On the west side of Davis, just down the road from the UC Davis campus, First Baptist Church of Davis gathers a multi-generational, multi-ethnic congregation of Christians from Davis, Winters, Woodland, Dixon, West Sacramento, and the surrounding Yolo County communities. The church's tagline, "Discover Faith. Grow in Love. Live out Hope," appears everywhere from its logo to its teaching, and the three ideas run like a thread through every ministry that flows out of the building on Russell Boulevard.
Sundays on Russell Boulevard
The weekly Sunday worship service begins at 10:00 am in the FBC Worship Center and runs just over an hour. The morning includes times of praise and worship led by a worship band, with lyrics projected so everyone can sing along, followed by scripture reading and a roughly 30-minute Bible-based sermon that the church describes as relevant, practical, and dynamic, focused on Jesus and the good news of grace. Anyone who wants to pray before the gathering is welcome at pre-service prayer in the Fireside Room at 9:30 am.
A Welcome Team greets visitors near the entrances of the main lobby, and bright green signs mark visitor parking spots in the lot. There is no dress code; people come in whatever they are comfortable in, from jeans to dressier attire. After the service the courtyard fills with coffee, tea, and conversation, and a Connect Table answers questions about getting involved.
Children from nursery through sixth grade may join their families in the service or be checked in at the Family Hub for age-specific Sunday school groups. 7th through 12th graders typically sit with their families on the right side of the Worship Center; on the last Sunday of each month they transition to the youth room for a Bible Project video and discussion time.
A Faith, Love, and Hope Church
Members and regulars hear the words faith, love, and hope so often that they almost serve as a vocabulary. Faith is taught as trust and belief that Jesus is God's King and Savior, more than religious observance or agreement with a list of doctrines. Love is presented as the central measure of the Christian life, an unconditional, devoted, sacrificial love modeled by God and meant to shape how members love their neighbors. Hope is described as the confidence that there is more to life than this life, looking forward to a new heaven and new earth and living now in ways that taste of the future God has promised.
Four values hold the church together. Being kingdom-minded means paying attention to God's work locally and globally. Being relational means treating relationships as essential environments for transformation. Being prayerful means seeking God in prayer and depending on him in every area of life. Being applicable means integrating faith with hearts, heads, and hands.
What FBC Believes
First Baptist Church of Davis is an explicitly Baptist congregation. Its statement of belief affirms that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, written by people divinely inspired and the only infallible authority in matters of faith and conduct. The church believes in one God, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and in Jesus Christ as the eternal and only Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, sinless in life, who made atonement for the sins of the world through his death, rose bodily, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return personally and visibly. The Holy Spirit is described as the one who convicts, regenerates, indwells, sanctifies, teaches, empowers for service, and comforts believers.
Salvation is understood as a matter of personal trust in Jesus: all people are sinners by nature and by choice, but God so loved the world that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Members believe in the resurrection of the dead and that those who accept Christ will rejoice forever in God's presence, while those who refuse him will be forever separated from him. The church believes in the universal church as the body of which Christ is the head and in autonomous local churches tasked with proclaiming the gospel, observing baptism and the Lord's Supper, and cooperating with other Christians and groups in advancing God's kingdom. Christian service, the statement says, is following the Savior's example in ministering to human physical needs; such acts, when done in Jesus' name, bring glory to God.
LightHouse: 7th Through 12th Grade
The youth ministry is called LightHouse and is built around three rhythms. On Sundays, junior highers and high schoolers worship with the whole church family in the Worship Center. On Wednesdays, LH Wednesdays brings 7th through 12th graders to the FBC Youth Center at 7:00 pm for games, snacks, music, teaching, and small groups divided by age and gender. Monthly events include a Corn Maze outing at Cool Patch Pumpkins, a Spooky SZN costume party, Bible Project Sundays, and a New Year's Eve party on the FBC campus. Twice a year the students head off to winter retreats: the LH High School Winter Retreat for 10th through 12th graders at Lazy Dog Retreat in Nevada City, and the LH Junior High Winter Retreat for 7th through 9th graders at Leoni Meadows Camp.
The retreats follow a deliberate low-tech policy. Phones are not allowed; adult leaders carry them for emergencies and share pictures afterward. Both retreats cost $199, and scholarships are available so that money is never a reason a student has to stay home. LightHouse runs on a deep bench of volunteer small-group leaders, listed on a roster by grade and gender, and the church also maintains a camp fund for student scholarships.
FBC Kids: Birth Through 6th Grade
FBC Kids partners with parents to help children thrive through three meeting points. The first is the 10:00 am Sunday morning hour, when children are checked in at the Family Hub and head to age-specific rooms. The nursery cares for ages three and under; Room 3 serves ages four through kindergarten; Room 4 is for 1st and 2nd graders; Room 9 for 3rd and 4th graders; and Room 8, for 5th and 6th graders, starts in the Worship Center with the adults for music and then moves to its own space. Classes are filled with Bible study, games, music, crafts, and activities. The second rhythm is weekly home groups, where kids and parents share life with other families. The third is special events throughout the year, anchored by Kids Camp in June, the church's version of Vacation Bible School, with themes that vary year to year.
The ministry is led by Children's Ministry Co-directors Fernanda Maia and Teresa King, and a parent newsletter keeps families informed. Outside the church building, FBC Kids curates a large library of parenting ideas organized by age from zero through high school, including book recommendations like The Jesus Storybook Bible and The Ology, and tool suggestions like the Parent Cue app and the Cultural Translator emails from Axis.
College Life at UC Davis
College Life is FBC's college-age ministry, established in 1977, and marks its 50th year of investing in students. On Sunday mornings college students serve and worship alongside the whole congregation. Once a month they gather after the service for a College Welcome Lunch in the courtyard. On Monday evenings the ministry meets at 1108 Oeste Drive at 7:30 pm for SMedium SMondays, a medium-sized gathering of worship, Bible study, fellowship, and small-group breakouts, with s'mores on the side.
Beyond the weekly rhythms, College Life offers small groups, retreats, workshops, mission trips, and service opportunities, and provides shuttle rides from the UC Davis dorms to the Sunday service for students who need a ride. The ministry aims to be a place where students from UCD, community colleges, and young professionals in between can ask hard questions, find mentors, and build friendships that outlast their years on campus.
Rooted: Young Adults
Rooted is the young adult ministry, taking its name from Colossians 2:7. It hosts weekly small group fellowships and monthly joint gatherings where young adults worship and share together. The ministry is described as a space to get connected, study Scripture, build friendships, and receive input on the practical questions of early adulthood, from career decisions to relationships.
Women, Men, and Home Groups
The Women's Ministry is organized around Discipleship Pastor Bronwyn Lea and offers weekly and bi-weekly small groups, retreats, and special events. The signature study is Women of the Word, a Tuesday morning 9:00 am gathering on Zoom with a monthly in-person social. Annual highlights include the Women's Autumnal Affair potluck, the Women's Christmas Brunch, and a Women's Retreat at Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds in Occidental.
The Men's Ministry roots itself in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, calling men to be on guard, stand firm in the faith, be strong in the humble way of Jesus, and do everything in love. The men meet for regular gatherings of fellowship and study and host yearly events together.
Home Groups are the small-group backbone of the church. They meet at various times and locations across Davis, Dixon, Woodland, Winters, and West Sacramento, and include everything from youth and college groups to men's and women's groups, in-depth Bible studies, "It's been a while" groups for those easing back in, and Alpha courses for people exploring Christianity for the first time. Some meet weekly, some bi-weekly, some eat together, and some include worship.
Celebrate Recovery on Thursday Nights
For hurts, hang-ups, and habits, FBC partners with the national Celebrate Recovery organization and University Covenant Church in Davis to host a Christ-centered, 12-step recovery program every Thursday at 6:30 pm at the UCC Youth Center at 315 Mace Boulevard. The program is built on eight principles based on the Beatitudes and addresses a wide range of struggles: addiction, codependency, anger, anxiety, depression, divorce, domestic violence, sexual abuse, low self-worth, perfectionism, and more. No RSVP is required, and participants must be 18 or older; childcare is not provided. The annual in-depth men's and women's studies are held at FBC.
Mentoring for Couples
The church runs a Mentoring for Couples program that pairs engaged or dating couples and married couples with more experienced mentor couples. Most pairs meet five to seven times and complete the SYMBIS Assessment, which surfaces relationship risk factors and strengths and gives couples a personalized map for growth. The program is grounded in resources like Save Your Marriage Before It Starts, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, and A Celebration of Sex, and draws on podcasts from authors like Andy Stanley, Debra Fileta, and Juli Slattery.
Worship and the Arts
The Music and Worship ministry, led by Worship Pastor Derek North, treats Sunday morning music as one expression of a much larger call to worship. The team looks for vocals, keys, electric and acoustic guitar, bass, drums, percussion, orchestral instruments, sound and tech volunteers, lyric projectionists, lighting designers, drama performers, video producers, and stage designers. The Praise Voices, FBC's worship choir, sings with the band for anyone who loves to raise their hands and clap during worship. Training is provided, and the church posts its service playlists on YouTube.
Global Outreach
FBC supports twelve cross-cultural worker families serving with agencies such as CRU, Frontiers, YUGO Ministries Inc., International Students Inc., Mission Enablers International, World Horizons, and Mexican Medical Ministries. The Global Outreach Team meets once a month to care for missionaries, educate the congregation about missions, and host visiting workers, and the church regularly offers short-term cross-cultural trips for individuals and families who sense a call to global ministry.
Caring for One Another Through Hard Times
The Help Please page lists the networks that wrap around members and neighbors during difficult seasons. Homegroups provide weekly community; Helping Hands delivers meals and odd-jobs support; Celebrate Recovery offers sustained healing; pastors meet with anyone needing to process and pray; and relationship mentoring walks couples through pre-marital and marital work. The church partners with Community Counseling Associates to provide affordable counseling on campus, can recommend local therapists, and connects people with spiritual directors and life coaches. Benevolence funds help with food, rent, and counseling for those who have exhausted their resources; outside referrals include Empower Yolo, the Cal VCB, STEAC, CalHOPE, and the 988 mental health line.
Prayer and Connecting
Prayer is described as the bedrock of everything at FBC. Pre-service prayer meets in the Fireside Room at 9:30 am on Sundays, and an email prayer chain sends intercessory requests to subscribers who want to pray or be prayed for. The church also keeps a prayer team that intercedes for individuals and ministries across the congregation.
Giving and the Calendar
Tax-deductible gifts can be dropped in the offering boxes at the back of the sanctuary, mailed to the church office, or given electronically through Tithe.ly, either as a one-time gift or as a recurring schedule. The Tithely app allows giving from a smartphone. Donations can be made by debit card, credit card, or instant bank transfer, with FBC absorbing the transaction fees (1% for ACH, 2% for debit, 3% for credit); donors have the option to add a little extra to cover those fees. Year-end giving statements are mailed directly to each donor's home.
A packed calendar of special events weaves through the regular weekly rhythm of the church: Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, the Women's Christmas Brunch, LH retreats in the mountains, Bible Project Sundays, the Women's Retreat in the Redwoods, and quarterly Family Hub events. The full calendar lives on the events page and is updated often.
The People Who Lead
Senior Pastor Steve Luxa and his team shape the weekly life of the church. Discipleship Pastor Bronwyn Lea oversees home groups, women's ministry, and the mentoring program. Youth Pastor Jeff Hodges leads LightHouse. Worship Pastor Derek North leads the music and arts teams. Children's Ministry Co-directors Fernanda Maia and Teresa King oversee FBC Kids. The Board of Elders includes Chair Joe Leach, Vice Chair Tak Koo, Secretary Chris Dietrich, Chris Dunn, Kayode Jegede, Steve Luxa, and Richard Pereira. The congregation also benefits from a deep bench of volunteer small-group leaders, kids and youth ministry volunteers, and a Global Outreach team that meets monthly to care for missionaries and plan short-term trips.