Home - About - What We Believe Lakeland Baptist Church started in the Fall of 1957, when members of the Walnut Street Baptist Church decided to begin a church on the east side of Carbondale, Illinois. They prayed for God's will and timing. They gathered a core group of people that would share the vision of reaching the greater area of the Carbondale community. About 40 adults attended Bible Study and Worship on February 2, 1958 - Lakeland's first worship service. 


Lakeland was "born" from the heart of mission-minded people willing to take risks and step out of their own area of comfort so God could be glorified.Thank you for taking the time to read about what we believe at Lakeland. Often times when anyone reads a doctrinal statement from a church or organization, it comes across as boring and irrelevant. 


At Lakeland we believe it is important that the greatest possible pleasure in life is found in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Far too often when people talk about Christ it is not compelling or interesting. Someone said that one of the greatest commandments for the church today is that when she talks her about her Lord, she should not be boring! I second such a statement. 

 In today’s world the Church has taken quite a beating in the public eye. It is seen as irrelevant and non-essential to many. Some others consider the Church something you go to when you are trouble, but ignore it for the rest of your life. This is not what we believe about the church.

We believe that the Church is the only thing that represents God’s activity in the world. In fact, it is the only thing that He says He is building in this current age. (Matthew 16:18-20) To be involved in the activity of our Creator is the most awesome thing anyone can do with life.

We believe that being part of the Church is essential to a believer’s spiritual health. Often people will say that they do not have to go to Church to be a Christian, and while that answer is correct in part, it leaves off something fundamental to the health of every believer.

The apostle Paul writes to us in Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” If Jesus gave his life for the Church, then it is incumbent upon us to live our lives in connection with His Bride, the Church. To not love His bride is to, in effect, not love Christ fully.

We believe active membership in the body of Christ, the Church, is essential to your spiritual health. We do not believe we have the only corner on the Truth. There are many other local churches who faithfully represent the gospel of our Lord and there is not one right church for everyone. Each church represents a unique perspective on the glorious diversity in the body of Christ.

If you are looking to become a member of a Church, you are welcome to check us out. Take a moment to listen to some of teaching on our web site or through our weekly podcasts. Read the testimonies of those who have accepted ministry positions here at Lakeland, and you can get to know us before you even attend one of our gatherings.

If you have any questions that these articles do not answer and would like more information you can send us an e-mail and we will be glad to reply as soon as possible.

Now for the good stuff.
What do we, as a church, believe?

About God

Wow, this is a mouthful. How can anyone claim to know anything about an invisible God who has never been seen by the human eye? Sounds sort of audacious, doesn’t it?

Well, let’s say right at the start that we could never know anything about God unless he reveals himself to us. So for starters, is there any record that claims to be the very words of God?

The answer to this question is “Yes.” While there are many books that claim divine inspiration. There is no book like the Bible in history that has stood the test of time and the challenges hurled against it by the non-religious and other religions.

At Lakeland, we believe the Bible to be the written record of God as he spoke to men in times past. Whenever it speaks on any topic, it is without error. It is accurate in all its claims about man, God, sin, creation, or any other topic that it speaks.

The Bible gives us all we need to know about life and godliness in this life. Any question concerning how to relate to God and other humans and the creation are all contained in the written record of the Bible.

For further study, we invite you to consult the Biblical texts listed in the following; Genesis 1:1; Romans 15:4; II Timothy 3:15-17; II Peter 1:2-4; II Peter 1:16-21

Since the Bible is our source of authority for all matters of belief and practice all of our understanding comes directly from the Scripture as we seek to understand it with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Now to get to the point of what we believe about God. Remember everything we will state will come right from the Biblical texts. The Bible tells us that in the beginning, God, not in the beginning hydrogen. God is the source of all life and all things created. Everything that has been made or will ever be made has God as its originator. Nothing has come into this world without the direct action of God. ( Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3)

Next time you look in the mirror, you can see the handiwork of your invisible Creator. We understand through the very creation of our bodies God has designed us for relationship and pleasure.

Some one said, “There are two sure things in life; There is a God; You are not Him!” So next time you think you are hot stuff, remember next to God you are not that impressive. I know this may sound a bit harsh, but trust the Bible. If we get this right about who God is, everything else in life will begin to make more sense and we will find more joy and gladness than we ever dreamed.

There are a lot of other religions that believe this about God, so why all the disagreement on this God issue? That is a great question. Up to this point many religions may agree, but this is as far as it goes because the Christian faith goes into some very mysterious territory when it starts talking about a Triune God. God in three persons, but still only one God.

How is this possible? Can three ever be one and can one ever be three? Not in any math class I have ever taken! So how can this be? Here is where we must say, I am of dust and know nothing of such. So why do we believe what we cannot understand or make sense? As we read the Bible, it speaks of God being revealed in three persons but yet still commands us to believe in only one God. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

All throughout the Old Testament there are hints of this Triune God, but they find their fullest expression in the New Testament when Jesus enters human history and splits our calendar in two. Isaiah 9:6 indicated that the Messiah would be called mighty God and everlasting Father. David writes of a conversation he overheard in the godhead in Psalms 110:1-2 that indicates that God is more than one in isolation.

But once the New Testament times arrive Jesus performs many miracles and signs and then states as clearly as possible to the religious people of his day that he was God in the flesh. John 8:48-59; John 14:5-14. The evidence of his divinity was compelling. It was so compelling that those who did not want to believe, were convinced by the preponderance of the evidence. (Acts 2:22-41)

Because of the evidence of Jesus' divinity revealed in the Scriptures, we believe that Jesus is equal with God the Father, in every way he is God. (Hebrews 1:1-3) Likewise, we believe in the divinity of the Holy Spirit, not because we can understand it but because the Bible teaches this to be so.

Jesus revealed this truth in his last teaching to his disciples before his crucifixion. In John 14:15-18 Jesus promises us the gift of another comforter. He uses a very unique word for “another.” The word he uses is not "another of a different kind," but "another of the same kind." In essence he promised his disciples that the comforter would come who would be just like him in every way, yet different.

All throughout the Bible the Holy Spirit is referenced as God and worshipped as God. The Holy Spirit empowers every believer with spiritual gifts at conversion for the purpose of building up the body of Christ and making the gospel known in the world. This is one of the reasons why local church membership is vital to your spiritual health if you are a believer. You cannot exercise your gift outside of the workings of the church. Your gifts are for the benefit of the church, and if you remain outside the church you will suffer.

There is much more to be said on this topic, but I pray that you are at least encouraged to grow in your understanding of your relationship with this great God we worship in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

If you want to grow in your understanding of the Holy Spirit and how he equips his children to worship and live in this world we invite you to join us as we pursue this knowledge of our great Triune God.

Now that we have discussed briefly who God is and what we believe about Him some of you may be wondering, “So how do I go about having a relationship with this awesome God you have talked about?” We are glad you have asked that most important question. The truth is that you would not be asking that question if God was not already at work in your life drawing you to him.

The Bible tells us that there is no one who seeks after God, not even one. (Romans 3:10-19) We are dead in our sins and transgressions (Ephesians 2:1-3) Dead men cannot respond to God and will not respond to God because they are DEAD. That’s right- dead. When is the last time you stood in a cemetery and talked to the people buried there and they came up out of graves and complemented you on your great speech? Sounds corny I know, but it is true. Dead people cannot seek after God.

Somehow in the marvelous grace of God, God begins His work on the human heart and the spirit that was once dead towards God, is now made alive and finds itself longing for a relationship with the God who created it. If you find yourself longing to know God, be assured that is God who is working in your heart. That longing to connect with God has been placed in your spirit by none other than God himself. No, I cannot define it any more than that, I will leave it to the mysterious workings of God.

How is it that the dead heart is made alive towards God? By the hearing of the Word of the Lord, the Bible. If you are hearing the Word of the Bible and it is coming alive to you and you find your heart being strangely warmed as someone teaches from it, cheer up, on your feet, He is calling you.

No one can be made right with God without hearing the Gospel message from the Scriptures. Come to where the Bible is taught, hang around places where people love the Bible and seek to obey it and you will find your life being strengthened in the faith.

The next thing that will happen in the process of being made alive towards God is that you will become very aware of the guilt you have incurred by your rebellion against all that God has commanded. For many, they will find themselves almost in total despair of ever being forgiven because of the sheer weight of the guilt incurred.

In this despair, the Spirit of God will direct your attention to our glorious Savior. He will point out that Jesus paid for your guilt and took the punishment for all your sins for all time on his body on the cross. He suffered in your place so you would never have to suffer the wrath of God. Think of it for just a moment- the perfect, sinless Son of God willingly took on his body the full vent of the holy wrath of God against all those who will place their faith in Him so they will never have to face the anger and wrath of our God, who is holy beyond description.

In short, you have rebelled against God and because of your sin you were dead towards God. Not only that, but the wrath of God was abiding on you while you were in your sin. (John 3:36; Ephesians 2:3)

Somehow, even while you were under the wrath of God, God in his mercy, took steps to direct your path so you would hear the gospel and repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ. Why did he do this for you? Because he is rich in mercy! You would have never come on your own. So he ordered your steps so you could hear the gospel and come to faith in Christ so you could be rescued from the coming wrath and now enjoy the pleasures of God for all eternity. Some cry that is not fair! And I say hallelujah! I am so glad it is not fair. For if fairness is what I want, then hell is what I get.

No, it is not fairness we have received but mercy and grace and peace. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Because we believe that salvation is a work of God from beginning to end, we believe that God will bring to completion all those who have been saved by His Son and that none will be lost who have fully trusted in his Son. (John 10:28-20; Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; Philippians 1:6; I Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 10:12-19. etc. etc. etc.)
Now that we have discussed what we believe about God and the Bible and how to have a relationship with Christ, it seems the next question would be, “How can a person who has trusted in Christ become like Him in this world that is so fallen?”

This is a question that only those who have been made alive in Christ would even care to ask. There are many who have prayed some prayer years ago and think it is what has saved them, but if there is no ongoing concern for holiness and purity in their life then all that prayer did was to harden them in their unbelief.

A child of God will be concerned about holiness and purity in his life. They will have a growing concern for those without Christ and a growing desire to love God with all that they have. So how is it that believers can grow and experience the fullness of joy in their lives while we wait for our Lord to come from Heaven and take us home to be with him?

God has graciously given us several means of grace by which we can grow in our love for God and his kingdom. If we do not take advantage of them we will be fruitless and joyless Christians, but the great news is that if we avail ourselves of these means we can experience the joy of Christ now while we wait for his glorious appearing.

When we speak of the means of grace we do not mean if you do these things you will be more acceptable to God, or that these disciplines in any way make you a Christian. These are the things that God has revealed in his Word that if we obey these principles we will find greater joy and fruitfulness for our Lord while we live in this world.

A true believer will want to obey these because these are the ways in which we can have our love for Christ increased and overflow to others.

I will not take the time to teach about all of the means of grace in this article but you are welcome to read our publication on the Means of Grace found in our resources on our website. Suffice it to say that God has not left us without hope of growing in holiness and love for Christ in this world, he has more than provided the means if we only obey.

What we believe about Missions: Missions is at the heart of what we are about at Lakeland. Our core principles direct us to courageously proclaim the infinite pleasures of knowing Christ in word and deed to all peoples. We regularly send our members overseas to other cultures to share the gospel, to see what God is doing in other parts of the world. We take men on marketplace evangelism outreaches at Mardi Gras and Indy 500. We encourage High School and College students to invest in some mission outreach both overseas and nationally while they are in college. We encourage as many members as possible to have active passports and help them connect with missionaries overseas so they can join what God is doing in other nations.

From our Children’s ministries to our adults we actively promote both giving and going to the nations. No one is exempt from God’s call to the nations, at least not at Lakeland. We believe that without Jesus Christ men and women will be lost and eternally experience the wrath of God from which there is no escape. Our concern in missions is for the glory of God. We long to see every tribe and tongue and nation and people worshipping our Lord in all their diversity. What a day that will be when our Jesus we shall see when together with all the nations we sing our praises to the great God who has saved us.

As a Southern Baptist Church we are connected with over 40,000 local autonomous churches who have partnered together to take the gospel into all the world. Through the Cooperative Mission of other Southern Baptist Churches we can literally reach around the world with our tithes and offerings with the gospel.

Because of our commitment to missions we encourage increasing our missions gifts every year so the gospel can be proclaimed to lands yet unknown. To quote a great preacher in our day about missions

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate not missions, because God is ultimate not man! When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. 
(John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad)

What we believe about Evangelism: For the last one hundred years in the Church in America the emphasis has been on how many conversions have you recorded. There have been large city crusades and lots of evangelism methods taught that have been designed to get some one to pray a prayer and if they prayed that prayer they were told they were now a Christian and they possessed eternal life.

The sad truth of the matter is that even though we have recorded millions of “conversions,” the culture of the Church has not grown in holiness. In fact it has grown more pagan in her practices. Because the emphasis has been on numbers and growing large churches the concern for holiness was almost totally neglected. 
We believe that conversion is a work of God that brings about a change of life that is accompanied with repentance. The Apostle Paul speaks to this issue in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The new birth that God brings about in the life of Christian has the distinctive mark of new life. The things that once were reveled in are no more. The new believer desires to love God and live for His glory no matter what. Any conversion that does not bring with it a new longing to love God and live for his glory cannot be a conversion in the Biblical sense. Our Lord speaks of such inMatthew 7:13-29 


Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. 

Peter implores us to do whatever we can to make our calling and election sure, 2 Peter 1:5-11. 

Perhaps you are facing the question, How can I know for sure that my relationship with God is true? The very fact that you are concerned about this issue is a point of great assurance. Those who do not have a love for God or the things of God will not be concerned about this issue. 

One of the most important tests I can find in Scripture is the test of your heart’s desires. When you are all alone and there is no one to impress with your actions what is the inmost desire of your heart? Do you truly desire to love and please God, or are you just concerned about making it to heaven?

The new birth is designed to cause you to fall in love with Christ and to live for his glory and not your own. A better question to ask is “If heaven was only about streets of gold and seeing your long-lost relatives and having no sickness disease or death but Jesus would not be there, would you still desire to go?

If all that concerns you is eternal life, but you give little thought to loving Christ then it is highly possible that your conversion was not real. This is not to say you cannot ever know if you belong to Christ. The Scriptures tell us otherwise in 1 John 5:10-15 (NIV) 

Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. 

May the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit confirm your relationship with him so that you may overflow with great joy knowing you are secure forever in Christ. 

What is the first step of obedience for the new believer? At conversion, something happens within a new believer that causes them to want to share the gospel of Christ with others. The first step of this new relationship is to follow the lord in Believer’s baptism. This is an act where the believer in front of witnesses is placed under water as a symbol that they have died to their old way of life and now they are risen to live for the glory of Christ. This is a public declaration of love for God. 

This step in no way makes them a child of God but it is the first step of their new relationship. Consider the following passages; Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 6:1-6; I Cor 1:10-17.

There is much more to write to you about this great God of ours, but we would instead love to meet with you face to face at one of our weekly worship gatherings where you can see how we worship and do life together.