A Church Growing With Its Community

The First Baptist Church of Rockwell, NC (known as the Rockwell Baptist Church until Dec. 11, 1983) was organized Nov. 13, 1906, without a house of worship, meeting upstairs in a small room over a store building for several years. In the fall of 1913, with only eight adult members, the church decided to build a house of worship. On Jan. 9, 1914, construction began. On the second Sunday in April 1914, they had Sunday School in the new building.

The church was a member of the South Yadkin Baptist Association from 1906 to 1927, and then became a member of the new Rowan Baptist Association, the North Carolina Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Church has worshipped in three different buildings since 1914. The first two were in the town of Rockwell. The present building, which was constructed in 1982-1983, is located on Sunset Drive, north of the town of Rockwell. The first service in this building was conducted on the second Sunday of February 1983. In 1996, the church began construction of their Family Life Center, which was completed in 1997. The education wing was added in 2012. In 2013 the sanctuary was completely remodeled.

Twenty pastors have served the church. Some of these were not full-time in the early years. Many of them pastored more than one congregation; therefore, the church did not have a preaching service every Sunday for several years until a full-time pastor was called