Ashland Avenue Baptist Church meets at 483 W Reynolds Road on the south side of Lexington, Kentucky, with a second campus in nearby Danville. The congregation's motto, Jesus Changes Everything, sets the tone for everything from the style of preaching in the sanctuary to the way members welcome international students and refugees around the corner. A Southern Baptist church that submits to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 and the 1742 Philadelphia Confession of Faith, Ashland has grown into a multi-campus body that takes seriously its call to be a church shaped by the Word, ordered around worship, and sent into the world.

A Vision Built Around Three Pillars

The church's stated vision is to "treasure and spread a passion for the supremacy of Christ in all things for the joy of all peoples." Three pillars carry that vision forward:

• Word. All genuine experience of God is grounded in knowing God through Scripture. Ashland's preaching is described as "verse-by-verse, Christ-centered, expository," authoritative, passionate, and drawn straight from the text.
• Worship. Gathered worship is "passionate, reverent, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Spirit-filled, and Bible-saturated," giving the Lord the glory due His name.
• World. Saved and filled with the Spirit, the church is committed to boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ alone, beginning in Lexington and extending to the ends of the earth.

Sunday at the Lexington Campus

Sunday in Lexington begins early. At 8:45 AM, three on-campus Bible Fellowship Groups gather for adults: Agape (Room 126, led by Roger Holland), Disciples (Room 192, led by Sam Wood), and a Men's group (Room 104, led by Chris Felty).

The English-language worship service meets at 10:00 AM. Visitors should expect about an hour and fifteen minutes of prayer, Bible reading, congregational singing, and live expository preaching. People from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, and walks of life come together; the church describes itself as "a group of forgiven sinners because of Jesus Christ." Nursery and preschool care are available during and after the service for families with young children, and elementary-age children can be dismissed right before the sermon for their own worship time.

After the service at 11:30 AM, the campus fills again with small groups. Sixteen BFGs meet at that hour, including men's, women's, middle school and high school groups, the Ashland College Fellowship led by Spencer Austin, the All Nations Fellowship led by Kevin Yu, Foundations (Paul Barth), Seekers (Richard Shultz), Shining Lights (Pat Hisel and Judi Prince), Stevenson (Andy Stevenson), The Vine (Eric Rogier), Y'all (Pastor Nate BeVier), and Vencedores, a Spanish-language group led by William Sanchez.

At 5:30 PM during the fall and spring semesters, AWANA fills the children's wing with a Scripture memory program for ages two through eighth grade, with five clubs: Puggles, Cubbies, Sparks, T&T, and TREK for middle schoolers. Three more BFGs meet at 5:45 PM: Fenz (Conference Room, led by Dave Fenz), Galloway (Room 127, led by Matthew Galloway), and I2 (Room 106, led by Jon Canler).

On Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, the church gathers for a Community Bible Study while Veritas middle and high school students meet upstairs in the Loft for games, worship, and study. Additional Equipped Studies classes and community-based BFGs run throughout the week.

Spanish Ministry: Reaching the Hispanic Community of Central Kentucky

Lexington and its neighboring cities are home to more than 22,000 Hispanic residents, and Ashland's Hispanic ministry exists to reach them with the gospel in their own language. A Spanish-language worship service meets at 1:00 PM every Sunday at the Lexington campus, followed by a Spanish Bible Fellowship Group at 2:30 PM. The group gathers monthly for fellowship at one of its members' homes on the last Saturday of each month.

The Spanish ministry partners with Journey Kids for children, Veritas for youth, and the Ashland College Fellowship for college-age students. William Sanchez leads the work, and a Facebook page keeps the community connected between Sundays.

Journey Children's Ministry

Journey is Ashland's children's ministry, organized around the conviction that the Bible tells the most exciting story ever told, the story of how Jesus includes His people in His kingdom. The goal is to capture both the wonder of Scripture and the energy of children so that they will one day set out on their own to tell the world about Jesus.

During the 10:00 AM worship service, parents can choose to keep toddlers and twos in a class built around the Children Desiring God curriculum "A Sure Foundation," which walks young children through a 13-week overview of the Bible story. Preschoolers (ages three to five) work through The Gospel Project, a three-year chronological curriculum. Kindergarten through second grade begin in the adult service and are dismissed for an optional elementary worship time right before the sermon.

At 11:30 AM, Journey Bible Fellowship Groups gather in the Journey Children's Wing of the Great Commission Center. Toddlers continue their Bible story lesson using The Jesus Storybook Bible, while preschoolers through fifth grade explore the same passage of Scripture through The Gospel Project, just at deeper levels as they grow.

Veritas Student Ministry

Veritas Student Ministry exists to champion the supremacy of Christ by raising up a generation of gospel-committed students through the cooperative efforts of families and the local church. The ministry's goals are to promote a lifelong radical commitment to Christ and the gospel, to endorse a bold obligation to evangelism and missions, to produce responsible servants of the church, and to equip and assist parents in the task of training their children to treasure Christ above all else.

Students gather in age- and gender-specific small groups in the Loft every Sunday at 11:30 AM. Wednesday nights during the school year bring games, worship, community, and Bible study to the Loft at 6:30 PM. Project 1:27, named after James 1:27, meets on a Saturday each month to provide encouragement to widows and elderly members of the church and to serve community organizations such as Assurance, a local crisis pregnancy center.

Veritas also runs annual events that have become part of the rhythm of the church: Reality Check Weekend, an intense weekend of discipleship, worship, service, and fun hosted in homes by Veritas families; the Veritas Field Day each spring; Summer Tour, when families host students on Wednesday evenings; a New Orleans mission trip that partners with the church's planting work in that city; Crossings Camp at Cedarmore, a five-day camp on a 600-acre campus an hour west of Lexington; and the International Thanksgiving Dinner, where the church hosts hundreds of guests from around the world, most of whom are not followers of Christ.

Ashland College Fellowship

The Ashland College Fellowship is the church's ministry to university students in Lexington, led by Spencer Austin. It gathers as one of the Sunday morning BFGs at 11:30 AM in a space called The Edge, giving college-age students a place to study Scripture together, build community, and connect to the broader life of the church body.

Women Walking Together

Ashland's Women's Ministry exists to spread a passion for the supremacy of Christ among women by calling them to delight in God's design for their lives as revealed in Scripture. Bible studies, retreats, conferences, ministry opportunities, special events, and relationships all play a role.

Each September the women of Ashland get away for a fall retreat in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for a weekend of relationship building, community, and fun. Seminar Saturday, a conference hosted by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Wives Institute, gives women a chance to grow in faith through seminars focused on applying the gospel in their homes, daily lives, and ministries. In November, the ministry gathers to make blankets for Assurance for Life, a local crisis pregnancy center; the blankets are given to new mothers who choose to deliver their babies.

Music and Worship

"Sing the glory of His name; give Him glorious praise!" Psalm 66:2 anchors the music ministry at Ashland. The church corporately lifts up the name of Christ in song for the glory of God, the strengthening of the church, and the salvation of sinners.

Worship is led by a Praise Team of vocalists described as "lead worshipers" who seek to direct the people of God to the cross in Word-centered, Christ-exalting worship. A Praise Band and Orchestra, a Choir, and a Media and Technology team support the gathered service. The Media team runs the audio-visual systems, designs and builds the presentation slides, films and records worship services, handles lighting, edits video, and maintains the church's online presence, all for the glory of God.

Bible Fellowship Groups: The Engine of Discipleship

Bible Fellowship Groups, or BFGs, are the small-group ministry of Ashland. The expectation is that every member of the church belongs to a BFG. Groups meet on Sundays on the campus at 8:45, 11:30, and 5:45, and additional BFGs meet in homes across the Lexington metro during the week.

The groups pursue what Ashland calls "Living Out the Gospel Together" and "Charting Our Growth," applying the preached Word of God to daily life in accountable small-group community, with the goal of pursuing the church's mission to make disciples.

Adoption and Orphan Care

Adoption flows from the gospel itself at Ashland. Because all who know the grace of God have been adopted by God, the families of the church are committed to adopting and caring for as many orphans as possible.

The ABBA Fund partners with a third-party organization to administer interest-free loans, and, when funds allow, grants, to Ashland families adopting children from around the world. The Adoption Culture ministry seeks to make adoption central to who the church is, not just one specialized ministry it does. Everyone is encouraged to pray, give, and adopt.

Restoring Dignity Lex, another ministry of Ashland Avenue, shows the love of Christ to children in foster care and to their foster or kinship families. Volunteers pack each child a free duffle bag with new clothing and other essentials, including toiletries, three new outfits, pajamas, socks and underwear or diapers and wipes, plus a soft blanket, small toy, or journal, so that no child enters foster care with their few belongings in a trash bag.

The Nations in Kentucky

Ashland delights in the diversity of cultures and languages represented in Lexington. The church has become a family of believers from at least ten national backgrounds and ministers to international students, visiting scholars, immigrants, and refugees from at least thirty national backgrounds. Through The Nations in Kentucky ministry, the congregation welcomes these guests, shows Christ's hospitality, and shares the good news of Jesus.

Church Planting: From Lexington to the Ends of the Earth

Reaching the nations with the gospel is most effectively done, Ashland believes, through the planting of biblically faithful churches.

In October 2016, the church began a work in Oldham County, Kentucky, where 90% of residents are not involved in an evangelical church. After growing from about 35 to about 150 over five years, that work was launched on November 13, 2022 as Ashland Community Church, an autonomous sister congregation.

In 2017, after a seven-year process of investment and growth, The Ashland Church was launched as a sister, autonomous church in Richmond, Kentucky, growing from about 30 in attendance to around 300.

International church planting includes work in Peru, first in the village of Cordova in the Andes Mountains through years of medical, summer, and long-term mission teams, and now transitioned to the strategic city of Ica, a city of about 220,000, and in New Orleans, a cultural melting pot of more than a million people where nearly 90% do not hold to an evangelical understanding of the gospel. Ashland partners with three church plants in the New Orleans metro: Bridgedale Community Church, Forest Church, and Harvest Church. Mission efforts also continue in Southeast Asia and in Europe, with broader Ends of the Earth giving supporting church planting around the world.

The Great Commission Garden

God has blessed Ashland with a piece of land right in the heart of Lexington, and the Great Commission Garden exists to develop gospel relationships with neighbors while growing and distributing healthy food for those in need. The church offers 8-by-16-foot garden plots at no cost to members of the church and to neighbors in the Lexington community, and a larger traditional garden on the property produces vegetables for those in need. Volunteers gather most Wednesday evenings through early fall to plant, weed, and harvest together.

The Danville Campus

A second Ashland campus meets for worship at 10:00 AM on Sundays at 1570 N Danville Bypass in Danville, Kentucky. Todd Martin serves as Lead Pastor of Ashland Danville, with Nathan Baumgartner as Worship and Discipleship Director and Jared Borders as Veritas Student Director.

Leadership

The pastoral team is led by David Prince, Pastor of Preaching & Vision; Nate BeVier, Pastor of Worship & Community; Todd Martin, Lead Pastor of Ashland Danville; and Thomas Walters, Pastor of Families and Discipleship. Supporting the pastors are Jon Canler as Church Administrator, Adam York as Great Commission Coordinator, William Sanchez as Spanish Ministry Leader, Spencer Austin as Ashland College Fellowship Director, Randy Westbrook as Pianist, and the children's, women's, music, and missions staff. The deeper staff team at the Lexington campus also includes Journey Children's Assistant Bekah Chaney, Administrative Assistant Michelle Manning, and Accountant Steve Cummins.

What We Believe

Members of Ashland submit to the Bible as the sole source of authority for Christian belief and living. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 provides a succinct summary of what the church believes, and the 1742 Philadelphia Confession of Faith gives a more detailed explanation. Together these confessions set forth a classical Baptist understanding of the one true and living God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; of the divine inspiration, truthfulness, and sufficiency of Holy Scripture; of humanity's fall into sin and the salvation that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ; of regenerate church membership, baptism by immersion, and the Lord's Supper as ordinances of Christ; of the priesthood of all believers and the autonomy of the local church; and of the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and final judgment.

Giving That Funds the Mission

Giving at Ashland is organized around a three-fold strategy. The Operating Fund supports day-to-day congregational life and ministry, with a goal of at least 10% giving to this fund as a starting point. The Ends of the Earth fund supports church planting efforts in New Orleans, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other places where there is little or no access to the gospel. The Vision Giving fund supports strategic ministry expansion beyond the operating budget.

Gifts can be placed in the offering plates during the worship service, mailed to the church, given online through a secure partner, or sent by text message to 859-951-3530. Gifts can be designated to specific funds.

Listen, Watch, Read, and Connect

Sermons are recorded each Sunday and made available as a podcast, on video, and as audio downloads. Recent series have included "Gospel Honor in a World of Hurt," an extended walk through 2 Corinthians. A live stream of the worship service is offered for those unable to attend in person.

Visitors and those exploring membership follow a clear path: Connect Point on a first visit, Connect Lunch with pastors and staff, Following Christ (including baptism by immersion), Church Membership, regular Sunday worship, a Bible Fellowship Group, and service and mission in the life of the church. A yearly Bible Reading Plan, women's conferences, men's events, student camps, AWANA, and an array of community-wide gatherings round out the calendar of life at Ashland.

Lexington, the Nations, and the Ends of the Earth

What ties the life of Ashland together is the conviction that Jesus changes everything, that He is supreme over every area of life, and that a church shaped by His Word, gathered in worship, and sent into the world will look very much like the family at 483 W Reynolds Road: a multi-ethnic, multi-generational body in central Kentucky reaching its Lexington neighbors, its Hispanic community, its international students, its adopted and foster children, its partner churches from Peru to New Orleans, and, by grace and prayer, peoples and places yet to be reached with the good news of King Jesus.