Fellowship Baptist Church 1421 Little Mountain Church Road, Ararat, NC 27007

"My family has been attending Fellowship for 20 years now. The people that attend are great. our pastor, Josh Sechrist is a wonderful and so down to earth. So if you don't have a home church, come give us a visit."

"I left FBC a while ago. I do not wish to disclose when, but I do feel that some things should be made aware. FBC is a very typical Independent Fundamental Baptist church. I know that many people like things about IFB churches. I have left with a very bad taste in my mouth for them. I left this church starving for Biblical knowledge and wisdom. I left very untrained and desperate to grow. I wanted to grow in my faith, but I just didn't know how. Yes, I would read my Bible and pray fervently, but I just knew something was missing. I am so very happy to say that I did find a church that answered these questions. They started at the basics by answering questions like "how do I read my Bible?" or "how do I pray?" I have been a believer for many years, but I had never been taught how to read my Bible. I thought it was just "read it and do it." Boy, was I wrong. Looking back, my heart is broken for this church. I feel that there are some things I should address. I have listed them below: 1. The pastor of this church is very big on style, not substance. I have listened to him preach the same message every Sunday. It is always the same message, no matter the passage. I understand that the Gospel message is the same always, but there was never any application. There was a lot of "this is what you should do," but there was never "this is how you do it." I can still hear the preacher screaming to "hold on and fight" but never go deeper than surface level. This was so discouraging. During my final months here, I started doing my own devotionals in service so that I could learn something in church. After I left, I would listen to the messages still while looking for a new church. I was amazed at how surface level they could be. Almost every church I visited would give context, background, and applications for Scripture. The pastor here would merely yell about how you should trust Jesus. Please do not get me wrong, I know that this is a great thing, but for someone that doesn't know how to do that it is very discouraging. I finally was taught how to do it. My life flipped upside down. 2. I was very concerned with how little the pastor and his family was involved in the church. For many in leadership, it seemed that sports took place over anything. Sometimes there were weeks on end that the pastor's family wasn't in church because of all of their sporting events. There were times I would volunteer for things and we would desperately need people to help, but the pastor and his family never could because of sports. 3. The pastor, on multiple occasions (like, a lot), would openly admit that he didn't prepare for a message. "I am just going to wing it this morning" was not an uncommon phrase. The pastor would also mention that he would not prepare for messages until the morning of the message. This was so concerning. "I am not sure what I am supposed to do" speaks volumes. Since I have learned how to read the Bible, I can see that God truly does speak through His Word. If the pastor were truly preparing, I do not think that it would be an issue. 4. The pastor openly admitted things that were very concerning about his spiritual strength. I heard him mention in a message that if someone asked him how to read the Bible, he wouldn't know what to tell them. There was another time that he said it wasn't his job to train and disciple people. That was the job of the individual. At this point, I began to wonder just what he thought his job was as a pastor. 5. When I left, there was a LOT of people that reached out with passive aggressive or even hateful comments. I would talk to people about how much I was learning, and it would make them mad. Since leaving, I know of many others that have left for similar reasons. They are spiritually starving and need to be fed. Hearing the same rant over and over again isn't feeding them. I pray that this church turns around, and I pray that the members get fed."

"This is the church my family & I have been going to for 6+,months now. The preacher is awesome & preaches God's word. The people are loving & welcome you. We will join as members soon."

"Good church with good people pastor is awsome"

"Wonderful people there, loving and caring. You can feel God's holy spirit."