Hapeville First Baptist Church

Website: www.hapevillefbc.com.

Services: 11 a.m. traditional and 6 p.m. blended, called “Worship Cafe”

Average Sunday attendance: 90-100

Minister: Bob Wiley

Denomination affiliation: Southern Baptist

Mission statement:

"We will be a church providing lasting, unselfish, essential, courageous ministries always honoring the dignity of all persons; engaging children, youth, young adults and seniors that they may know Jesus as Savior; enriching whole families, the women and men of our communities, so that God is glorified in their lives.”

History:

The church was organized in 1884 with 10 charter members; the first building was a wooden frame structure that cost $713. In 1923, the first permanent sanctuary was erected, using Stone Mountain granite, and dedicated in April 1924.

Education units were added in April 1949 and October 1953, and the present sanctuary was dedicated in October 1965. The Schantz pipe organ was dedicated in 1966.

Pastor’s path:

Wiley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Evansville in 1967, a Master of Religious Education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1980 and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Mid-Continent Baptist Bible College in 1988.

The pastor has served with the North American Mission Board, been a consultant for the Georgia Baptist Convention, an associational missionary in Indiana, pastor and associate pastor in Indiana and Kentucky and ministry of music and youth in Indiana and Kentucky. He joined the Hapeville staff in 2008.

Ministries:

“My vision is to get the church out into the community,” Wiley said. Members volunteer for city festivities, by handing out water and helping in other ways.

Church members volunteer quarterly, serving meals to the homeless at Calvary Refuge in Forest Park. Wiley said Hapeville members want to start a regular outreach to the homeless at their church.

Members plan to hold block parties “as a way to meet folks on their turf, feeding them, playing games and making acquaintances so we can find out what their needs are and how we can respond,” Wiley said.

Another church outreach will be vacation Bible school and sports camps, which will be run by a mission group of 50 youth visiting this summer from south Georgia. Church members currently host a community Easter egg hunt for children, a meal for singles at Christmas, and a fall festival that attracts more than 500 children.

The church has a Schantz pipe organ and an organist who Wiley said has been playing for more than 20 years. The church’s new music minister, Jimmy Lovern, is a city councilman and a popular local musician.

Thoughts from the pastor:

“It is my passion to have the church engaging its community, that we can bring glory to our Heavenly Father.”