Twin Ports Baptist Church sits on the corner of 52nd Avenue East in Superior, Wisconsin, just minutes from the harbor where ships have passed for generations. From that location, between Lake Superior and the twin ports of Duluth and Superior, an independent Baptist congregation has been preaching, teaching, and training since the autumn of 1970. The church's motto, Loving God, Loving People, is printed on its materials, but the phrase that defines its daily work is its own: Bible Truth for Daily Living.
From El Paso to Superior: A Church That Began in 1970
Twin Ports Baptist Church was started on September 27, 1970 by Rick Scarberry, a pastor who came out of Hillcrest Baptist Church of El Paso, Texas. He led the work until the summer of 1991, when the church called John Mark Wagenschutz as its pastor. A native Texan who was saved at twenty-one and answered God's call a year later, Pastor Wagenschutz trained at Averyville Baptist Church in Illinois, earned a Graduate of Theology from Fellowship Baptist College and a Bachelor of Theology from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary, and served for five years as associate pastor at Flushing Bible Baptist Church in Michigan before settling in Superior. He and his wife Dawn have raised three daughters, all involved in ministry.
Two institutions grew up alongside the pulpit. The Christian School was started in 1977 to train children in the way of the Lord; many graduates have entered either full-time ministry or professional careers. The Bible Institute was added in 1993 as a way to equip men for full-time ministry, with members free to audit classes for their own growth.
What the Bible Means Here
TPBC holds to a high view of Scripture. Members believe the Old and New Testaments are the infallible and inerrant Word of God, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that God has preserved His Word for English-speaking believers in the Authorized King James Version. Services are conducted from the KJV, and the church's teaching follows that text.
The church confesses one God eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The members believe man was created in God's image but fell through Adam's transgression, leaving the whole human race totally depraved and lost. Salvation is by grace through faith, received by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and the work is eternal: those truly saved are kept by the power of God.
Two ordinances are practiced. Baptism is by complete immersion in water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and follows the new birth. The Lord's Supper uses unleavened bread and the unfermented fruit of the vine as symbols of Christ's body and blood; the church practices closed communion, meaning those partaking should be members of a local, Bible-believing church and have already been Scripturally baptized.
TPBC believes in a premillennial, pretribulational, imminent return of Christ, in a personal devil who has already been judged and will be cast into the lake of fire, in Heaven and Hell as literal eternal abodes, and in a literal six-day Genesis creation. The church is committed to the autonomy of the local New Testament assembly and to Bible separation from the world, sin, and organizations that dishonor the Lord.
Three Services a Week, One Family
Members gather three times a week. Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. is the main service, built around choir music, special music, and Bible-based preaching. Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. is a second worship service, another time for singing and hearing the Word of God preached. Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. is the mid-week meeting, with uplifting singing, a Bible study from God's Word, and a prayer meeting - described by the church as a catapult for the Christian walk to get members through to the Lord's Day.
Each service is its own. Visitors who come to all three will hear the same gospel but in a slightly different setting: a larger Sunday morning gathering, a more intimate Sunday evening hour, and a midweek Bible study and prayer time.
For those who cannot attend in person, services are broadcast three days a week on local cable channels, and recent services are available to watch through the church's Facebook page.
Raising Children in the Way of the Lord
TPBC invests heavily in its young people. A clean, professional nursery for children ages 0-3 is offered at every service, with about 300 square feet of learning and play space. Sunday School classes for children are held during the morning service. The church runs a Vacation Bible School each year, described as a week of intense fun and activity in which children learn Bible truths.
The bus ministry is a hallmark. Each Sunday, buses and vans leave the church parking lot to pick up children, teens, adults, and elderly members who, for one reason or another, cannot get to church on their own. The teens who ride are often the same ones who serve on those buses, and the ministry is woven into the life of the youth group.
Music, Teens, and Camp
The music ministry is led by Assistant Pastor Jonathan Wark, who directs the choir, while his wife Amanda sings and plays piano. The program includes a lively Adult Choir, a Children's Choir, special ensembles, soloists, duets, trios, and quartets. Traditional music is a mainstay.
Teenagers at TPBC gather for monthly teen activities that provide Christ-honoring fellowship, attend special Sunday morning teen classes, and travel together to youth rallies and crusades. Each summer the church runs a junior and a senior youth camp with swimming, horseback riding, team activities, and preaching; many campers have made life-changing decisions there.
Twin Ports Baptist School
Twin Ports Baptist School opened in 1977 as a ministry of the church, giving families the chance to provide a Christ-centered education. The school aims at a balance of Bible, academics, and athletics. Its published objectives include the opportunity for each child to know Jesus Christ as personal Savior, a balanced individualized academic agenda, an emphasis on the student's God-given talents, training in self-discipline, guidance toward God's will through Bible study, and an integration of faith and learning across the school day.
The school's juniors and seniors travel each year on a foreign missions trip, an experience the church points to as a way of giving young people a heart for missionaries and a sense of their part in the Great Commission.
Twin Ports Baptist Bible Institute
The Bible Institute started in 1993 as a four-year course of study designed to train men for full-time ministry while also instructing lay people for the work of the ministry. The curriculum uses material developed by Bible Baptist Church in Oak Harbor, Washington, adapted and supplemented by the Twin Ports staff. Four to six subjects are taught each year on a rotating cycle.
Classes meet on site one night a week for three hours. Each student receives a complete set of typed notes rather than dictating in class, which allows much more material to be covered per session, and weekly quizzes and tests accompany writing assignments. Classes are taught by the pastor and qualified staff who are Bible college graduates. After four years, graduates receive a Graduate of Theology degree.
The Preacher's Conference
Each winter, Twin Ports hosts the Lake Superior Conference on Preaching, bringing guest preachers and missionaries to the building for what the church calls the Preacher's Conference. Music for the gathering is sung in parts, with vocal tracks and sheet music prepared under titles such as Under God that singers and choirs can rehearse ahead of time.
Going Door to Door, Town to Town: Soul-Winning and Visitation
Soul-winning is a stated priority. Assistant Pastor Matthew Shold, who is training to be a missionary to the Dominican Republic, leads the soul-winning ministry, and members are encouraged to share their faith and to follow up with newcomers. The church trains new believers with Basic Bible Lessons and offers discipleship booklets.
A weekly visitation program sends members to the homes of people who are sick, hurting, or shut in, and also takes them out into the community going door-to-door. The women's ministries, men's ministries, and family ministries built around those visits are part of the same conviction: the gospel is best carried face-to-face.
World Wide Missions
TPBC supports missions through faith-promise giving, a pledge-based approach separate from regular tithes and offerings. The church currently has two missionary families sent out from its own body serving in foreign countries and supports over thirty other missionaries through like-minded ministries. Each year, Junior and Senior students from the school accompany adult leaders on a foreign missions trip. The description the church offers is simple and direct: missions is someone going somewhere to tell someone about Christ.
Daily in the Word
Alongside its ministries, the church publishes a daily devotion focused in Proverbs. Each day offers a passage of Scripture with a written devotion - sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes tied to current issues, always aimed at helping readers personalize God's Word. Visitors can read the devotions online, and members are encouraged to build the habit of daily Scripture reading.
The Pastoral Staff
Twin Ports is pastored by John Mark Wagenschutz. Three men serve under him as assistant or associate pastors: Jonathan Wark (music ministry), Matthew Shold (soul-winning), and Caleb Robertson, who leads the bus ministry while training for pastoral work. Adam Dunshee also serves as an associate pastor. Rachel Wark, the Christian School Administrator, oversees the K-12 school. Terry Shold serves as a deacon and youth director. Past sermons by Pastor Wagenschutz and others are available to watch online, going back through years of messages.
Visiting Twin Ports Baptist Church
The church is located at 208 52nd Avenue East in Superior, Wisconsin. Sunday morning worship begins at 10:00 a.m., with Sunday evening worship at 6:00 p.m. and a mid-week Bible study and prayer meeting on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. A nursery is provided for children ages 0-3 at every service, and Sunday School classes are available during the morning service. Parking is available at the building, and the bus ministry can arrange rides for those who cannot drive. Services are in English throughout. Visitors can also watch recent services on the church's Facebook page, and services are broadcast three days a week on local cable channels for shut-ins and elderly members.
One member writes: "Twin Ports has been a blessing to me and my family, and the members are truly brothers and sisters." The Word of God is held as Twin Ports' final authority, it is preached boldly, and sound doctrine is valued. The Twin Ports Baptist Institute has helped me learn and apply Biblical truths. Visitors are welcomed in that same spirit - with the conviction that biblical Christianity is worth every step of the walk.