Baptist and Reflector
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN — Members of Signal Mountain Baptist Church voted Sept. 16 to dissolve and strategically merge with Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga.
The church will become a satellite campus of Red Bank Baptist and will be known as the Point Church at Signal.
A strategic merger, according to the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, is when one congregation becomes a satellite campus of a large multi-campus congregation. The merging church relinquishes its automony, vision, assets and authority.
Jeff Price, a member of Signal Mountain Baptist’s Vision and Leadership Team, noted the church simply “did not have the funds to go on the way we were.”
The church building will hold about 700 people, but the church had dropped to about 100 active members. The church basically had two options, Price said. “We could have sold our property to a development company, who would probably tear it down, or we could merge with another congregation.”
Price said the remaining members of Signal Mountain Baptist did not want to sell the property, thus opting for the strategic merger with Red Bank Baptist.
Actually, the two churches have been intertwined for 72 years. Members of Red Bank Baptist were instrumental in planting a new congregation on Signal Mountain. According to church historical documents, Red Bank’s Missions Committee voted to begin a new work on Signal Mountain on Aug. 14, 1946.
Sam Greer, senior pastor of Red Bank Baptist, told the Times/Free Press that it was “fascinating to see the hand of God” in the strategic merger.
He noted that Red Bank learned that Signal Mountain was considering the sale of its property in July and he passed the information to the pastoral staff at Red Bank. The staff did some follow up and within a week Red Bank leaders met with Signal Mountain’s leadership team and discussed what an acquisition might look like, according to the Chattanooga paper.
“We also got help from the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board about what an acquisition should be,” Greer told the paper.
In addition, the church retained Jim Guenther, general counsel for the TBMB, to manage the legal process, added Josh Lancaster, executive pastor of Red Bank Baptist Church. “He has been a tremendous help in this merger.”
“I am very excited about this opportunity that God has led us to,” Greer said.
“We are humbled and blessed to be part of this,” he told the Times/Free Press. “I’ve said to them and to our church that they are part of our history, and we want to be a part of their future. We are just praying that God will be glorified.”
Lancaster agreed. “This is part of a vision the Lord gave Pastor Greer in early 2013 to be part of planting and revitalizing churches in Hamilton County.
“He regularly states that when a pastor is called to minister to a church he is also called to minister to the city. We could not be more excited about this opportunity God has entrusted us with,” Lancaster added.
The new satellite campus will begin having worship services at 9:30 a.m. in November with a grand opening scheduled for April 14, 2019.
Though the church will have a dedicated campus pastor (Gregg Hauss), Greer plans to preach during a service each Sunday at both campuses.
The two churches held a joint worship service and fellowship on Sept. 30 with more than 575 people in attendance. The service concluded with prayer for the new congregation led by Dennis Culbreth, director of missions for Hamilton County Baptist Association.
Though the former Signal Mountain Baptist Church was affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the satellite church will be connected only with the TBC and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Price told the Times/Free Press that the former Signal Mountain congregation is excited about the merger because “we are going to continue to worship in our same building, just with other leadership. Our congregation is excited about what Red Bank Baptist can bring. I can only see it as being positive.” B&R — This article was compiled by B&R editor Lonnie Wilkey and includes reporting from Will Henry of Red Bank Baptist Church and Susan Pierce of the Chattanooga Times/Free Press.