Our Story

We celebrate a history of building, growing, and serving in the Denham Springs community that first began with a small group of devoted Christians on May 6, 1900. These pioneers set forth an aggressive plan to build the area’s first Baptist church before winter set in the same year. They held fundraisers and milled their own lumber to construct a whiteboard church. The church grew to 800 members, pressing the church to invest $24,000 in 1928 to construct a three-story brick sanctuary that faced Centerville Street. By 1953, the church spent another $127,000 to build an education building that could hold 1,000 people for Bible study. Over time, continued growth and the constant threat of flooding caused the members to replace the three-story sanctuary with a more spacious one-story building that was believed to be better designed to withstand the rising waters of the Amite River.

The opening of Interstate 12 in the early 1970s created an enormous influx of new residents moving into the greater Denham Springs area to take advantage of available land, safe communities, and strong schools. Much of the city’s activity and population shifted away from its historic downtown core and spread along major transportation routes. As more people were added to the community, and the city’s footprint grew, the church responded in kind by enlarging its children and youth ministries, adding new service times, and developing a greater variety of adult discipleship and education opportunities.

In 1977, the congregation once again sought to build in response to the area’s continued growth. But this time, most agreed that such an investment should be made elsewhere to avoid the ever-present threat of flooding. Concerns for an available location and the economic downturn of the 1980s delayed action and stirred doubts. A massive flood in April 1983 further complicated matters by creating unexpected expenses that required immediate attention. However, the church resumed course in 1994 and voted to begin the process of seeking available land to relocate.

The church purchased a total of 44 acres in 2000 along Pete’s Highway (Louisiana Highway 16), near the Interstate 12 corridor. It took another three years before the church leadership formed a building committee and presented the first phase of a capital building campaign to raise money toward the anticipated $11.6 million construction cost. The congregation broke ground at the new site in 2015 and kicked off a second stewardship campaign in 2016 to further offset the amount borrowed.

On pace to begin construction in the Fall of 2016, the church once again found itself facing an epic flooding event. Record rainfall in the area caused water levels to rise to their highest recorded levels. Raging waters engulfed the sanctuary and educational buildings on River Road, causing the congregation to be without a venue to gather for worship. The existing facility was uninhabitable, so members met in the nearby First Methodist Church for a short time before going to the Denham Springs Junior High cafeteria for their weekly services and Bible study.

Construction of the new campus began in October 2016. Church members held a “Pray Before We Pour” service in November 2016, placing a Bible in the foundation of the sanctuary; a “Godly Graffiti” activity in March 2017 to allow members to write scriptures on the building’s studs and beams, and a “Prayer Walk” in September 2017 to seek God’s blessings over the many ministries of the church. We officially moved into our new location on October 1, 2016, and have seen the Lord’s hand move among His people in the years since then.

Since moving to the new campus, the church has exploded in growth to more than 1000 in worship. In 2020, the church became officially debt-free and began construction of a new children's building that was completed in 2021 without incurring any debt in the process. Due to the rapid growth in our student ministry, we began a capital campaign to raise funds for a new student building and plan to break ground soon!