Where We’ve Been
Since September 2013, when Pastor Owens became the pastor of Twin Rivers Baptist Church, our Lord has done many mighty and wonderful works in our great community of New Bern, North Carolina. At the time our church met in a modest church house on Trent Road. Our little building was 1,600 square feet with three rooms and a kitchen. The building could seat fifty people. We started with three Sunday school classes and averaged a few dozen in attendance during our Sunday School hour. The church had one bus, which also served as our junior church location for a brief time. We had a yearly operating budget of approximately $60,000. Within two years, we began renting space from a nearby building to expand our Sunday school and junior church space.
In 2015, our church family began raising money for our current church building. We were able to raise approximately $80,000 in a short period of time for the down payment on our current building. In September of 2015, we moved to our current building on Highway 70. At that time, most of the building was set up as office space. We were able to build our first auditorium, which could seat one-hundred people.
Almost immediately we began fundraising for the renovations of the building to create a larger auditorium. In 2017 we were able to move into our current auditorium which seats 210 people.
Hurricane Florence hit our area in September of 2018. It was the worst damage and destruction New Bern has ever faced from a hurricane. Through many donations and blessings, our church was able to distribute more than 100,000 items of food, paper products, and health care supplies to the people of our community.
In 2019 we transformed our original auditorium into the Twin Rivers Baptist Academy. The Twin Rivers Baptist Academy, a ministry of our church, is an in-person school for the children of our church aged K5-12th grade. Also in 2019, we started Practical Bible Baptist College. With the contributions of eighteen staff and faculty the college has offered over eighty courses. Since our inception over two-hundred individuals have taken a course through the college.
In March of 2020, COVID-19 forced our church to temporarily close. We were able to hold virtual services, and through God’s grace, we were able to weather the storm. Our finances remained strong, and we were able to gradually recover from the months-long shutdown of in-person services.
Where We Are
Today our church has celebrated many glorious victories for which we are grateful. Our current building of 17,000 square feet is being used to its maximum potential. We are averaging 210 in attendance on Sunday mornings. An average of 100 of those attending ride in on our buses. Our current operating budget exceeds $330,000.
We currently have seven buses and three vans. We have twenty Sunday school classes, two nurseries, primary church, and a junior church ministry. On Sunday nights, we have three different programs for the children and teenagers, aged K4 through high school.
We recently held our ninth annual Youth Conference with our largest attendance of two-hundred and sixty.
In recent months we were able to purchase two parcels of land beside our current property to expand our current facility or add parking. We have expanded our total property size to 1.6 acres. To date we have raised more than $320,000 for our next building program.
Where We Are Going
Our pastor, church leadership and congregation are definitely moving forward by faith for the Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor Owens is a man of faith and vision for both now and the future. His goals have never including the ownership of fancy buildings or fancy material things. The goal has always been to glorify God and to reach as many people with the gospel as possible. Our buildings are not museums or elaborate architectural masterpieces. The buildings around our church are more like people factories and hospital facilities for helping to heal families, enrich lives and change people for the better. We want bigger buildings so we can feed more hungry people and mend more broken lives. We hope in the future to see buildings built for our Twin Rivers Baptist Academy, our Practical Bible Baptist College. Furthermore we will need buildings for our church ministries in general including a Fellowship-hall and a gymnasium. Our first and most immediate goal is a new Church Auditorium that will house our current weekly growing congregation.
Ministry Highlights
Average Sunday morning attendance
2015 – 45
2016 – 110
2017 – 160
2018 – 185
2019 – 200
2020 (Pre-Covid) -240
Current – 210
Largest Sunday attendance – 603
September Home Coming service – averaging nearly 300 every year
Given over 220,000 pieces of candy and toys
Reached our church-wide Faith Promise Missions giving goal every year.
Total amount given thru Faith Promise is near $250,000.
Currently support twenty missionaries and ministries.
Estimated sixty-five hundred professions of faith through our ministry with an average of five to seven hundred per year.
If you would like to join us in raising the funds necessary for our building program, please click on the “Donate” button below.
