Loveless Park Baptist Church, Bessemer, was bursting at the seams with new ministry opportunities. It had moved to two worship services, started an extra worship service and Sunday School at its nearby lake property and planted a church in Uganda.
The last thing the Bessemer Baptist Association church wanted was for its name to cause a ministry barrier, Pastor Joel Frederick said.
“Loveless Park is a community name unknown by many of the people who live around us,” said Frederick of the neighborhood’s historical name. “The name fit the church well 68 years ago when its mission field was Loveless Park. But today we have church members driving from four counties.”
And in the digital age, the word “loveless” was being filtered out by some e-mail systems and could unintentionally lead people to inappropriate Internet sites when they searched for the church online, he explained.
“In Scripture, we see examples of God changing someone’s name to better describe that person or to identify them with a new work He had called them to,” Frederick said. “We needed a name that described who we are in Christ and not just the physical address of where we meet on Sundays.”
So Loveless Park Baptist recently voted to become Grace Life Baptist Church.
“We chose Grace Life Baptist because not only are we saved by God’s grace but we believe that we are to live by His grace as well. We believe that a true disciple of Jesus will live a grace-filled life,” Frederick said.
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