Profile - Statement of Faith - History - Affiliations
Polity... The following polity statement is taken directly from the Constitution and By-laws of the church. “It is sovereign in its own right and is not subject to any control of any ecclesiastical body. This church recognizes and supports the doctrines and policies of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, and the Catalina Baptist Association.”
Purpose...The following statement of purpose is taken directly from the Constitution and By-laws of the church. “It shall be the purpose of this church to win lost souls to Christ and to promote the spiritual growth of those within its outreach. We include the whole world in our missionary outlook and agree to give generous support to mission endeavors both here and around the world to the end that the message of salvation through Jesus Christ will be heard by all.”
Programs offered...Sabino Road Baptist Church offers a wide variety of programs for all ages. These programs include Sunday School classes, Sunday evening Discipleship Training via home-studies and on-campus classes, Wednesday evening prayer time and Bible Study, various youth activities and AWANA. There is a Women’s Ministry called Hearts and Hands, which offers Bible Study and mission action projects. There are choirs for both adults and children.
Financial status...Approximately 19.5% of the annual budget is given to various mission organizations, including 13.5 % to the Cooperative Program. Currently we are a debt-free congregation. All expenses are consistently met each month. There is a large amount of ongoing designated giving in various areas.
Missions...Three new churches have been established as missions of Sabino Road Baptist Church in the past 24 years. There is an ongoing support of various mission activities including the local BSU and Arizona Baptist Children’s Services. Sabino Road Baptist Church is very mission minded and offers support to the less fortunate churches in Tucson. The Senior Adult group has an ongoing mission activity with a Native American group in Arizona. Summer mission trips are a regular activity for our Student Ministries. Support is also given to the Bolivian Children’s Fund in support of a daycare and school in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Ministries and Staff Positions...The paid ministerial staff consists of 4 positions: a full time Sr. Pastor, a full time Associate Pastor of Students and Evangelism, a full time Associate Pastor of Music and Administration, and a part time Minister of Children and Preschool. These are supported by a full time Administrative Assistant.
Sunday School Profile...The Sunday School is organized to provide classes for all age groups. This includes Adult Departments, a Youth Department, an age-graded Children’s Department and a Preschool Department. There are approximately 400 enrolled members with an average attendance of 265.
Worship...There are two worship services which are both a blended style including both contemporary and traditional music. There is an adult worship choir of approximately 30-40 members. We utilize various instruments in both services including piano, drums, guitars and organ. Average attendance is approximately 300 each week between both services and includes nursery (both services), preschool, and children’s worship (second service only).
Tuscon...For more information about our community visit:
http://www.visittucson.org/
The Bible...The Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of 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. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
God...There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being. He is our Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
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God as 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. He is all powerful, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all mankind.
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God the Son...Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. In God’s incarnation as Jesus Christ he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine Law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
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God the Holy Spirit...The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the assurance of God to bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Man...Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His Creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence; whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin, and as soon as they are capable of moral judgment become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. 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 man 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 Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
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Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and the commitment of the total personality to Him as Lord and Savior. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.
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Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.
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Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
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The Believer’s Security: All true believers will endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and are sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the cause of Christ, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Return
of Christ
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its
appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return
personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised;
and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will
be consigned to hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous
in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward
and will dwell forever in heaven with the Lord.
In a Pima Street Baptist Church business meeting in 1958, Pastor Henry Wooten recommended a mission in the vicinity of Sabino Canyon Road and Tanque Verde.
W.L. Wesson and Byron York, Robert Christy, Al Pennington and Clara Motsinger were elected to form a Census Committee to determine the need for a church in the area.
The first Sunday School class was held in the Motsinger's home, January 4, 1959 with eight in attendance.
The two-acre parcel of land was purchased in May, 1959 for $8,500. At a later date, two additional acres were acquired.
Selwyn Harris was called and accepted the position of Mission Pastor in November 1959. Services were held at Wrightstown School and the Wesson home.
Groundbreaking was in December 1960. North Tucson Baptist Church and Calvary Baptist Church co-signed with Pima Street Baptist Church to underwrite a loan from the Home Mission Board. In March 1961, Lawrence Hickey Construction Company began building the chapel for a cost of $19,892. It was completed in July 1961. The north wing was added in 1966. Building "B" was built in 1974-75. The labor was completed by church members under the supervision of Charley Doyle, a contractor from Mesa, who donated all his efforts. "C" Building was completed in 1984.
In the 1960's, a church in Texas paid the salary of our pastor for a year. Hunter Baptist Church in Arkansas bought our first 25 hymn books. Pews were purchased by Ada Donaldson from Ozark Baptist Church in Arkansas. The late Harold Willis designed, built and donated the original podium furniture.
M.E. Brantley was called as our first pastor in January 1962. The mission was organized as a church on September 15, 1963.
Arizona Southern Baptist Convention
