Trinity's story
Trinity was started as a mission on October 7, 1979 as a joint effort of the Captial Baptist Association and Chisholm Heights Baptist Church of Mustang, OK. On that first Sunday, there were 88 people in attendance. On January 17, 1980, Ted Kersh was called as the mission’s first pastor and on May 18, 1980 the church was officially dedicated as the Trinity Baptist Church of Yukon, OK with an existing membership of 331.
From its earliest days, the congregation has had a strong commitment to sound Biblical doctrine and a great zeal for evangelism. By remaining true to these original principles and by the efforts of numerous leaders, Trinity has experienced consistent growth through the years. In 1992, when Dan Fisher, the present pastor, was called to Trinity, the church experienced a time of renewal and rediscovery. By seriously considering and embracing the responsibility to relate to the un-churched of the Canadian Valley area, Trinity emerged from this time with a clearer understanding of its role in God’s kingdom. Since then, while remaining faithful to historic Baptist doctrines and strong biblical preaching and teaching, Trinity has successfully designed ministries that maximize the congregation’s strengths.
Trinity’s basic outreach philosophy can best be defined by a paragraph from Michael Dean’s book, Growing Churches:
“We don’t exist as a church for ourselves. We exist for the people who are not yet here. That has implications in every aspect of church life: everything from the parking lot, buildings, schedules, programs – everything. Everything needs to be geared to those who are not yet in our church. In most churches it is just the opposite. They are geared to accommodate the people who are there.
Encapsulating its purpose for ministry, Trinity’s vision/purpose statement reads:
“The purpose of Trinity is to help connect the un-churched of the Canadian Valley area to a vibrant community of believers who are experiencing on-going spiritual transformation through a passionate commitment to Christ and His Word.”
Changes such as the one to become an elder-led church have helped to free the Trinity family from the administrative juggernaut that immobilizes most churches and has allowed its members to focus their energy on ministry rather than on church maintenance. Aware that people need to experience community with other believers, in 2002, Trinity made a commitment to become a church “of” small groups to insure that no one ever has to live out their faith alone. Since then, small groups have become more and more a way of life for the congregation and the primary means of ministering to people.
But through it all, the church has emerged with renewed vision and purpose. Trinity’s driving passion has become the same as that of the apostle Paul’s found in 1 Corinthians 9:22: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”