About Temple

Our History:

Originally Temple Baptist Church was the result of the simple assembling together of a small group of believers who had been saved by God's grace during the local Brush Arbor Revival meetings of 1941. But it was not long before this group of new converts recognized their need for both a place to meet as well as a shepherd to lead them. Thus in the following year of 1942 they formally organized themeselves into a church body, called rev. Lane Pruet to be their pastor, and purchased property off Old North Road in Lenoir, North Carolina on which they built their first building.

Then in September of 1990 Temple Baptist Church extended a call for the pastorate unto Mr. Kevin Broyhill who also accepted it. Under the leadership of Pastor Broyhill the Lord added unto Temple Baptist Church new members, a new church building (2000), a fellowship hall (2004), new missionaries, and the Seedline ministry during his 16 year tenure.

Since 2007 Temple Baptist Church has had the privilege of being led by Mr. Joel Bixler who has added unto the Lord's ministry a bus by which Temple provides transportation to children in our community who might not otherwise be able to attend. Pastor Bixler's zeal for the work, vision for the future, and burden for our community is an encouragement to anyone who is sincerely interested in serving the Lord within a ministry of Temple Baptist Church. It also leaves us with the sure conviction that the Lord's best for Temple has yet to come.

Our Beliefs:

Of the Bible

We believe in the Bible as the verbally (every word) and plenary (complete) inspired Word of God as contained in the original manuscripts; that all portions of Scripture are equally inspired and contain no contradictions. (II Timothy 3:16) God’s Word is to be the only rule of faith and practice for the believer in Jesus Christ; and that the Canon, the sixty-six books of the Bible is complete. We further believe that God has supernaturally and providentially preserved His inspired Word for every generation. (Psalm 12:6-7)

A: By inspiration we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be. This was a one-time event in which God, once for all, delivered His truth to the church. (II Peter 1:20-21; Jude, v. 3; II Timothy 3:16)

B: By providential preservation we mean that God, through the ages, has, in His divine power, preserved the very words He inspired. We further believe that the Hebrew Old Testament text, as found in the Traditional Masoretic Text, and the Greek New Testament text, as found in the Textus Receptus, are the true texts of Scripture and therefore are the complete, preserved, inerrant, infallible Word of God. (Psalm 12: 6, 7; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:23)

C: We therefore believe that the King James Version is an accurate and faithful translation of the true texts of Scriptures which constitutes the preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God for the English- speaking people of the world. The King James Version of the Bible is the only translation used by Temple Baptist Church

Of God

We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three Persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections; and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:25; John 1:1; John 14:16, 17; I Timothy 3:16

Of Jesus Christ

We believe in the essential deity and virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; that He was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary not having human father, and is true God and true man; that He is man’s only hope of salvation from sin, being the only mediator between God and man; that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day for our sins according to the Scriptures; that His return for His Church, the Body of Christ, which He will take with Himself into heaven is imminent; and that He will come to this earth to set up His millennial reign. Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-4; John 10:30; John 14:6; I Timothy 2:5, 6; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:4-6.

Of the Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit to be coequal with the Father and with the Son. He is a Person. He came to this earth as the fulfillment of Christ’s promise. He convicts, regenerates, indwells seals, fills, empowers, and guides the believer. John 16:7-13; John 3:3-5; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Ephesians 5:18

Of Man

We believe that God created man in His own image and that man sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is conscious and eternal separation from God. We believe that all men are born with a sinful nature, evidenced by sinful acts; that man is totally depraved (every aspect of man has been affected by sin) and that if he is not born again, he is eternally lost. Genesis 1:26, 27; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Luke 16:23; Revelation 21:8; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:12; I Corinthians 15:21, 22; Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:8.

Of Human Sexuality

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, transgenderism, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s birth gender by surgery or appearance. (Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-10, Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1, 6:9-10; I Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4)

We further believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two-distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God, and the rejection of one’s biological gender is a rejection of the image of God within that person. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Of Marriage

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one, legitimate meaning, and that is marriage sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, covenantal union, as delineated by Scripture. Marriage ceremonies performed in any facility owned, leased, or rented by this church will only be those ceremonies sanctioned by God, joining one man with one woman as that gender was determined at birth.

We further believe that God created marriage as a divine institution between one man and one woman for life. God hates divorce and intends marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. Therefore, we never promote divorce as a solution to marital problems. We also believe God’s forgiveness includes all sins, including those who violate God’s permanence of marriage. Even though such forgiven people can be used of the Lord and serve in many areas of the church, we do believe the Scriptures prohibit them from being considered for the offices of pastor or deacon. (Genesis 2:24; Malachi 2:14-17; Matthew 19:3-12; Romans 7:1-3; I Corinthians 7:10-11; Ephesians 5:22-23; I Timothy 3:2,12; Titus 1:6)

Of Human Life

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. We believe that the unjustified, unexcused taking of human life such as abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, population control or the mental well being of the mother are acceptable. Job 3:16; Psalms 51:1-5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1,5; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18; Luke 1:44

Of Salvation

We believe that a person is saved when he exercises faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ thus receiving Him as personal Savior.

We believe that the scope of salvation includes forgiveness of all our sins past, present, and future: a perfect standing before God as in Jesus Christ: and the changing of our earthly body to be conformed like unto the body of our Lord at His return for His own. We believe that the saved will spend eternity with God in heaven.

We believe the doctrinal extremes of Calvinism and Arminianism are unbiblical.

We further believe that there is an appointed day for the judgment of the wicked when they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, there to remain in everlasting conscious punishment and torment. John 1:12; John 5:24; John 10:28, 29; Romans 6:23; II Corinthians 5:21; Eph. 2:8, 10; I John 5:17; Romans 8:19-23; I John 3:2; II. Thessalonians 1:7-9; Hebrews 9:27; II Peter 2:8, 9; Revelation 20:12-15; Revelation 21:8

Of Eternity

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust; the eternal conscious punishment of the lost in Hell and the eternal joy of the saved in Heaven (Daniel 12:1-2; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 15:22-24; Revelation 20).

Of the Church

We believe that the local church is composed of:

A local group of believers that is autonomous, self-governing, and has no ecclesiastical organization in authority over it.

Believers who are baptized by immersion.

Believers who are organized. They have for their officers, pastors, deacons and such other leaders as God has given special gifts to render as a ministry to the church.

Believers who observe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord ’s Supper.

Believers who meet regularly for fellowship, worship, and Bible study.

Believers who carry out the Great Commission. 1 Corinthians 12:13; Acts 2; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 16:19; Acts 2:41; 1 Corinthians 12; Hebrews 10:25; I Corinthians 11:23, 24; Matthew. 28:18-20

Of Satan and Fallen Angels

We believe that Satan is a person. He was created perfect but sinned and became the arch enemy of God and His creation. He is the chief adversary of God’s children. He seeks to keep man from the Lord, and when he cannot succeed in this, he seeks to weaken the testimony of Christians. He has at his command a great host of fallen angels and demons to carry out his purposes. He is not omnipotent and can be overcome by the power of God. His doom is sealed in the Lake of Fire forever and forever. Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah. 14:12-14; Revelation 12:10; Revelation 20:10.

Of Last Things

We believe there will be a resurrection of all, first the just at the coming of Jesus Christ and finally the unjust after the millennium. The saints are raised to be forever with the Lord, and the unsaved will be confined for eternity in the Lake of Fire. We believe in the “Blessed Hope”(Titus 2:13) which is the personal, bodily, pretribulational, premillennial, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior for His Church at the rapture and His later return to the earth in power and glory with His saints to set up His Kingdom ( the millennium). John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11, Acts 24:15; I Corinthians. 15:3-20; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I John 2:1-2, Rev. 20: 1-15, Rev. 21:8