A Letter from the Pastor

It can be a daunting task to visit a new church.  Matter of fact, I visited a new church in 2011.  It was this church, and I feel much like you feel.  I didn't know how they operated, or how they would welcome me.  Fortunately, they did welcome me, and called me as their Pastor in October of that year.  By God's grace, He has allowed me to Pastor this wonderful Church since then. 

There was a wonderful quote that I heard a few years ago, about looking for a Church.  It went something like this: "Don't look for a church that is closest to your home, but look for a church that is closest to the Bible."  That is a great principle to have in mind as you visit a Church.  When you come to Friendship SBC, our goal is to be a Church that strives to align with scripture.  Our worship service normally begins with the reading of God's Word as a call to worship.  And, we typically preach expositionally through entire books of the Bible.  We want to deal with all the passages, including the ones that are hard.  We have been fortunate to preach through the entire book of Romans from 2013-2018.  We preached through Mark in 2018-2020.  And currently, we started preaching through Revelation on Easter Sunday of 2020.  We want our whole worship service to be about the Gospel of the Glory of God, as revealed through the pages of the Bible.  

Some people look for a church with a certain style of music, or a certain style of culture.  That might be contemporary, traditional, or even liturgical.  You could say we are a mixture of those.  We normally sing hymns, and modern songs.  It is such a wonderful event to worship with an 8 year old, and an 80 year old, who gather to worship Jesus.  You don't have to wear a suit, or a tie (although you can feel free to do that).  We have people with tattoos and some with cowboy boots.  We have people of different colors, and even people from backgrounds of different languages.  We are a CHURCH FOR ALL NATIONS.  

Lastly, we are a church about Discipleship.  We don't want you to be a number.  We want you to be a Disciple.  Our mission is to "Equip Families and Individuals to Make Disciples in their Community and Around the World."  It would be our privilege, if we could help you and your family on that mission.  

I remember that nervous feeling when I first walked into the doors of Friendship SBC.  Eventually, we didn't just find a Church; we found a home.  We look forward to meeting you soon.  

  - J.M. Watkins