Trinity Baptist Church sits at 801 North Peters Avenue in Norman, Oklahoma, a few blocks north of the University of Oklahoma campus. The senior pastor, Ronnie W. Rogers, has led the congregation since 1998 and is a founding member of the Conservative Baptist Network. Trinity identifies with the Southern Baptist Convention and with that conservative network of SBC churches, and the building's ministry and mission statement - Equip, Engage, Evangelize - shows up on every page of the church's communication.
The single location houses a worship center, fellowship hall, gym, library, and roughly fifty classrooms, and the church also runs a separate college house at 2101 Foxcroft Road. On a typical Sunday, more than a thousand people flow through the building between campus groups at 9:30, morning worship at 10:40, and evening worship at 6:00.
Equip, Engage, Evangelize
The mission of Trinity Baptist Church is to equip believers to engage people and culture, and to evangelize the world. The church takes the Great Commission of Matthew 28 as its mandate and Ephesians 4:11-16 as its model, with a special emphasis on training Christians to think biblically about their lives and fields of expertise through expository preaching, teaching, one-on-one discipling, and structured ministry opportunities.
To that end, Trinity operates the Trinity Equipping Center, a multi-year program of in-depth Bible teaching. Other offerings include The Roundtable discussion series, Men's Fraternity, women's Bible studies, and the deliberate incorporation of college students into the full life of the church so that they are meaningfully connected with a local congregation after graduation.
A Sunday at 801 North Peters
Worship at Trinity is laid out in three Sunday services, each with a distinct feel:
- 9:30 AM - Campus Groups. Sunday school for every age, from nursery through adult, meeting in classrooms across the building.
- 10:40 AM - Morning Worship. A blended service with singing and expository preaching, running roughly until noon.
- 5:00 PM - Quest, AWANA, and Discovering Truth. Children's Bible clubs and a men-and-women's Bible study with youth welcome.
- 6:00 PM - Evening Worship. A second, smaller service for those who prefer a more intimate gathering.
The music is described as engaging blended and the preaching as biblical and expositional. Casual dress is the norm; jeans and t-shirts sit comfortably alongside suits and dresses. The largest parking lot is on the north side of the building, and Guest Parking signs lead to a canopy marked Welcome Center, where greeters and children's check-in are waiting.
Wednesday Nights: Meal, Bible Study, and Choir
The Wednesday rhythm at Trinity centers on a fellowship meal at 5:00 PM followed by an adult Bible study at 6:00, with students heading to their own programs at the same hour.
- 5:00 PM - Fellowship meal in the gym.
- 6:00 PM - Adult Bible study in the sanctuary.
- 6:00 PM - Engage Youth, with small groups at 6:00 and worship and teaching at 7:00.
- 6:00 PM - Starz K!DZ Choir for elementary children and Honeybees Preschool Choir.
- 6:00 PM - Learning English Together ESL classes on the south side of the building.
Two Dozen Campus Groups on Sunday Mornings
Trinity's adult Sunday school hour is unusually broad. Roughly two dozen classes meet at 9:30 across the building, each with its own leader, teaching style, and study focus. A few give the flavor:
- Senior Saints (Room 112, led by Larry Toothaker) uses Lifeway curriculum in an open discussion format.
- Hearts on a Journey (Library, led by Peggy Miller) is a women's class that opens with prayer requests and works through book studies, walking through the Gospel of John with David Jeremiah.
- The Bereans (Room 115, led by Jim McIntyre) studies books of the Bible verse by verse, with three men rotating to lead.
- Equipped (Gym Loft, led by Justin Devero, Tom Petroski, and Ryan Polk) walks through Scripture book by book.
- Roots (Fellowship Hall 1, led by Pete Jackson and Terry Garner) emphasizes teaching, service, and fellowship.
- Connections (Fellowship Hall 2, led by Justin Mullinax and Cameron Harp) is a discussion-based class for all ages.
- Foundations for Marriage (Room 116, led by Matthew and Alana LaFon and Jim and Kim Pitt) is a year-long marriage class covering Gary Thomas's Sacred Marriage series, the Five Love Languages, Love and Respect, and God on Sex.
- Persuasive Faith (Fellowship Hall 7, led by Rick Harvey) is a year-long apologetics course on science, history, atheism, Islam, philosophy, and the trustworthiness of the Bible.
- The Pursuit (Fellowship Hall 5, led by Max Barnett) studies A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy.
- Logos (Fellowship Hall 4, led by Eddie Charlson and Mike Snowdon) examines the Bible's original historical, cultural, and grammatical context, currently working through the Resurrection, James, and the Olivet Discourse.
- 2:7 - Firmly Established (Fellowship Hall 6, led by Matthew LaFon and Pham Do) is a two-year interactive discipleship course that teaches quiet times, Scripture memory, testimony writing, and how to replicate the discipleship process in others.
- Christ Our Joy (Learning Room 5, led by Justin Devero and Adam Wilmoth) cultivates joy through spiritual habits of grace.
- Love and Good Deeds (Fellowship Hall 3, led by Kris Akins and Troy Ivey) discusses the previous Sunday's sermon and divides into men-and-women prayer groups once a month.
- Train Up a Child (Fellowship Hall 1, led by the Presleys and Thomases) helps parents think through parenting from a biblical perspective, including issues like technology, sex, and pornography.
Other classes include Parenting (Fellowship Hall 1), Growing in Our Devotion to Christ (Room 111), and Prayer and Blessing (Choir Room, led by Curtis Corcoran, Mark Lawrence, and Rick Malone), which looks at the prayers and blessings of Paul and the stories behind favorite hymns.
Engage Youth: Sixth Grade Through Senior Year
Engage Youth is led by the Associate Pastor, Ryan Polk, and meets Sunday mornings at 9:30 in Youth Life groups and Wednesday evenings for small groups and worship. The goal is threefold: help students develop a faith of their own, apply their faith in family and school, and launch into adulthood with a vibrant relationship with God and a robust understanding of Scripture, the church, and the culture.
Sunday morning breaks down by grade:
- Youth Life 4 (6th grade, led by Jason and Catherine Colvin) introduces the gospel, the church, and spiritual habits.
- Youth Life 3 (7th and 8th grade, led by Bo and Christina Maynes) walks through the Old Testament over the course of a year.
- Youth Life 2 (9th and 10th grade, led by Adam and Lisa Wilmoth) studies the New Testament and its application to daily life.
- Youth Life 1 (11th and 12th grade, led by Doug and Lorie Gray) covers Christian worldview, apologetics, and how to study the Bible.
On Wednesday nights, students gather in same-grade, same-gender small groups at 6:00 with two adult leaders each, then come back together at 7:00 for a corporate time of worship and Bible study. The youth ministry also attends Falls Creek in the summer and runs retreats, mission trips, service projects, and sports leagues throughout the year.
The Place: College Ministry on Foxcroft Road
The college ministry, called The Place, is led by College Pastor Chris Haynes and operates out of a dedicated facility at 2101 Foxcroft Road, a few minutes from the OU campus. Sunday mornings at 9:30 the third floor fills with college students; they move into the main worship service at 10:40 and can return at 6:00 PM for evening worship.
On Wednesdays the schedule is dinner at 5:00, a college D-Group at 7:15, and a time of fellowship and Bible study at 8:00. There are monthly fellowship nights, game nights, and Sunday night fellowships, plus fall and spring retreats. The Place is built around four commitments: finding a place to grow, serve, be on mission, and belong to community.
Trinity Chinese Fellowship: Four Decades Among OU Students
The Trinity Chinese Fellowship (三一华人团契) was founded in 1987 by Jim and Jeri White, who began hosting two Chinese students from the University of Oklahoma for Bible study in their home. Over the decades, with Bill and Pam Kennedy and many other volunteers joining the work, hundreds of Chinese students and scholars have come to faith or found a Christian community through the fellowship. Today the group welcomes bilingual, English-only, and Chinese-only speakers and runs programs in both languages.
The Sunday schedule is small group Bible study from 9:30 to 10:30 AM and worship and Bible study lecture from 10:45 AM to noon, with nursery and children's programs running alongside. Friday evenings (twice a month) bring a shared dinner followed by small group Bible study in Chinese and English, with a separate seekers' group for those exploring the faith.
The fellowship also runs a monthly women's prayer group with breakfast, an annual spring break retreat, weekly pickleball, online Bible studies, and the LET English tutoring program. The group celebrates Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival and is active in the Norman Chinese community.
Learning English Together
The English-language arm of the Chinese ministry is Learning English Together (LET), a free adult ESL program that meets at the church on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, September through December and January through April. Classes run at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, and students only pay for their textbook. New students can enroll in September or January, or simply show up any Wednesday evening during those months. The fall session begins the first Wednesday of September; students enter through the south church entrance on East Frank Street.
Preschool and H!Z K!DZ: Children from Birth Through Fifth Grade
Trinity runs a children's ministry that spans nursery through fifth grade in two distinct departments.
The Preschool Ministry, directed by Kara Polk with Gina Rogers, teaches through the Bible using the DiscipleLand Curriculum beginning at age 2, so that by the time children transition to elementary ministry they have walked through stories from Genesis to Revelation. Sunday morning at 9:15, classes are divided by age from birth through pre-K. At 10:40, children aged 3 through pre-K move into Preschool Praise and Worship for a combined time of singing, lesson, craft, and play, while birth through 2-year-olds stay in their Sunday school rooms. Wednesday evenings during the school year offer childcare for the youngest children and the Honeybees Preschool Choir for 3-year-olds through pre-K, which performs in the Christmas Live Nativity and at the Mother's Day service.
On Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, the preschool department runs AWANA clubs, with Puggles for 2-year-olds and Cubbies for 3-year-olds through pre-K, from September through May.
The Elementary Ministry, directed by Kathy Presley, runs the H!Z K!DZ program for kindergarten through fifth grade. Sunday school at 9:15 is divided by age; on the first Sunday of the month, 1st through 5th graders meet together for K!DZ on Mission. At 10:30, all elementary children come together for K!DZ Worship, with pickup in the gym. Children are always welcome to sit with their family in worship. Sunday evenings at 5:00 PM bring Quest, a Bible club for K-5th graders, and Wednesday nights at 6:00 PM bring Starz K!DZ Choir, which performs an annual nativity and spring drama.
Every volunteer who works with children has had a background check. Children are checked in at a computer station before class and can only be picked up by a parent or guardian with a matching sticker.
Women's Ministry and Men's Ministry
The Women's Ministry, directed by Polly Harp, runs Precept Inductive Bible Study on Tuesday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15 AM (two study series a year), Discovering Truth for Women on Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, and D-groups of five to eight women who meet weekly for accountability, memory verse review, and discussion. Gather. Eat. Connect. events rotate throughout the year, and the ministry serves through Bread for Life, the Wilson Elementary Christmas ministry, Lifetime (nursing home ministry), UNlimited Special Needs Ministry, First Impressions, and other areas.
The Men's Ministry, known as Discovering Truth, meets Sunday evenings at 5:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall. Throughout the year the men also take part in marriage and parenting retreats, service projects, and the broader men's ministry offerings at Trinity.
Discovering Trinity: The Membership Class
Anyone considering joining Trinity is asked to take Discovering Trinity, a four-part class that begins with an overview of the church's beliefs, vision, and structure. Attending the class does not obligate someone to join, but it is required for membership, along with baptism by immersion, presentation to the church, and a signed commitment form. Membership is open to those who have received Christ by faith and have been (or are willing to be) baptized by immersion.
What We Believe
Trinity's doctrinal statement begins with the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture. Christ is the head and final authority of the church; the Bible is inspired by God, inerrant and infallible in the original manuscripts, and authoritative and totally reliable today. The church holds to the Trinity, the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture, the total depravity of natural man, the virgin birth of Christ, his blood atonement, his bodily resurrection, the personal and imminent return of Christ, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the eternal security of the believer, freedom of religion, the autonomy of the local church, worldwide missions as the obligation of every church, a regenerated church membership, the personality of Satan, justification by faith, the reality of heaven and hell, the priesthood of the believer, two ordinances only (baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper), and church discipline. The full Baptist Faith and Message is available for download, along with Trinity's own Doctrinal Explanations.
Elders, Staff, and the Conservative Baptist Network
Trinity is led by a team of pastors and elders. Ronnie W. Rogers, who holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Criswell College and an M.S. in Counseling from Henderson State University, has been senior pastor since 1998 and is a founding member of the Conservative Baptist Network. He has served as chairman of the SBC's Nominating Committee, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, and has presented papers on religion and public education at the Oxford International Round Table.
Ryan Polk, the Associate Pastor, began serving at Trinity part time in 1998 as a University of Oklahoma student and now oversees discipleship, membership, Wednesday night adult Bible study, the Academy, and the Isaachar Project, an apologetics and worldview training program.
Randy Presley, the Worship Pastor, has been on staff since 1995 and serves alongside his wife Kathy, who directs the elementary ministry.
Chris Haynes, the College Pastor, came to Trinity in 2007 after serving as a youth and college pastor at other Oklahoma Baptist churches. He holds a B.A. from Oklahoma Baptist University and a master's from Southwestern Seminary.
Additional elders include Chris Kennedy, who has been part of Trinity since his freshman year at OU in 1999, and Larry Toothaker. The pastors' assistant, financial secretary, custodian, elementary director, and preschool directors round out the staff.
Position Papers and Public Convictions
Trinity's elders have published position papers on topics where they feel the church must speak. They have withdrawn support for the Boy Scouts of America in response to policy changes on sexual orientation, stating that BSA seeks by its action to normalize homosexuality. They have withdrawn authorization for the use of Andy Stanley's teaching materials, citing concerns about his handling of Scripture's truthfulness. They have affirmed their continued endorsement of Eden Clinic, a local pregnancy resource center, after the clinic returned to its Christian mission. They have also published statements on religious liberty, marriage for life (defining marriage as between one man and one woman, with carefully limited grounds for divorce and remarriage), and a succinct contrast between Calvinism and extensivism.
Serving Teams, Weddings, and the Building
Trinity organizes its volunteer teams around children's check-in, the youth ministry, the worship team, prayer team, audio/visual team, welcome team, coffee team, and safety team. The church hosts weddings, and an elder must approve both the wedding application and the booking form. The large multi-purpose building includes the main sanctuary, fellowship hall, gym, library, and roughly fifty classrooms, and the church also operates a separate college house at 2101 Foxcroft Road.
Listening, Reading, and Recommended Resources
Sermons are livestreamed through Sermon Audio and are archived by series and by individual speaker. The Media Library includes series such as Salvation According to John (Ronnie Rogers), Hebrews (Ryan Polk), God's Plan for the Church (Ryan Polk), Building the Temple of God: I Corinthians 1-3 (Ronnie Rogers), Contending for the Faith: A Study of Jude (Ronnie Rogers), The Book of Daniel (Ronnie Rogers), Matthew 24 & 25 (Ronnie Rogers), Meaningful Membership (Ronnie Rogers), Satanology & Demonology (Ronnie Rogers), Discovering Spiritual Maturity (Ryan Polk), and The Danger of Silence (Ronnie Rogers). Ronnie's blog and a library of his writings are also available.
Beyond the sermons, the church maintains a curated recommended reading list covering biblical studies, theology, church history, apologetics, philosophy, worldview, family, marriage, the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology, eschatology, the charismatic movement, science, and other religions. Authors include Wayne Grudem, John MacArthur, D.A. Carson, Mark Dever, Norm Geisler, Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer, and Ronnie Rogers himself, whose books The Equipping Church, Undermining the Gospel, Reflections of a Disenchanted Calvinist, and Does God Love All or Some? appear alongside the classics.
A prayer ministry accepts requests by email and through the church's online form, and a monthly newsletter keeps members informed of upcoming studies and events. Giving is available online.