Author: Antioch Baptist Church

Dear Antioch Church Family,

I apologize for my latency with the newsletter this year.  I had this done at Christmas but had some final touches and wanted to get our conference behind us first before I completed it.  

I hope this finds you well and I hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I hope you enjoyed spending time together with family and friends during Christmas!

God is at work in Antioch, and we were able to do a lot of things as a church this year, most noteworthy were: 

We held our Easter sunrise service as a joint service with Joyner United Methodist Church and it was a wonderful celebration with a great turnout. We had 86 for sunrise service and 101 for the 11:00am worship service.  This year we “flowered the cross” as families left for breakfast symbolizing the cross that stood for death coming to life as Jesus did when he died and rose again as the one and only true living Savior! He is Risen Indeed!  We had a wonderful breakfast and great fellowship as well!    

We had issues with our FM transmitter for a time as-well-as our hearing assist system, but our service provider for the system came out and made some repairs which seemed to fix the issues.  Our system has been such a blessing to use for scripture, hymns, and for special worship music on Sundays when the Antioch Choir is not singing.    

We also made good use of our projectors and AV equipment during four special events our church held during the year. 

• We held the funeral for our beloved member Vivian Dunn.
• We also supported the funeral of Kelly Ellis’ Dad, Frankie Britt who attended Antioch often with his wife Peggy.  

During these difficult times, our church family pulled together and showed our love as a church family through coming together and sharing our hospitality, compassion, and showing our love for the Lord and others.  I say it all the time, but this in my humble opinion is what makes our church family so special.  

This past year, I had the honor and privilege to marry 4 couples, two couples were not church members, Mason and Rose Elder, at Camp Kehukee and Tony and Amber Christopher in Dinwiddie County.  Amber is our cousin!  Also, John and Madison Jones in South Carolina, and Arkime and Stephanie Newby in Isle of White county.  

I always feel the greatest blessing of pastoring is baptizing new believers, marrying God’s couples, and burying His Saints.  While all very different, all are very emotional and very honoring to God.  

The Building and Grounds committee has been working with Jeff Robinson & Associates regarding some design ideas for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades to our church so that our church family in wheelchairs, those who have had surgeries, or visitors will be able to enter church and get back and forth to the social hall.  We also discussed some ADA upgrades for restroom facilities.  As you know, we sold our parsonage and intend to invest some of those funds back into our church.  It’s easy to assume that we can get around in church when we’re healthy.  It’s altogether something different to want to move around freely and not be able to because of obstacles that don’t allow us to.  I challenge anyone who has the blessing of freedom of movement to use a wheelchair, walker, or to immobilize your knee for a day and see how difficult it is to get in and around in our church or in our community.  I would offer that we have several members who would come to church if there were accommodations to allow them to come and worship with us.  Besides, it is not only the right thing to do, it is the law to make these accommodations available under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  To not address this issue is not only a legal matter, but a matter of taking care of and loving our neighbor as Christ loved us.  

We had two baptisms this year that resulted in one new member and we have another one pending.  Thomas Young was Baptized on the same weekend that I had the honor of baptizing my dad.  Arkime Newby has been accepted as a member, but his baptism is still pending scheduling around his work.  We also have some others who have expressed interest in baptism as well.  

Tommy and Donna Hines moved their membership, and we are so thankful to have them and I am thankful to serve as their pastor… What an honor!  

While making a decision for Christ is lifechanging and baptizing new believers is indescribable, it is an honor to have members who have been called to our church by the Lord because He led them here, but they also chose us after what is often a difficult decision.  I am thankful for our new members and for the opportunity to serve as their pastor.  

We have developed new prayer and visitation request cards that you may see at church.  These cards are for anyone who has a prayer concern, they can write it down with their name or anonymously for an unspoken prayer.  Also, folks can request a visit from me, their deacon, or both or they can request a phone call.  

The Deacons and I will be attending a retreat and training on February 2-3 here at church and Rev. Fred Atkins from the PBA will facilitate it.  I am sure he will cover the ministry and call of a deacon, leadership, and the relationship among the pastor, deacons, and the church.  We are excited to be investing in our leadership!  

While our attendance has been steady, our overall attendance, participation, and support for church and church events has shifted and maybe waned a bit this year.  Invite new friends and remember to re-invite those who haven’t been in a while.  The Bible says, 

²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  – Hebrews 10:23-25

I don’t necessarily think it’s church as much as I think it is business and an overall change in society.  Society because of Covid undoubtedly changed forever, but the effects of that are still being felt.  Many families started focusing inward, and society in general has become somewhat apathetic about just about everything from social events, to volunteering, to work.  It is being felt by civic organizations, non-profits, associations, and absolutely by churches with Antioch being no different.  Ask anyone who serves on the nominating committee or any committee for that matter.  We are all called to be good stewards of our church, and we are called to share our talents and our spiritual fruits and gifts and as the scripture above tells us, we are to not neglect meeting together to encourage one another as the Day (the return of Christ) approaches.  It takes a church (the people) to make a church.  If you feel moved or called to do a program, Bible study, ministry, or just share your talent of carpentry, painting, or whatever, let someone know and step up.  

In December we started celebrating Advent and several families and members participated in the lighting of the advent candles in a meaningful and memorable way.    

Lastly, as we have entered the new year, we cannot help but look back at the many blessings God has bestowed upon us which again include:

• Steady attendance and new people attending.
• We averaged between 50 and 60 in attendance on many Sundays!  We also experienced great Sunday School attendance!  I am not one who is holden to numbers because I believe if God is at work, He will make it happen.  We never want to be gimmicky to bring people in, but rather share the Word of God and show the love of God, and He will bring them! 
• We had an awesome Bible School again this past summer and great youth events!  Thank you, Samantha, and Jacob for all you do with our youth!  
• Our Sunday school is doing amazing, and I am thankful to all of the teachers, also thank you to everyone on committees and for your work and dedication, and a special thank you to Wanda and Jim for all they do for us!
• Our most seasoned member celebrated her 98^th birthday! (Mrs. Ruth Harrup)
• We did a fruit basket event for our senior members, and we did a lot of missions and outreach!  
• Finally, without YOU we have no church.  Thank you for YOUR dedication to our Lord and to Antioch.  You support, attendance, prayers, and commitment are what make God’s work – work!  

Again, while I am sure I may have missed a few things, it is abundantly clear to see how absolutely blessed we are in so many ways. The Lord is surely at work in and through Antioch Baptist Church!  All we need to remind ourselves to do is to stay out of God’s way and He will surely do a mighty work through us, in the lives of those in the Yale, Sussex, and the Southampton communities, and in Christ’s greater church.

       “May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26.)

I love each of you and your families dearly and my family and I love our Antioch church family.  We are thankful to be serving the Lord together and walking our walk with Christ—with each of you!  Thank you for all you do, and for just being YOU!  

In Christian Love, 

Pastor Tom

Happy New Year! As we enter this new season, we reflect on the past and look forward to what the new year brings.

Antioch had a great end to 2023 with the youth packing donated items for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, the youth packing fruit baskets for elders in our church community, and our choir singing each Sunday in December as we celebrated our Savior’s birth. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve service as well! As we move through 2024, we encourage all to seek guidance for their goals through Christ. He is never changing, and our constant, loving guide for our lives.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ. – Philippians 3:14

Please join us for our Fall Revival starting tonight! We look forward to see how God is working in our Church and community.

Antioch is hosting our Vacation Bible School for kids Pre-K through 6th grade July 24-27th beginning at 6:00PM each evening. Our theme is Twists & Turns.

July 24-26 will begin with dinner at 6:00PM for the children and volunteers. On July 27th we will have our family night. Dinner will be served for everyone at 6:00PM with our VBS Program to follow.

We hope you can join us!

Dear Antioch Church Family,

I hope this finds you well. With all that has been going on since Christmas, I am running a little late on our 2022 newsletter. I hope you and your families had a great Christmas and New Year celebration! What a joy it was to have our Christmas program this year along with our party afterward!

During this winter, we have still been visited by Covid, albeit mild cases along with the flu, and just general colds. I am thankful that we are for the most part out of the woods with Covid compared to where we were only a few years ago!

I say it all the time that God is at work in Antioch, and 2022 was another exceptional year for our church! Despite all of the bad news we see on television… the good news is that the fruit of the Spirit is evident in Antioch! This is clear through us reaching our 250th year of serving the Lord in the Yale, Sussex and Southampton County Communities and we’re quickly heading to 251! What a celebration it was and how blessed we were to have 230+/- people attend! God is good… all the time!

We were able to do a lot of things as a church this past year. Most noteworthy were:

Joyner UMC hosted us for Easter sunrise service and breakfast, followed by regular Easter worship service. I am looking forward to us hosting Joyner this year for sunrise service and breakfast and I am excited that we will be having an Easter Cantata!

Speaking of the upcoming Easter Cantata, how awesome is it that our choir has been singing every other Sunday and on occasions more! Please thank those folks and Pam when you have a moment.

We continued to use our FM transmitter to share our church service with those who remained in the parking low and beyond. I often wonder how many people in the community we are reaching with our transmitter? I often think at times we should turn it off since Covid is over, but then again it is still a valuable lifeline to minister to folks.

We continue to make good use of our projectors and AV equipment during special events. This equipment was invaluable to our 250th Anniversary Celebration and allowed for overflow because the sanctuary was full. We had funerals for Nettie Lou and Charles Kitchen. We also used this equipment during worship services, bible school, and the Christmas program.

We added Wi-Fi to our church which has allowed us to stream Sunday School messages and other things in the church, and gives us the opportunity to expand our ministry beyond Yale. We are also exploring moving the phone lines over to Wi-Fi, which will be a cost savings.

Samantha graciously agreed to serve as our first-ever webmaster and built a beautiful church website which is being used by folks to explore our church before they make a decision to visit. This will be an invaluable tool moving forward. I encourage you to visit our webpage and let Samantha know if there’s anything you’d like to add and let her know how great it turned out!

We sold our parsonage! While this was a big decision, it made sense because the return on investment was not there and the likelihood of a pastor and his family living there in the near future was low. We were spending a significant amount of money and resources to maintain the property while only charging $600 in rent. Through selling, we made a significant profit, and that money can be used to update our church. Some ideas include adding ADA accommodations for those with disabilities, eventually adding a wheelchair ramp from the social hall to the sanctuary. There are other ways we can invest in our church building that are much needed, such as updating the wiring in the sanctuary which is from the 1940s.

This year was a huge year for baptisms! We have 8 new believers baptized. Five in May and three in October: Eli, Reagan, Brody, Ethan, Lyla, Reese, Kiley and Alisha! I am excited to see God move in these folks. I am honored beyond measure to be their pastor, and I look forward to what He has in store on their journey with Him! God is surely at work here and all we must do is to be faithful!

Lastly, our youth have had such a wonderfully busy year with events that are also fun, meaningful and bring with them growth in faith, service, and comradely among our youth and those adults who work with them. Our youth and young adults are our future, and we need to do all we can to nurture them to allow them to grow! Thank you to our awesome youth committee and to Wanda & Jim, and Jacob & Samantha who work so diligently to make sure our young folks have meaningful events that grow them spiritually as well. God bless each one.

In December we started celebrating Advent and several families and members participated in the lighting of the advent candles in a meaningful and memorable way.

Lastly, as we have entered the new year, we cannot help but look back at the many blessings God has bestowed upon us which again include:

• Increased attendance and new people attending
• My second full year as your Pastor, but really my third when we count the actual time I have been blessed to serve. To say I am honored is an understatement. Serving the Lord alongside you is such a blessing and a wonderful journey. I love you all and I look forward to the coming year together!
• We had 8 baptisms!
• We averaged between 50 and 60 in attendance on many Sundays and during our fellowship meals and special events we had in the 80s! We also experienced great Sunday School attendance in 2022!
• Sadly, we lost two members of our beloved church family and while we miss and love them dearly, we know they are celebrating with the Lord, and they are together with their loved ones, and we will surely see them again: Charles and Nettie Lou Kitchen.
• Our most seasoned member celebrated her 97th birthday! (Mrs. Ruth Harrup)

Again, while I am sure I may have missed a few things, it is abundantly clear to see how absolutely blessed we are in so many ways. The Lord is surely at work in and through Antioch Baptist Church! All we need to remind ourselves to do is stay out of God’s way and He will surely do a mighty work through us, in the lives of those in Yale, Sussex and Southampton communities, and in Christ’s greater church. Thank you for ALL you do, and for just being YOU!

“May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26)

I love each of you and your families dearly, and my family and I love our Antioch church family. We are thankful to be serving the Lord together and walking our walk with Christ – with each of you!

In Christian Love,

Pastor Tom Guess

Antioch had a very busy end to 2022. Our youth performed a Christmas play, packed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, packed fruit baskets and delivered them to some members of our community, and led a can food drive. Our adult members have shown much support and love to our youth as they become more involved, and we are forever grateful for this.

2023 is already off to a great start! Our church membership has increased already this January, we have more events planned for our youth and their friends, and we have seen healing for some of our church families. We welcome you to visit our church, or reach out for more information, to get involved with us! We wish you well for the new year and look forward to all the ways God is working in our church.

Add to your calendar:

February 4 – Youth Movie/Game Night

February 26 – Casual Sunday, Join us for Doughnuts at 9:30am before Sunday School

February 26 – Spaghetti Luncheon Fundraiser following Worship

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” -Psalm 100:4

As we approach Thanksgiving this week, we as a church cannot help but reflect on the joy we have shared during the last few weeks. Our church held another baptism service for 3 people, collected items for Operation Christmas Child, have been holding practices for our Children’s Christmas Play, and planned more events for the near future. With our original goal of 60 boxes this year, our youth packed 63 boxes for Operation Christmas Child!

We are grateful for our continued worship, our members and visitors who attend services each Sunday, and our growing youth ministries. We thank the parents who are bringing their children to Antioch to be a part of these events and to grow in their faith! As Pastor Tom reminded us in his sermon today, we are grateful for the opportunity to praise and thank God for all things, through every situation.

During this holiday season, we hope you will approach each day with a grateful heart and a passion for showing God’s love and mercy to everyone you encounter.

Antioch has been busy since our 250th Celebration. Our youth went on a trip to a Norfolk Tides baseball game in August, we’ve planned more events for our children and youth, including a trip to Richlands Dairy, Trunk-or-Treat at our Church, and Christmas Caroling.

We will be holding a fellowship dinner following worship on Sunday, October 30th. Please join us this day for good food and Christian fellowship.

Our youth and children are also preparing for their Christmas Play, which will be held at Antioch on Sunday, December 11th at a time to be determined later. They will practicing most Sundays in the next couple months to prepare for this event.

We welcome you to join us each Sunday for our regular services as well as these upcoming events!

The videos below are from our 250th Anniversary Celebration on June 12, 2022. Please watch the videos below to view a portion of that special day! We welcome you to visit our church for our regular services each Sunday beginning at 10:00 AM for Sunday School and 11:00 AM for Worship Services.

Presentations: Daughters of the American Revolution and Delegate Otto Wachsmann

Special Music by the Antioch Choir

Message by Rev. Michael Gregory

Message by Rev. Ted Owens

Message by Rev. Fred Atkins

Message by Rev. Tom Guess

On June 12, 2022, Antioch celebrated its 250th Anniversary. View the video below to see part of our church’s history, and stay tuned for more footage from this special day.

A message from Pastor Tom prior to the celebration:

“It’s amazing that our church was founded on June 13, 1772! That’s four years before the Declaration of Independence!

I am thankful to Delegate Otto Wachsmann for carrying HJ 98 and also for Delegate Matt Fariss for signing onto and supporting this bill. HJ 98 is a House Joint Resolution commending Antioch Baptist Church for 250 years of service to God, and the Yale, Sussex, and Southampton County communities.

I’m also thankful to Senator Louise Lucas for carrying SJ 64, which is a Senate Joint Resolution also commending Antioch Baptist Church for 250 years of service to God, and the Yale, Sussex, and Southampton County communities.

And, I’m thankful to the Sussex County Board of Supervisors who are working on a Board Resolution commending our church in the same manner.

While 250 years seems like an eternity to us, it is only a brief moment in time. When God ordained Antioch to be founded, He knew long before Elder John Meglamre did that Antioch would go there in His name and that Antioch would go on to plant several other churches in the area to share the Good News!

God has a plan in it all, and God has a plan for your life as well! [11] For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

Also, while things here in the world have changed immensely over 250 years, the Lord never changes and that is an awesome hope for us! [8] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. – Hebrews 13:8

God’s grace, mercy, and blessing don’t change and He loves us in spite of ourselves! This is why He sent His Son to die at Calvary… to pay a price He didn’t owe for a debt we could not pay.

[21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21″