A Church on Mt Olive Road
Tucked along Mt Olive Road in the small community of Mt Olive, Alabama, Beechwood Baptist Church opens its doors each week to families, longtime residents, and visitors from across north Jefferson County. The church's address, 2659 Mt Olive Road, is also the center of its ministry life: Sunday School classes for every age meet there at 9:00 am, and the congregation gathers for worship at 10:00 am. On Wednesdays, the rhythm shifts to a fellowship meal at 5:45 pm followed by Bible study at 6:30 pm, a midweek pattern that gives the church much of its warm, intergenerational feel.
The congregation is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and is led in this season by Ken Allen as Interim Pastor. Kaimen Brasher serves as Worship Leader and Young Adult Leader. While several roles on the staff are listed as vacant or supporting (a Youth Pastor position is open, with support from a Finance Administrator, Ministry Assistant, and Church Hostess), the church continues to run a busy calendar of ministries for children, students, women, men, and the wider community.
Sunday Mornings and Wednesday Nights
The weekly schedule at Beechwood is built around two anchor days. Sunday School begins at 9:00 am, and the Sunday worship service follows at 10:00 am. The service is the focal point of the week, with congregational singing led by the Worship Leader, prayer, and expository preaching. Children have a parallel program during the service, and the church holds periodic family-friendly Sundays such as Grad Sunday, Mother's Day, and Father's Day where students, moms, and dads are honored in the service itself.
Wednesdays have their own rhythm. A simple home-cooked dinner is served at 5:45 pm in the fellowship area, and Bible study begins at 6:30 pm. The Wednesday meal is treated as a ministry in its own right: it is designed to gather people around the table after the busyness of the workday and before the evening program. The kitchen team rotates the menu week to week, and registration is encouraged so that enough food can be prepared. Sample menus include taco salad, spaghetti with salad, soup and salad with corn dogs, a vegetable supper, and a monthly breakfast.
Beyond the regular schedule, the church hosts a series of one-off fellowship nights that follow the Wednesday Bible study hour. Trivia nights in the fellowship hall, game nights with favorite board games, and church-wide worship nights in the sanctuary have become regular features of the summer calendar, each running from 6:00 to about 7:30 pm.
Dinner Before Bible Study
Wednesday dinners at Beechwood are a tradition that sets the church apart. Beginning at 5:45 pm, the meal is described by the church as a chance to gather around the table after the busyness of work and before the Bible study that begins at 6:30 pm. It is intentionally unhurried. The church describes it as a time of fellowship, good food, and even better conversations.
To make the meal work, families are asked to register in advance through a simple form, so the kitchen team can plan how much food to prepare. The menus rotate through familiar comfort foods, from taco salad and spaghetti to a vegetable supper and breakfast-for-dinner nights. The Wednesday dinner is open to anyone in the church or the wider community, and visitors are welcome to come as they are.
Beechwood Students and the Next Generation
Ministry to young people is a defining feature of Beechwood. The students' ministry, called Beechwood Students, gathers middle and high schoolers together and is supported by a Youth Pastor position (currently vacant) and by Kaimen Brasher, who also serves as Young Adult Leader. Throughout the year the students lead worship from the platform on Youth Sundays, take part in a Christmas in July event, and join the broader church calendar of dinners, lunches, and seasonal gatherings.
The Young Adults ministry meets separately for social and spiritual connection. The Young Adults Social Night, held periodically on a Friday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, mixes games, music, snacks, and quizzes with a time of worship and prayer. The church's framing of these evenings is intentionally relaxed: come hang out, meet people, and grow together in faith.
The youth calendar also includes a VBS Kickoff Movie Night on a Friday before Vacation Bible School week, the Summer Pool Party held at an offsite pool, and a Back to School Bash at a local aquatic club to mark the end of summer. The church partners with families during milestone moments: students are recognized on Grad Sunday and prayed for as they take the next step in their education.
A Place for Children
Children are woven into the full life of the church, not tucked away from it. Beechwood Kids Choir is the children's music ministry, and the kids take a leading role in the Sunday worship service on Children's Choir Sundays, singing special songs from the platform. Parents and grandparents are invited to bring cameras and friends for those services.
Vacation Bible School is the largest annual children's outreach. Illumination Station VBS runs across one week in the summer, with evening sessions running from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm Sunday through Thursday. Each evening is filled with interactive lessons, crafts, high-energy games, music, and Bible stories. The whole week is framed by a kickoff movie night on the Friday before and an Easter Egg Hunt and other seasonal celebrations throughout the year.
Children are also part of the wider church calendar: the Fall Festival invites the whole community with candy, food, and games, and the Christmas season includes the Children's Christmas Choir Sunday and a church-wide caroling evening. Throughout the year, children sit alongside their parents in worship, with age-appropriate teaching and activities during Sunday School at 9:00 am.
Ladies, Men, and the Ekklesia Table
Fellowship around a table is a recurring theme at Beechwood, and several ministries are built around shared meals. Ekklesia Lunches are held after Sunday morning worship, typically from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, when the whole church gathers for a meal and a time of fellowship. The lunch is open to everyone, and the atmosphere is meant to deepen relationships across the congregation. Thanksgiving brings a special Thanksgiving Ekklesia Lunch in late November.
Women's ministry at Beechwood takes several shapes throughout the calendar. The Ladies Craft Brunch, held on Saturday mornings from 10:00 am to noon, is a relaxed time of brunch, crafts, and conversation. The Mother/Daughter/Friend Lunch in the spring features a guest speaker and a slideshow honoring women who have shaped the lives of attendees. Christmas in July, an evening event from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on a Friday, gathers the women of the church for fellowship, food, and crafts. There is a small fee for the craft and food, and registration is taken at the welcome desk in the lobby.
Men's ministry centers on the Men's Shrimp Boil, held on a Saturday in late March from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The shrimp boil is hosted on picnic tables behind the church when weather allows, with the fellowship hall as a backup. It is framed as a laid-back chance to eat well and connect with other men.
Other intergenerational meals include the Wednesday night dinner, the Men's Shrimp Boil, the Covered Dish Lunch that doubles as a celebration when staff milestones are recognized, and the Easter Breakfast served from 8:45 am before the Easter service.
What Beechwood Believes
Beechwood's teaching ministry begins with the Bible. The church holds that the Scriptures are God-breathed, true and trustworthy, and the final authority for faith and practice. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are treated as the church's only rule for doctrine and life, with all Scripture understood as a testimony to Christ.
Beechwood affirms one living and true God, infinite in holiness, all-powerful and all-knowing, who reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church teaches that God the Father reigns providentially over His creation, that the Son became fully man in the person of Jesus Christ: conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, crucified and raised again, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and coming again in glory. The Holy Spirit is confessed as fully divine, the author of Scripture, the one who convicts of sin, regenerates, indwells, sanctifies, and seals believers.
On humanity, the church teaches that men and women are made in the image of God, that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that children from the moment of conception are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Human beings are affected by sin from birth and stand in need of grace.
Salvation is understood as the redemption of the whole person, accomplished by Christ and received through personal faith. The church describes salvation in four parts: regeneration (the new birth), justification (God's declaration of righteousness through Christ), sanctification (ongoing growth in holiness by the Spirit), and glorification (the final state of the redeemed). The church teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, and that those who are truly in Christ will persevere to the end.
Beechwood practices believer's baptism by immersion as an act of obedience and a public testimony of faith, and observes the Lord's Supper as a symbolic memorial of Christ's death until He returns. The church observes the first day of the week as the Lord's Day, a day for worship and devotion.
The church's identity is rooted in a New Testament understanding of itself as an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, governed by Christ under the leadership of pastors and deacons. Two offices are recognized: pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. The office of pastor is reserved for men who meet the scriptural qualifications. The church cooperates willingly with other Baptist churches for missions and ministry without any outside authority directing its affairs.
On last things, the church teaches the personal, visible return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, the everlasting blessedness of the redeemed in heaven, and everlasting punishment for the unrighteous. Beechwood also affirms the圣经's teaching on the family, religious liberty, the separation of church and state, cooperation between Christian bodies for the spread of the gospel, and the responsibility of every Christian to oppose racism, greed, and immorality while caring for the needy, the unborn, and the vulnerable.
Leadership and Staff
Ken Allen serves as Interim Pastor of Beechwood Baptist Church. Kaimen Brasher serves as Worship Leader and was recognized in early 2026 as the permanent Young Adult Leader. The Youth Pastor position is currently vacant. Supporting the ministry team are Dawn Dailey as Finance Administrator, Lynn Weide as Ministry Assistant, and Donna Tunner as Church Hostess.
The interim period and the open staff position reflect a season of transition in pastoral leadership, but the rhythm of ministry continues: the pulpit is filled each Sunday, the Worship Leader directs congregational singing, and the church's calendar of dinners, lunches, VBS, and seasonal events runs as planned.
Year-Round Fellowship Rhythm
Beechwood's calendar moves with the seasons. In the spring, the church holds the Men's Shrimp Boil, a Mother/Daughter/Friend Lunch, Easter Breakfast, Easter Egg Hunt, and Easter Sunday worship. The summer brings Vacation Bible School with its kickoff movie night, the Young Adults Social Night, a Summer Pool Party, Giant Game Night, Trivia Night, Game Night, a church-wide Worship Night, the Children's Christmas Choir, and a Christmas in July women's gathering. Late summer wraps with the Back to School Bash and Grad Sunday.
Fall brings the Women's Fall Craft Brunch and the Fall Festival with candy, food, and games. The year closes with a Christmas Caroling evening, a Youth Worship Sunday, a Children's Choir Sunday, a Christmas Sunday service, and a Christmas Eve candlelight service with communion. Throughout the year, Ekklesia Lunches, Covered Dish Lunches, and the regular Sunday and Wednesday schedule hold the rhythm steady.
Connecting With Beechwood
Visitors and newcomers can join Beechwood Baptist Church at 2659 Mt Olive Road, Mt Olive, Alabama 35117. The church office can be reached at (205) 631-4531 or by email at churchoffice@bwchurch.net. Giving to Beechwood is available online through the church's Realm giving page. Updates from the church are shared on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, where recent sermons and worship recordings are posted.
Beechwood Baptist Church continues to be a community shaped by Scripture, gathered around the table, and rooted in the small town it has served for generations on Mt Olive Road.