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Forward in Faith

Parking & Campus Map

Due to ongoing construction in our plaza, the steps leading into the Sanctuary off Hampton Street are currently closed. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience during this time. Please refer to the campus map for alternate entrances and exits, in and out of the Sanctuary.

(Download a copy of our campus map for better viewing)

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Life At First

This is God’s story—told through the life of our church.
Churchwide

A Place at the Table

The children had never seen anything quite like it.

Standing inside Beverly Catoe’s home on Christmas Day, two young children from India gazed in wonder at the decorated Christmas tree. They had never seen one inside someone’s home before. In fact, they had never been inside an American home at all.

Just a few weeks earlier, Beverly had met their family for the first time at our annual International Thanksgiving Dinner. Now, here they were, celebrating Christmas together.

For Beverly, who had no family plans that Christmas, the invitation had seemed like a

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November 12, 2026
Churchwide

The Heart of Giving

Inside the shoebox was a brand-new pair of size-10 shoes. Not toys. Not stuffed animals. Shoes.

They were orange and white, clearly chosen by someone with a love for Clemson, and they were so large that hardly anything else could fit inside the box. For the volunteers inspecting shoeboxes at the Operation Christmas Child Processing Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, it was an unexpected discovery.

Terri Schumpert, a longtime Operation Christmas Child volunteer, remembers the moment vividly.

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November 11, 2026
Churchwide

A Little Candy, A Lot of Love

On Sunday evening, the Washington Street parking lot looked a little different than usual. A 1954 Chevrolet sat proudly on display, the Jetsons had landed somewhere near the trunk-or-treat line, and familiar television theme songs filled the air as superheroes, princesses, and cartoon characters made their way through the crowd.

Children hurried from game to game, collecting candy and prizes along the way. Families enjoyed rides, food, and freshly roasted marshmallows, while others gathered around the cakewalk, hoping to take home something sweet.

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October 29, 2026
Churchwide

A Pastor’s Kid’s Perspective

Every day at noon, I hear the familiar sound of a bell ding and the voice of my Alexa Dot reminding me to pause for a moment and do something important.

“Pray for the Churches.”

So, every day at noon, no matter what I’m doing, I pause and lift Pastor Wes, Rachel and their children up in prayer. While this is a practice that I have always tried to follow, it is one that I made more of a priority when Wes and Rachel were hunkered in a bomb shelter in Israel in late February.

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October 28, 2026
Churchwide

The Trouble Beneath Our Feet

Sinkholes. They’re the kind of thing that can appear without warning, swallowing roads, damaging buildings, and sometimes even threatening lives. Most occur naturally, as water gradually erodes underground rock and soil until the ground above can no longer support itself.

But the sinkhole that developed on the Sanctuary Plaza at First Baptist Church Columbia had a different explanation.

Ours was a man-made inevitability.

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October 14, 2026
Missions

A Glimpse of the Global Church

Most Sundays, our experience of the Church is understandably local. We worship with familiar people, sing familiar songs, pray together, study Scripture, and serve in a community we know.

But from its very origin the Church was never meant to stay local.

Around the world, Christians are

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September 30, 2026
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Attn: Finance // First Baptist Church of Columbia
1306 Hampton St., Columbia, SC 29201

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