I've recently been introduced to Max Deffenbaugh, Pastor of Liberty Baptist Fellowship at 111 North Broadway Street in Medina. While discussing his Church with Pastor Deffenbaugh, it becomes readily apparent that whenever Max dishes up the gospel, it's not served with tofu or yogurt. No sir, when Max begins to preach, it's strictly a meat and potatoes sermon. He'll walk you through the Bible one chapter at a time, explain the meaning of each, and illustrate exactly how that chapter applies to your everyday life. Join me as Pastor Deffenbaugh explains Liberty Baptist Fellowship's mission and beliefs;
In January of 2002, a group of twelve to fourteen senior citizens met together to determine whether or not we would start a new church in downtown Medina. The average age at that meeting was 72 and, as a result of that meeting, we agreed that God was leading us to start a new church. We were able to secure a site at 111 North Broadway and God led younger people to help us, resulting in a totally remodeled building eight weeks later. Our first worship service was held on Easter Sunday, 2002 and our first year, we averaged about 28 people in attendance. The second year, we averaged in the high 40s, and currently, we are running in the mid 50s, to low 60s.
We're an old-fashioned church. We sing the old hymns straight from the hymnals and we're a Bible-preaching, Bible-teaching church. My ministry is a verse-by-verse study of the Bible, both explaining it and applying it. The greatest impact this little church has, is that it considers itself a family and the people who come here for the first time are embraced as part of our family. We now have people attending this church who've been out of church for ten years, fifteen years, and some who have never went to church. They've found that there is a welcomed warmth and love here, and yet, we don't diminish the standards of the Bible. We believe that what God says is true and applicable. We teach it and preach it, but we always wrap that message with love. It's just a fantastic understanding, that we are the family of God and no matter how small we are or how big we are, we're going to remain a family and we do things together as a family.
In the beginning, instead of starting our church around young people and going upward in age, we started with old people and came down. We now have families with children and babies and have one family with nine kids. We have a Youth Night once a month where we usually have anywhere from 15 to 20 in attendance and our congregation is getting younger all the time. Even our old people are getting younger!
We're old-fashioned Baptists. Our name, Liberty Baptist Fellowship, came about because the Baptist Church in Medina was on West Liberty and the people who started this church all came from the old church. We're Baptists because of what we believe, and the Fellowship is because the word fellowship means sharing equally or a partnership. In our little family, there aren't any big shots and there aren't any little shots. We're all partners, equal under God. I just have the privilege of doing the preaching and the teaching and being witness to our growth.
As a church, we try to take an active part in the community. We like to participate in things like the Candlelight Walk where last year we gave free coffee and cookies to over 900 people who came through on the two nights. We just gave them a place to sit down with some music in the background and something to drink like hot cocoa, water, or coffee. We do things like that for the community and with the community because we're downtown and we desire to be very much an integral part of downtown Medina. Our specific goal is helping people in downtown Medina. We like the people who can walk to church and we're not really trying to reach the people in the suburbs. That doesn't mean we turn people away who drive in, but our goal is to try to reach the older sections of Medina rather than the suburban areas or housing developments.
Two scriptures come to mind that are real important to us. Acts 4:12 says, "for there is no other name given among men, whereby we must be saved." That's primary with us because we do teach Salvation by Grace. The second one is Acts 1:8, which says, "You shall be witnesses unto me." We have a responsibility to share our faith with our community and when you talk about sharing your faith with the community, you do that in two ways. You do that in word and you do that in action. That's why we get involved in the Candlelight Walk, for example. That's action taken toward our community and toward people who might never darken the door of our church but are still a very real part of our community. That's how we operate.
I'm just grateful for the opportunity to share our little church family with this community. We think Medina's a terrific city and the people in Medina are very, very considerate and loving people. Our goal is to just reach a niche of those who desire to be taught the Word of God, sing the old-fashioned hymns, observe the old-fashioned standards, and be part of our growing family.
Maybe it's time for some meat and potatoes in your life. Liberty Baptist Fellowship may well be the answer to some of your prayers.
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