A church built on Scripture, defined by prayer, and committed to developing people who love God and lead others.

Four Core Values are at the heart of who we are at First Baptist Mineral Wells
The preached Word changes hearts and lives. Everything we do flows from the faithful proclamation of Scripture
Prayer is a first response, not a last resort. We believe God moves when His people pray.
We love through worship, unity, and witness. Love for God and love for neighbor is our highest calling.
Servant leaders bless the church and build the community. We develop leaders at every level who reflect the character of Christ.
We affirm the Baptist Faith & Message 1963 as our official doctrinal statement. Below is a summary of each point, but the full BF&M 1963 can be found HERE.
We believe the Bible is the Word of God — fully inspired by Him and true, without any mixture of error, in all that it teaches. It is our supreme standard for what we believe and how we live, and it will not fail. Because all of Scripture finds its center and fulfillment in Jesus Christ, He is the lens through which we read and understand it. We do not stand over God's Word to judge it; we sit under it to be taught, corrected, and formed by it. Key Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16–17; 2 Peter 1:19–21; John 16:13–15
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. He is the Creator and Ruler of all things, worthy of our complete trust, love, and obedience. Though one in being, He has made Himself known to us as the Father who reigns over all, the Son who came to redeem us, and the Holy Spirit who lives within His people. Key Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4; John 17:1–8; Matthew 28:19
We believe God created human beings — male and female — in His own image, giving us a dignity and worth found in no other creature. By our own free choice we turned away from God into sin, and that rebellion has touched every person, leaving us guilty before Him and unable to save ourselves. Yet even in our fallenness, every human life still bears God's image and is worthy of love and respect. Only the grace of God can restore us to the fellowship for which we were made. Key Scripture: Genesis 1:26–27; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12
We believe salvation is the free gift of God, offered to all people and received through repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. It begins with the new birth, in which God makes a dead sinner alive and declares the guilty righteous through the finished work of Christ. It continues as the Holy Spirit shapes us, over a lifetime, into the likeness of Jesus — and it will be completed when we are raised and glorified in His presence forever. Salvation is God's work from first to last, and it is ours by grace, not by our own earning. Key Scripture: Ephesians 2:8–9; John 3:16; Romans 6:23
We believe that God, according to His own purpose and grace, freely chooses to save sinners — and that His saving purpose is fully consistent with our genuine freedom and responsibility. Those whom God truly saves, He also keeps; no one He has claimed will finally be lost. This truth is not a cause for pride or presumption, but for deep humility, assurance, and praise. Key Scripture: Romans 8:28–30; Ephesians 1:4–6; John 10:28–29
We believe a New Testament church is a local body of baptized believers who covenant together to worship God, obey Christ, and carry out His mission. Christ alone is the Head of His church, and each congregation governs itself under His Word, seeking His will together. Scripture gives the church two offices — pastors and deacons — and calls every member to use their gifts for the good of the whole body. We also believe in the church in its largest sense: all the redeemed of every age and place. Key Scripture: Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 1:22–23
We believe Christ gave His church two ordinances. Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, picturing our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, and marking our entrance into the fellowship of the church. The Lord's Supper is a shared meal of bread and cup by which we remember Christ's death for us, examine our own hearts, and look forward to His return. Both are acts of obedience and testimony — not ways of earning salvation, but joyful signs of the salvation Christ has already won. Key Scripture: Matthew 28:19–20; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26
We believe the first day of the week is the Lord's Day, set apart in celebration of Jesus' resurrection. We gather on this day for worship, teaching, fellowship, and rest, giving God the first and best of our time. Key Scripture: Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10
We believe the Kingdom of God is His rule over all things and, in a special sense, His reign in the hearts of those who gladly submit to Him as King. We enter that Kingdom by faith in Christ, we labor now to see His reign extended, and we await the day when it will be brought to its fullness at His return. Key Scripture: Matthew 6:10; Luke 17:20–21; Matthew 13:1–52
We believe that Jesus Christ will return personally, visibly, and in glory. On that day the dead will be raised and every person will stand before Him in judgment. Those who have rejected Christ will face everlasting separation from God, and those who belong to Him will be welcomed into eternal joy in His presence. This hope steadies us in the present and gives urgency to our mission. Key Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; Revelation 21:1–4; John 14:1–3
We believe that every follower of Christ and every church is sent to make disciples of all nations. The good news that Jesus saves is not ours to keep; it is ours to proclaim — across the street and around the world — in both word and deed. Because people come to faith through hearing the gospel, we hold the clear preaching and personal sharing of God's Word to be among our highest callings. Key Scripture: Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:14–15
We believe the life of the mind matters to God, and that His truth should be taught faithfully in the church and supported in Christian education. Real freedom to learn and teach flourishes under the authority of Christ and the truth of Scripture, never apart from them. We are committed to the ongoing teaching and discipleship of God's people at every age. Key Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14–17; Colossians 2:2–3
We believe that everything we are and everything we have belongs to God, and that we are trustees of His gifts — our time, our abilities, and our resources. In grateful response to His generosity toward us, we give cheerfully, regularly, and sacrificially to advance His Kingdom. Key Scripture: Malachi 3:10; 2 Corinthians 9:6–7; 1 Corinthians 4:2
We believe local churches, while fully self-governing, are stronger together. We gladly cooperate with other Baptist churches for the work of missions, benevolence, and ministry that none of us could accomplish alone, and we extend Christian fellowship to all who love and follow the Lord Jesus. Key Scripture: Acts 15:1–35; Ephesians 4:1–6; 1 Corinthians 12:1–31
We believe the gospel changes people, and that changed people are called to bring Christ's love and righteousness to bear on the world around them. We seek to honor God in every sphere of life — caring for the vulnerable, opposing what is evil, and pursuing what is just — knowing that lasting change begins with hearts made new by Christ. Key Scripture: Micah 6:8; Matthew 25:35–40; James 1:27
We believe Christians are called to be peacemakers, pursuing peace with all people according to the righteousness and love of Christ. We long for the day when the Prince of Peace will bring an end to all conflict, and we labor and pray toward that end. Key Scripture: Matthew 5:9; Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14
We believe God alone is Lord of the conscience, and that faith can never be coerced. Church and state are meant to remain separate, each free to fulfill its God-given role, and every person should be free to worship — or not — without interference from the government. As Baptists, this conviction runs deep in our history, and we defend it for all people. Key Scripture: Matthew 22:21; Romans 14:12; Galatians 5:1
We believe God designed the family as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime, picturing the union between Christ and His church. Within the home, husbands and wives are called to love and honor one another, and children are a blessing from the Lord, to be raised to know and follow Him. Key Scripture: Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:22–33; Ephesians 6:1–4
First Baptist Mineral Wells was born on the edge of something big. In 1882, Mineral Wells was barely a town at all, a tiny frontier settlement of a few hundred souls whose curious mineral waters were only beginning to earn the reputation that would one day make it a nationally famous health resort. That year, a revival swept through, led by the celebrated "Texas Evangelist," William E. Penn. Out of it, fifty-four charter members organized themselves into a church, hungry for something deeper than any well could offer. First Baptist Church was born, and something lasting took root.
Those first believers met wherever they could. At first they gathered in the local schoolhouse, and in 1883 they moved into a former Presbyterian church building. They were shepherded by frontier preachers of remarkable stock. Among the church's early leaders was the Rev. George Webb Slaughter, a pioneer minister who, decades before, had carried dispatches for General Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution. The gospel had come to Mineral Wells in the hands of men who had helped build Texas itself.
The congregation grew right alongside the town. By 1900 it had built its own house of worship at the corner of West Hubbard and 4th Avenue, and in 1920 it built another sanctuary on the same site. During those years, First Baptist welcomed some of the most prominent voices in American revivalism into its pulpit. Among the preachers who proclaimed the gospel here were Billy Sunday, George W. Truett, Mordecai Ham, and Rodney "Gypsy" Smith, whose words shaped a generation.
But First Baptist has never been content to grow only inward. Out of this one congregation came three others: East Side Baptist (now Calvary Baptist) in 1909, Lawn Terrace Baptist in 1947, and Templo Bautista (originally Bautista Mexicana) in 1959, along with a Cambodian mission co-sponsored at nearby Fort Wolters. Wherever there were neighbors to reach, this church kept planting.
The sanctuary that has anchored our worship since 1967 still stands at the heart of it all. And today, as we plan a significant addition and renovation, we are preparing First Baptist Mineral Wells for the next generation of ministry in this community. The same conviction that gathered fifty-four believers in 1882 is still driving us forward: that the good news of Jesus is worth building a life, and a church, around.
