User:DeknMike/Liberty Baptist Church (Hampton)

Liberty Baptist Church (Hampton)New article name ... Liberty Baptist Church is a regional congregation located in Hampton, Virginia. The church was organized in 1900 as a mission congregation of Bethel Baptist Church in Yorkown. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

History
In the late 1890s, the congregation of Bethel Baptist Church in the Big Bethel community of York County located a mission congregation at the soutern end of Big Bethel Road, in the community known as Little Bethel, at the corner of the present-day Todd's Lane and Big Bethel Road in Hampton. The congregation was formed as a church on September, 1900.

In 1997, the church purchased 50 acres two blocks north along Big Bethel Road and began constructing the present facility. The picnic shelters and ball fields were constructed first. Phase 1 of the facility was a double-court basketball gym (used for worship services - 1200 seats), a classroom wing and a warehouse to house give-away mattresses and furniture. Phase 2 added additional classrooms and a dining facility (also used for worship services - 1400 seats); phase 2 opened in 2001. Phase 3 was completed in August 2011, and included a Student building, additional parking and a 3000-seat auditorium.

Community Involvement

 * Having one of the larger auditoriums in the region, Liberty lets smaller schools use its auditorium for graduation ceremonies.
 * Mission Daystar was established in 1980 to provide furniture for individuals transitioning from homelessness to housing. It collected mattresses, furniture and kitchen items from hotels and local individuals and distributed using church and community volunteers.  Special attention was provided to fire victims.  Mission Daystar is the provider of choice for these services from the local Red Cross and Salvation Army.
 * GriefShare provides training and support for widows/widowers and others who have lost loved ones. It has been operating at the church for 20 years.
 * Acts of Love is an annual effort started in 2008 to provide a box of food to 1600 low income families in the local area on the Saturday before Easter.
 * Community Bible Studies at 'The Towers' low income housing and Richmont housing.
 * Liberty is a host site for Upward Sports, an 'all-play' athletic training program. Most years, over 900 elementary school aged students participate with Upward Basketball.  About a hundred girls enjoy Upward Cheerleading and 400 children play Upward Soccer.
 * Liberty is host for a community church-based softball league for 16 local churches of various denoninations. Games are at the church's 2 softball fields with professional umpires in a 20-game spring season and a double-elimination tournament.

Missions Actions
Liberty has a long history of local, regional and international missions. Liberty's missions strategy is called Long Term Strategic Engagement, or LTSE. LTSE means that the same people go to the same mission destinations year after year, and engage through prayer and other activities between trips. The goal is to create relationships that impact individual lives, communities, and the world.

Regional Services

 * Disaster Relief - Liberty has over 60 certified volunteers on their Disaster Relief Team, which is affiliated with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief; the SBDR has Memorandums of Agreement with US Red Cross and Salvation Army and is the third largest (behind these two) disater Relief organization in the US. Liberty's team is training in all standard relief areas (food preparation, recovery/cleanup, child care, etc.) and provides specialized support for initial Damage Assessment, Command Post operations (with a Ham Radio station) and a chain saw & 'mudout' recovery trailer.

National Missions

 * Liberty Missions supports cooperative missions with the Navajo people in New Mexico

International Missions

 * Liberty provides regular support teams to social services sites in Central America and Northern Africa, including semi-annual dental serices trips to Morrocco.