grow together. Sunday morning small groups include a Young Adults and Families class for those navigating new life stages; a Median Adults class for those investing in career changes, raising teenagers, or caring for aging parents; a Later Adults Grace Group for those entering retirement, grandparenthood, or other new seasons; and Trinity University. Trinity Travelers, a group for adults ages fifty and older, gathers regularly for meals, ministry projects, prayer experiences, and trips. On Mondays, Bible studies meet weekly to deepen knowledge of Scripture and support one another in different stages of faith formation.
Music and Worship
Music is woven into nearly every week at Trinity. The Sanctuary Choir is the primary musical ensemble for Sunday morning worship and rehearses every Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. No audition is required, and a love of singing is all that is needed to join. The Adult Praise Team leads contemporary songs during some Sunday services. Heart of Praise, the Trinity Carillon, and vocal ensembles round out the music ministry. Children and students also participate, from Cherub and Hallelujah Choirs to student-led pieces in Sunday services. The Interim Minister of Music, a Music and Worship Apprentice, the organist, and the pianist lead this work.
Compassion in Action: Local and Global Missions
Missions are close to Trinity's heart, and the church teaches its children about service on Wednesday nights as a foundation for a lifetime of mission engagement. Trinity works with and gives to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alabama Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Madison Baptist Association. Each year a team partners with Good Samaritan Hospital and Maranatha Church in La Romana, Dominican Republic, to provide clinics, vacation Bible school, and water filters for families in the bateyes. Several times a year the congregation builds ramp sections and partners with Sowing Seeds of Hope to install them in Marion, Alabama.
Locally, twice a year the church holds Community Blitz service days after Sunday worship, with projects that include winterizing homes, working at community gardens and thrift stores, and delivering food to elderly neighbors. Members of Trinity also drive the Salvation Army canteen truck one Friday each month, taking meals to people experiencing homelessness in the area. The church houses a food pantry for families in Madison City Schools and supports the Weekend Backpack Snacks ministry, which sends roughly 80 fruit cups and individual servings of macaroni and cheese home each week with children at Columbia Elementary who face food insecurity over the weekend. Trinity also collects cell phones, tablets, inkjet cartridges, and toner cartridges for recycling, and the proceeds support the youth program.
The Madison City Farmers Market on the South Lawn
Trinity hosts the Madison City Farmers Market on its south lawn every Saturday morning from April through November. Founded in 2007, the market is a producer-only market that today features more than thirty-five local vendors. Everything sold is grown or crafted within roughly one hundred miles of Trinity. Vendors offer fresh vegetables, fruits, cheese, eggs, meats, milk, herbs, honey, jams, relishes, home-baked goods, and plants and flowers, along with handmade crafts, products, and foods from local artisans. The market is a public gathering space that grows the relationship between the church and the wider Madison community.
Baptist Values and Identity
Trinity holds a set of core commitments that shape its life together. The church teaches that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the faith and that the Bible is God's inspired word and the foundation for Christian life and practice. Trinity values Baptist traditions such as believer's baptism, local church autonomy, the priesthood of all believers, religious freedom, and individual interpretation of Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The church is committed to welcoming people from varied backgrounds, to sharing Christ's love locally and globally, to equality in service for women and men, to fostering belonging and growth for all ages, to authenticity in the journey of faith, to encouraging and praying for one another, to worship that honors God and draws the congregation closer to Him, and to being led by its members, with committees and teams carrying out the work of the church under the guidance of the ministerial staff.
Trinity is congregationally governed. Members are elected to a Leadership Council and to committees that lead ministries, manage finances, coordinate missions, and oversee facility operations. Deacons are elected by the congregation and serve three-year terms in teams that support worship services, share meals with those in need, welcome visitors and new members, provide hands-on help, and offer visitation and care.
Leadership
Dr. Michael Oliver has served as Senior Pastor at Trinity since 2012. He holds a Doctor of Ministry from McAfee School of Theology and a Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A native of Hokes Bluff, Alabama, he and his wife Mary have four sons. Rev. Glenn Bowers has served as Associate Pastor since 2001, overseeing Sunday school, education, and local and global missions. He is a Fort Payne native with degrees from Jacksonville State University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Rev. Billy Orton serves as Interim Minister of Music and brings forty-five years of full-time ministry experience, including twenty-four years at First Baptist Church, Huntsville. Rev. Teresa Bowers serves as Minister to Children and Families, having joined the staff in 2001. Rev. Lane Craig serves as Minister to Students. Nancy Foster has directed the Weekday Preschool Ministry since 2005. Cana Farr serves as Director of DayLife. Gayle Lavish serves as organist and Dannie Walther as pianist.
Plan a Visit
Trinity Baptist Church is located at 1088 Hughes Road in Madison, Alabama. Sunday morning worship begins at 10:30 a.m., with Sunday school for every age at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday evenings run from a 4:45 p.m. fellowship supper through a full slate of choirs, classes, and small groups that ends with the Sanctuary Choir rehearsal at 7:00 p.m. Giving is available online, and Sunday worship is livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel.