Brice's Creek Bible Church began in 1983. There were 5 families out in the Brice's Creek area who met for a couple of months as a Bible study. In February of 1983 Barry Teague, a recent graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, made contact with them about the possibility of a church in the area. The families then formed Brice's Creek Bible Church in March of 1983 and called him to be their pastor.
Barry Teague preached his first sermon on April 10, 1983 in a detached double car garage to a grand total of 26 (men, women, children and probably a few church mice included). It was truly a labor of love and a step of faith for all concerned but God's hand was in it. God faithfully provided and allowed them to grow together and began to have an impact for Christ in the area. The meeting place changed several times until 1991 when the US Forestry Service building on Hwy 70 was purchased. Several expansions were made to keep up with the growth of the congregation and the church's ministries. We now have an average attendance of about 350-400 on Sunday mornings.
Over the years God has allowed Brice's Creek Bible Church to bring in great speakers and ministries to Eastern North Carolina. We have brought in speakers like John Walvoord and Norm Geisler. We filled up the 1500 seat New Bern Convention Center for an Andre Kole event. We were also involved in bringing a city-wide Crusade featuring Jim Wilson from the Billy Graham Association. Pastor Barry was co-chair of the Crusade that brought over 35 churches together to work on this evangelistic outreach. We have also put on a Live Nativity Drive Through since 2005 that touches the lives of about 10,000 people every Christmas.
Our history, however, is not static. In 2004, 32 acres were purchased (still on Hwy 70 and only a ½ mile from our present location) in anticipation of future expansion and ministry. This will allow us to accommodate continued growth and assist individuals and families in their spiritual walk. The vision for these 32 areas is quite exciting and we anticipate getting started building in the near future.
In 2007, Brice's Creek Bible Church called Phil Hamilton (DTS '06) to join the staff as the Associate Pastor of Youth and Education. In July 2012, we called Jud Howry to join the staff as our Community Life Pastor. Both these men, with their vision and passion, are allowing us to more effectively minister to our body and impact our community in greater ways!
Through all these changes and challenges it has been richly rewarding to see the power of God moving among us transforming lives, restoring families and kindling within us a sense of expectant hope about our lives, our purpose for living and our future. We invite you to come be a part of our history and our future!
The Future of Brice's Creek Bible Church
As we look to the future, there will be great opportunities to expand the work of the Kingdom of God to the local community. Central to these opportunities is allowing God to direct the development of our new church facility. We have been blessed with a 32-acre property from which God can write the next chapter of ministry outreach, particularly to the expanding neighborhoods growing up around the church. This is so exciting because our property is still on Hwy 70 (only a ½ mile from our present location) and there are several major developments that will allow for several thousand homes being built all around our property.
With opportunities comes the challenge of allowing God to direct the effort. Already the land has allowed expansion of ministry to include a drive-through nativity. We average 2,000 cars during the four days of the drive-through nativity. The coming years will see a progressive development of the property, bathed in prayer, to a new church campus that may eventually include a school. Our plan is to build a multipurpose educational building within the next 3 years that will contain a sanctuary of 600-700 (which will eventually be converted to a small chapel and classroom space) as well as many classrooms and a main welcome center. Next, we will build a 1,500-2,000 seat sanctuary. The third phase will be a Gym/Youth Facility. All of this strategically placed on the main thoroughfare (Hwy 70) between New Bern and Havelock. As the church facilities expand, the objective of the journey to win, build, and send remains our vision for today and the future.