About Us
First Baptist Church is a thriving community in Christ where we all participate in worship and are transformed by mission.
Becoming a Member
We welcome any person who professes faith in Jesus Christ and a desire to be a member of our congregation. New believers are baptized by immersion. Members are also welcomed by transfer of membership from any other Christian congregation.
To join, simply come forward during the final hymn during worship or contact Senior Minister Matt Marston.
Member Resources
Click here for a brief history of FBC
Always Becoming New
A History of First Baptist Church, Athens, Georgia
The history of First Baptist Church, Always Becoming New, written by the late Ernst C. Hynds, member and church historian, was published in 2011. Dr. Ernest C. Hynds was emeritus professor of journalism and mass communication and former head of the Department of Journalism in the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
Copies are available through our Church Office at a cost of $25.00 per copy. You may obtain a copy by calling the office at 706.548.1359.
A brief description of the book:
The long and productive history of First Baptist Church, Athens, Georgia, published by Fields Publishing, Inc., Nashville, in 2011, can be summarized effectively in the first three words of the title, Always Becoming New.
Since the church was founded in 1830 to provide Baptists a voice and influence in the town that was growing up adjacent to the University of Georgia, members have maintained their basic beliefs and principles. Individuals are saved to eternal life with God by the grace of God and their faith in Jesus Christ as His Son and their Savior and Lord.
Members have remained firm in that stance, but expressed their willingness to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in finding new approaches to reaching people for Christ and new ways of being in their community and throughout the world. They are willing to become new again.
The history is organized to provide a readable narrative of the First Baptist story and easy-to-locate details on ministers, organizations such as the Sunday School, Women’s Missionary Union, choirs, and deacons; missions such as the medical-educational mission to Southern India, and, ministries such as Interfaith Hospitality Network to help the homeless and the program to provide meals for those in need.
Early chapters cover developments in time frames such as the founding years, building church in the antebellum period, the Civil War, and growth and expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The remaining chapters describe developments in the administrations of Jim Wilkinson, Howard Giddens, Julian Cave, Jon Appleton, and Bill Ross. Paul Baxley, the current minister, is mentioned in an epilogue.
The author is the late Dr. Ernest C. Hynds, emeritus professor of journalism and mass communication and former head of the Department of Journalism in the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. The book is dedicated to his wife, Mary Ann, who died in 2012. Both have held numerous offices, including deacon, in the church.