People who are seeking a church seek many things. Some seek the ornate vaulted ceilings with stained glass and statues that give one a feeling of worshipping in a place of One greater than oneself. Others seek to feel they are emotionally recharged by the highly charged program of music and variety in the services. Yet others seek a fellowship where they can connect with their soul mates in small groups and relationship-building activities.

At Faith Baptist Church we like things simple. Our worship services are not elaborate, but we endeavor, using traditional Christian music, to bring people into the presence of an awe-inspiring Holy God. The family atmosphere here at Faith encourages everyone to use his or her God-given gifts for the benefit of the whole assembly, the local manifestation of the body of Christ. Our desire in assembling ourselves together is to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. We love one another, and we rejoice when one of us rejoices and we weep when one of us weeps.

Faith Baptist Church is a place for hungry souls. We stress the exposition of God's Word. God's Word is the necessary food for the soul. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Our pastor takes the Word of God and breaks it as the Bread of Life, so that each person is spiritually fed and challenged to apply the Scriptures to his daily life in order to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Faith Baptist Church is a place for wounded souls, souls beaten and battered by a life of sin and enslavement to Satan. Here we preach the message of freedom in Christ. The Bible says that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23) We are all born sinners, without a relationship to God and without hope in this world. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) God loved us so much that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus gave Himself to die on the cross in our place. By His sacrificial death, Christ did everything that was necessary so that you and I could be reconciled to God.

Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”(John 6:37) All that you need to do is come to Christ in faith, recognizing that you are a lost sinner and unable to save yourself. He has promised to receive you as His child, to forgive you of your sins, to make you a new life here on earth, and to give you eternal life forever in the presence of God himself. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”(John 3:16) The invitation is open to everyone. Coming to Christ is the beginning of a new life. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) We understand that Faith Baptist Church is not the place for everyone. But Faith Baptist Church is a place for those who want to worship God in simplicity and sincerity and who have a hunger to know God and His life-changing Word.


What are you seeking in a church? Come check us out. Faith Baptist Church may be what you were looking for and didn't know it.

Pastor Brad Calhoun is a native of Avery County. He is the oldest child of Edward and Annie Calhoun of Newland. After graduating from Avery High in 1977, he studied for a year on the pre-med program at Appalachian State University. During that year at AppState, God was dealing with Pastor Brad regarding the ministry. He therefore transferred to the Theology program at Piedmont Bible College of Winston-Salem, NC, in 1978. It was at PBC that he met Sarah Delavan, a dairy farmer's daughter from upstate New York; they married in 1980, then finished their training at PBC and graduated in 1984. During their years at Piedmont, in the summer of 1982, they spent six weeks as missionary apprentices in Quebec, Canada. They returned to school with the certainty of God's call for them to go back to Quebec as missionaries, to plant churches among the French-speaking people of Canada.

The next few years after graduation were spent gathering their support for the mission field. For a couple of years, Pastor Brad and Sarah lived here in Avery County. Their two daughters, Margaret (Meg) and Elizabeth (Beth), were both born in the Crossnore hospital, in 1984 and 1986 respectively. The Calhouns moved to New York State in October of 1986 and then on to Quebec City, Quebec, in January of 1989.

For the better part of the next nineteen years, the Calhoun family lived in Canada as missionaries with Baptist Mid-Missions. First they studied French in Quebec City, and then they worked in church planting and development in two Canadian provinces, Quebec and New Brunswick. They also taught courses at two Bible institutes to help train young men and women for the ministry, and served in a camp ministry for junior-age youngsters during a period of fifteen summers.

From August of 1995 until September 30, 2007, Pastor Brad was the missionary pastor of an independent French-speaking Baptist church in Matane, Quebec. Sarah was privileged to be able to teach the Bible in "Protestant Religious Education" courses in the area's public elementary and middle schools for nine years, as well as homeschooling Meg and Beth. Upon completion of their home studies, their daughters each attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. Meg has now obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible and violin, and is married to Duncan Johnson. She works on staff at BJU while Duncan completes his Master of Divinity degree. Beth is a junior at BJU studying Elementary Education.

Pastor Brad and Sarah were finishing up their work in Matane, preparing to turn the church over to a Quebec pastor and looking for further ministry opportunities in Canada, when Faith Baptist Church approached them about returning to North Carolina. After several months of prayer and seeking God's leading, they and Faith Baptist Church became convinced of God's directing hand in returning the Calhouns to Avery County.

With "fear and trembling," Pastor Brad began his ministry at Faith Baptist Church on January 1, 2008. He anticipates seeing God work here in Linville just as he saw Him work in Quebec. To God be the glory!

Please feel free to stop by for a visit at one of our services. The family atmosphere, the traditional Christian music and the Bible messages will nourish your soul and encourage you in your spiritual walk. Here at Faith Baptist our goal is to "apply the Bible to daily life."