WHO WE ARE

The Orangeburg Baptist Tabernacle was founded  as a soul-winning, gospel preaching ministry, striving to reach our community with the Gospel of Christ. The church mission then was to know Christ and to make Him known.  We continue that mission today by evangelizing sinners, edifying the saints, and exalting our Savior. All of our ministries are centered around this mission and have evangelism at its heart.

We hold to the fundamentals of the Christian faith as taught in the Word of God. We use only the King James Version of the Bible in all our services and ministries, believing it is God's preserved, inerrent, infallible Word for English-speaking people, thus rejecting all modern versions as inferior and corrupt.

• We believe that the Bible is the final authority for faith and life. Therefore we should allow the Holy Spirit to use the Word of God to change us, instead of us changing the Word of God.

• In order for a person to be saved he must realize that he is a sinner and in repentance and faith come to Jesus and trust Him alone for salvation.

• Christians are to live holy and separated lives in order to influence the community in which they live.

• In order to have God's blessing on a Christian's life, he must daily die to self and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

• The local church is the manifestation of the Body of Christ in the community in which it is located, and is there to minister the gospel.

•  We hold to the "old paths" of old-time religion believing that the preaching of the Word of God is the greatest need of saints and sinners alike.    

• We use old-fashioned, Southern Gospel style music in our services, believing that music should be lively and speak to the heart and minister to the spirit, not appeal to and feed the carnal nature of man. 

The Orangeburg Baptist Tabernacle was founded in July, 1970 by concerned Christians who desired to have a fundamental, evangelistic, Baptist church in the Orangeburg Area.  These people held prayer meetings in homes prior to the birth of this church, seeking, and asking God direction.   

 Shortly after organizing the church, the congregation called Ronald Presley to be its first pastor.  Under his leadership the church met at Wade Hampton Academy until the present location on US Highway 178 was secured and the first auditorium was erected.  The congregation soon outgrew this building and began building the present auditorium, which was completed in 1974 and occupied shortly thereafter.  Educational facilities were built behind the current auditorium in 1980 to accommodate Sunday School classes and a Christian education ministry.   

Under the leadership of its pastors, Ronald Presley, Mike Johns, John Hill, Bud Hunter, and Thomas Brookshire (present pastor) the Orangeburg Baptist Tabernacle has continued in its purpose to evangelize sinners, edify saints, and to exalt the Savior through solid Bible preaching and teaching ministries that emphasizes evangelism both at home and abroad.  The goal of the church is to continue in these paths and purposes until Jesus comes.