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OUR PASTOR

 

Pastor Ray P. Smith is the founding pastor of New Community Baptist Church. He has been our sole pastor since the church's inception in 1993.

 

Pastor Smith was born in Statesboro, Georgia and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He accepted Jesus Christ as Savior in 1973 and promptly joined the Atlanta Bible Baptist Church under the ministry of Reverend John McNeal, Jr. Under that ministry, he served for several years as Youth Director, Men's Fellowship leader, and Deacon. He was also married in this church to his wife Linda (Dee) in July 1980. They are the parents of four children.

 

Pastor Smith received his Bachelor of Science Degree in pharmacy from Mercer University Southern School of Pharmacy, Atlanta, Georgia in 1978. He was licensed to practice pharmacy the following January. Six years later, he and his family moved to Pennsylvania, where he entered seminary. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania in 1991. He also completed coursework for the Master of Theology degree that year.

 

In 1991, the Smiths moved to Flint, Michigan to plant a bible-believing, bible teaching church. After a time of acclamation, the work began in earnest in 1993, under the supervision of Riverdale Baptist Church, where Pastor Smith was ordained. New Community Baptist Church was chartered and incorporated in September 1994. Pastor Smith and his family have served God and the congregation of New Community faithfully since that time. 

OUR MISSION

 

At New Community, our mission is to make Christ known through the testimonies of disciples who evidence full devotion to Him in their hearts, a biblical orientation to relationships, and wise management of their stewarded possessions.

 

 

WHAT WE BELIEVE

 

  • We believe that the Bible is the Word of God; that it was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit so that their writings, in the original, were supernaturally and verbally inspired, free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be. They are the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, and so are the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

 

  • We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

1. God the Father - We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power. We believe that He concerns Himself purposefully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayers, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, His Son.

2. God the Son - We believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son, pre-existent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary; sinless in His

nature and life, infallible in His teaching, making atonement for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection ascension into Heaven, perpetual intercession for His people and glorious second, advent according to promise.

3. God the Holy Spirit - We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. We believe that He came from God to convince and convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify, indwell, comfort, and empower those who believe in Jesus Christ.

 

  • We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also thta spiritual death, which i separation from God. We believe that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and as a result, practice sin in thought and deed by choice.

 

  • We believe in the reality and personality of Satan (called the Devil).

 

  • We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a vicarious and sufficient sacrifice, and that all who by faith receive Him as their personal Savior, are justified on the ground of His blood shed on Calvary and His bodily resurrection from the dead; and are born again of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming children of God.

 

  • We believe that the universal Church is comprised of all those who have exercised saving faith in Jesus Christ, and in the visible local church, which is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, nurture, fellowship, and evangelism. We believe that to these believers was committed for observance, until Christ returns, two ordinances: the baptism of believers by immersion and the Lord's supper. We believe that God has laid upon these churches the task of preaching the gospel to every creature, and the edification of the individual members of the Body of Christ.

 

  • We believe in the bodily resurrection of all the dead and saved to eternal life and blessedness in Heaven, and the unsaved to eternal condemnation and woe in the lake of fire (John 5:29; Rev. 20: 11-15).

 

  • We believe in the eternal security of the believer (John 10:27-29).

 

  • We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of all faith; that each church is independent and autonomous, and must be free from any  interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that, therefore, the church and state must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.

 

  • We believe that every saved person should manifest the Christ-life by a consistent walk in the Holy Spirit, fully and constantly yielding his members to the indwelling Christ, so that he may always by life and word show forth the praises of Him who has called him out of darkness into His marvelous light. We believe in a separated life for all believers as set forth in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, including separtation from world alliances, illicit and immoral pleasures, methods of work, worldly societies, etc.

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