Mt Freedom Baptist Church exists to glorify God as a fellowship of believers, introduce people to Jesus inside and outside the church, and enjoy abundant life empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Gospel Oriented
Everything we think, say, or do is rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Who we are, how we live, and why we exist is because of His finished work on the cross, in the tomb, and as the risen King. This knowledge is the foundation for our lives. The Gospel is not a compartment of our lives, but the life-giving source from which we daily consume.
Community Centered
God never intended for man to be alone. He understands how much we need each other and intends for us to live life together as a community of believers. We are to share in the messy, painful, and difficult circumstances we face on a day-to-day basis. Also, we are to share the merciful, grace filled, joyful, and peaceful times as well. We desire to be genuine, compassionate, loving, forgiving, and serving people, just like Jesus.
Mission Driven
We are to live each day on mission. From beginning to end, our day is to be lived with God’s Kingdom in mind. In Matthew 28 Jesus said to “Go into ALL the world.” Go into our local community, our state, our nation, and every corner of the world with the life-giving good news that can only be found in a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ!
Mt. Freedom began on the evening of July 29th, 1998 when eleven believers gathered at Oconee State Park to pray about establishing a new church in Mountain Rest, SC. The new church chose the name Mt. Freedom Baptist Church for their fellowship. For the remainder of 1998, the church gathered for Sunday worship services at The Barn on Oconee State Park. These services were led by Tony Grant who was serving as a summer missionary at the park, and went on to serve as Mt. Freedom’s first pastor starting in August 1998.
In January 1999, the church began meeting for worship in the members’ homes. We held our first baptism service on May 23rd, 1999 at the State Park lake. Four were baptized that day – Dan McCall, Ann McCall, June Blair, and Paul Greene. Beginning in May 1999, Paul and Keiffer Greene offered their vacant home as a place for the church to hold worship services until a more permanent home could be found.
In September 2000, the church purchased a 3-acre parcel on the corner of SC Highway 107 and Dellwood Road in Mountain Rest to be the site of our permanent church building. In October 2000, Mt. Freedom became a chartered member of the Beaverdam Baptist Association. Following acceptance into the association, Mt. Freedom held a “charter service” on November 19, 2000 in the old dining room at Oconee State Park. At that time, the church had 32 charter members.
Tony Grant continued to serve as Mt. Freedom’s pastor until September 2001 when Pastor Calvin King took over his duties.
In mid June 2002, a team of volunteers from Carpenters for Christ of Piedmont, AL arrived to help Mt. Freedom build our church building on the land purchased in 2000. Work began starting from a bare concrete slab at daybreak on Saturday June 15th. The next day – Fathers Day – the team held a worship service inside the newly framed sanctuary. By the time the team returned home to Alabama on Thursday, they had raised and roofed the new building complete with a steeple (donated by CFC), windows, doors, and exterior sheathing. Over the course of the next few months, the building was finished and furnished by volunteers from the congregation, friends from the Mountain Rest community, and local businesses and church groups. The furnishings were donated by church members, local church groups, local businesses, and individual donors from the community. We held our first worship service in the new building on Sunday December 22, 2002. The first baptism using the new building’s baptismal pool was held Sunday March 30, 2003.
Through this time, Calvin King continued to serve as Mt. Freedom’s pastor until November 2004 when Pastor Ralph Bagwell took over his duties as interim pastor. Pastor Bagwell was succeeded as interim pastor in October 2006 by Grady Long who served for one year. In June 2008, David Wald became Mt. Freedom’s pastor. He continued to serve as pastor for over nine years. Pastor Karl Pittard assumed the duties of interim pastor from March through December of 2018
In January 2019, Mt. Freedom called Brian Hopkins as bi-vocational pastor. Pastor Hopkins became our full-time pastor the following year.
