Our Staff
Reverend Tim Crosby is a Nashville native who graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1981 and upon graduation entered the Army. He left the Army to enter New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in August 1989 and graduated in July 1991 with a Master of Divinity, with an emphasis in psychology and counseling. After being in the pastorate for approximately ten years, Tim returned to active duty service in the Army as a chaplain. While on active duty, he received additional training at The Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas in suicide intervention and trauma in the family. He was also certified as a leader in the Prevention and relationship Enhancement Program and as an Instructor in the Army Family Team Building Program. In 2001, he returned to the civilian pastorate, following his retirement from the chaplaincy.
Pastor Tim has a heart for the Word of God. For over 25 years, his ministry has been characterized by verse-to-verse preaching and teaching of scripture. He takes great joy in seeing people mature in their walk with Christ. Pastor Tim often reminds the congregation that we need to "do the right thing and do it now."
Tim and his wife, Suzanne, have served churches in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina. Their son, Joshua and his wife, Lindsey, live in Martinez, Georgia.
Suzanne Crosby has been the Minister of Music at First Baptist Church of Hardeeville since 20115. She has served in the music ministry in various churches, schools and military chapels.
Her education includes a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in the Social Sciences with a minor in music. She taught in high school worked with the Army's program to prepare soldiers for civilian work and set up the Survivor Outreach Services for fallen families at Fort Gordon, Georgia. In addition, Suzanne co-authored the book, Lord, Why Am I Still Here? with Traci Hughes-Jungkurth.
Frieda Nettles, is our church secretary, clerk and a lifelong Baptist! She is a Sunday School teacher for the third, fourth and fifth grades.
She and her husband, Carl, have been married for over fifty years. They have one son, Roger, and two grandchildren, Kyle, 32, and Amanda, 22.
A native North Carolinian, she admits to still having a little tar on her heels, but she loves living in Hardeeville with many of Carl's family in close proximity.
Dianne Youngblood began playing the piano at the age of twelve in the church. Her music teacher was the pianist for the Baptist Church of Beaufort, and when she learned Dianne was playing the piano for Maye River Baptist Church, she began focusing Dianne's lessons on hymn playing. Having a mother who served as choir director was a great asset to Dianne. She is grateful to her mother and her piano teacher for the part each played in her development as a pianist.
Dianne and her husband, Jerry, have been married since 1971. They have two daughters, Ashley and Anne. Ashley lives in Atlanta with her husband Stephen and their son, Isaac. Anne lives in Bluffton with her husband Daniel and their three daughters Nyonna, Kambria and Trinity.
Our Basic Beliefs are based on The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. The full text and scripture support for our beliefs can be found at http://www.sbc.net/bfm.2000/bfm.2000.asp
Belief Summary
You become a Southern Baptist by uniting with a Southern Baptist church, one in friendly cooperation with the general Southern Baptist enterprise of reaching the world for Christ. Typically, church membership is a matter of receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and experiencing believer's baptism by immersion.
Southern Baptists have prepared a statement of generally held convictions called The Baptist Faith and Message. It serves as a guide to understanding who they are. Copies are available at Southern Baptist churches. The topics here provide only a partial summary. The full text on the issue discussed is also available on this website.
The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. …The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
God the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. …God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. …He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of man from sin.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. …He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. …He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Man
Man is the special creation of God, in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. …By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. … The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every person of every race possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
God's Purpose of Grace
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. …All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
Baptism & the Lord's Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. …It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members … memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Evangelism & Missions
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations... to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
The Lord's Day
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. …It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion.
Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. …Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly…the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell. …The righteous… will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Education
The cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence … there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility. …The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.
Stewardship
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions.
Cooperation
Christ's people should … organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. …Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations.
The Christian & the Social Order
All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society... in the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death...
Religious Liberty
Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. …A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal.
Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. ... The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation... Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage.
Our Vision
To gather together as one community and one body with one aim - to worship the Creator and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our Mission Statement
To preach the Word of God leading people to worship in Spirit and Truth, make disciples according to the will of God and fellowship with believers to honor and glorify God.
Preaches the love of the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind;
Unites in the shared love of Christ, persons in the community through unselfish need-based ministry;
Reaches individuals with the assurance of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone;
Promotes the full riches of complete understanding of the gospel of Christ by inspiring daily Christlike living;
Obeys the commandments of God by the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ;
Spreads the gospel by equipping believers for the work of the ministry
Encourages fellowship with believers all for the glory of God.
Our Story
Hardeeville Baptist Church
Dick McTeer
The first recorded minutes of Hardeeville Baptist Church are dated in the church records as " ... the third Lord's Day of January 1876 ." According to tradition, however, in 1850 Mrs. Margaret Jones donated a tract of land located in the Hardeeville community that was to be used for a Baptist church.
During the Civil War, the Union Army burned the church building to the ground. This was during Gen. William T. Sherman's march through the Confederacy. Sherman's army was in Savannah, Georgia on December 20, 1864, therefore it must have been shortly after that date that the Hardeeville church became a casualty of war. In 19I5 or 1916 the federal government paid the church $1,500 for the property damage, sufficient evidence that the event actually occurred.
It was not until the third Sunday in January, 1876, that restoration of the church began. On this day, some 41 people met and wrote a church charter, led by three pastors. The charter they wrote stated:
On the 3rd Lord 's Day of January 1876, a small company of Believers were organized as a church by the Brethren A. W Lamar, C. A. Baynard and W. G. Rollins. Few in number, yet trusting in Jesus the Great Head of the Church, and the support of each humble follower. They gladly cast in their lot together, pledging themselves by this uniting in one body to strive together for the Master's Glory, to bear one another's burdens and to adhere faithfully to the covenant which is herein transcribed.
Rev. A.W. Rollins was called as pastor of Hardeeville Baptist Church the same year, and served until October, when he resigned to attend seminary. In May, 1877, after petitioning Savannah River Baptist Association for help, Rev. E. I. Forester was called to serve as pastor. Though the church had been without ministerial guidance from October to May, it had weathered its first test well. Church minutes record that: "Prayer meetings and Sabbath School were faithfully continued , and an occasional visit from a ministerial brother afforded the proper opportunities for making for the worship of the Lord."
Forester resigned in August of 1877 to return to seminary. Pastors Webb, Perryclear, Nungezer, Snider, Crouch, Peeples, Guy, Cogburn and Pittman followed in service. There were more varying periods between pastors when members continued worship through the help of supply pastors and frequent revivals led by visiting ministers.
One such revival followed Pittman's resignation in November,1914. Minutes state that:
. . . On the Third Monday night in November 1914 . . . commenced a revival meeting getting Bro. John S. Wilder . . . the services continued through Thursday evening, which greatly strengthened the church morally and spiritually.
On Wednesday, Dec.13,1914, Rev. Dr. W. J. Langston met with the membership and "the following formation of fields were adopted." Evidently the members desired to construct a solid form of organization with a Bill of Rights procedure. The adopted "formation of fields" consisted, for example, of directives such as "providing a parsonage for the pastor ... usage of the Bible plan of finance as laid out in I Corinthians providing for the support of the Gospel." The committee working with Dr. Langston in the formation of these directives was appointed by the church, and those members were R.J. Boyd, A. B. Coburn and C.M. McTeer.
In 1915, Rev. C. L. Stoney succeeded Rev. Pittman as pastor. It was during Rev. Stoney's service that the federal government paid the church $1,500 for destruction of property caused by Sherman's army. This sum of money acted as a catalyst, inspiring members to make donations that allowed the existing church building to be remodeled, a baptistry added and a parsonage built.
Following Rev. Stoney in 1917 was Rev. J. L. Hiers, Rev. L.H. Carter, Rev.R.C. Black and Rev. E.T. Mason. Rev. Mason served as pastor from 1928 through 1931. It was to be five years before the church would obtain a resident pastor, but others helped maintain the church's work in the community.
Rev. Walter Black of Ruffin came to the aid of the members. He arrived in November,1931, and served as half-time supply pastor for three years , holding three monthly services. Rev. H. Carter of Lamar held one monthly service. It is interesting to note that during this five-year interim period, some 24 ministers extended their time and services to bring messages to the members. During that time period twenty-seven new members were added, as The Hardeeville historian aptly observes, "The obstacles were not insurmountable! "
When Rev. J.M. Lane accepted the Hardeeville pastorate in April of 1936, the church membership totaled more than one hundred fifty. The church grew even more during his pastorate.
Following Lane 's resignation in 1941, pastors Loman, Kimba ll, Lanier and Osborne came in succession through 1949. A one-year period then came when the church was without a pastor. J.A. Ruffin of Hampton served as supply pastor for six months, and in September of 1950 Walter Black once more accepted the pastorate.
On the first Sunday of September in 1950, a meeting for the election of church officers was held, and the church minutes state, "It was at this time that it was decided to build a new church." The building of 1950 was 74 years old, and badly in need of repairs, perhaps contributing to the low attendance in all phases of worship.
The membership voted to undertake the building of a new church as "part of their work for the advancement of His Holy Work." Active in the building project were: the building committee made up of Mrs. M. McTeer, G.O. Rentz and A. E. Dupuis; the finance committee, T. E. Shuman, J.C. McTeer,Mrs. A. L. McKenzie and Mrs . M. L. McKenzie. Ground-breaking for the new building was held Sunday, March 18, 1951, with Rev. Black officiating. The minutes record that, "it was a very simple service."
Rev. H. A. Phillips became pastor of the church in I952, and led the church in spiritual and numerical growth. A new finance committee was elected in March of I952.
The Board of Deacons was authorized in October of 1952 to sign a mortgage on the church property for $7,000, to be used for the immediate construction of a church auditorium and building.
Rev. Phillips conducted the first worship service in the new auditorium, and performed the building's dedication.
Following Rev. Phillips' resignation on November 14,1954, Rev. J.W. Haskell began his service to the church in January of 1955. In I956, the mortgage on the church buildings was burned to signify its payment-in-full. But by 1957, the church was ready to begin other construction: a pastor's study, kitchen facilities, an auditorium in the upstairs portion, ten classrooms, a nursery and two downstairs storage rooms. A $10,000 bond issue was successfully completed, and the new facilities were ready for use by the fall of I958. A paved drive, new heating units and new pews were added later.
Rev. Haskell's service spanned 21 years in the life of the church, and included many accomplishments. Upon his retirement in June of 1976, he was honored by being made pastor emeritus of the church. Rev.John Beck was called as pastor in February of 1976, and served until 1979.
The continued growth of the church required additional facilities, and in January, 1981, construction began on a new building to house the church offices and library along with a new social hall and kitchen. The dedication service for this new facility was held on October, 1983.
Rev. Robert Dukes served as Pastor from 1980 to 1983 and Rev. Nathan Gilstrap served from 1983 to 1900. Mr. Burt Womack served as Music Director from 1980 to 2000.
The church purchased a van in 1980, and a van ministry was begun in 1982. A Children's Church program was begun in 1983. This ministry was expanded with the purchase of a church bus in 1991. A new church van was purchased in 1993.
On September 22, 1991, the church membership voted to change the name from Hardeeville Baptist Church to The First Baptist Church of Hardeville. The vote was unanimously approved and such has been the name since that time.
In 1989, the church began the renovation and enlargement of the sanctuary. This project included extending the sanctuary by twenty feet, enlarging the choir area, purchasing a sound system, and the installation of fifteen beautiful stained glass windows. The renovation was completed and dedicated in 1990.
In 1994, the church voted to purchase the Lin-Del Motel and surrounding grounds for future growth. The motel's main living quarters were renovated to be used as the parsonage.
Rev. J. Darnell Barner served as the Pastor of the church from 1991 to 1999. Rev. J. Roger Dail served from 1999 to 2002, and his wife, Julie, served as Music Director from 2002 to 2006. Jacquie Durkin served as Music Director from 2006 to 2010 and Lorna Pilgreen took over the position of Music Director in November of 2010. Rev. Jay Coder served as Pastor from 2003 until January 31, 2014.
The current Pastor of First Baptist Church of Hardeeville is Reverend Tim Crosby. His wife, Suzanne currently serves as the Minister of Music.
