Loris First Baptist Church has stood on Main Street in the small Horry County town of Loris for more than 140 years, gathering for worship in a series of buildings that began with a brush arbor across the street from where the present brick sanctuary now sits. The congregation at 3117 Main Street still carries the marks of its long history - the title "First Baptist" was given to it in 1948, decades after its 1881 founding - while running a full calendar of ministries for children, youth, adults, and seniors.
From a Brush Arbor to a Brick Sanctuary
The story begins in 1881, when a small group of Christians organized Pleasant Home Baptist Church and joined the Waccamaw Baptist Association that November. The first home of the new fellowship was a brush arbor church erected across the street from the present property. Reverend Daniel Boyd, the first pastor, donated a parcel of land for a more permanent structure, and a white frame building served the growing congregation for the next several decades. In 1919 the church took the name Loris Baptist Church, and in 1948 it adopted its present name, Loris First Baptist Church.
By the early 1950s the frame building had been outgrown. Construction on the current brick sanctuary began in 1952 and was completed that December. A parsonage was added across the street in 1958, and in 1988 the church family broke ground for a new fellowship building that was dedicated the following year. Classroom additions, stained glass protection, a new roof, basement renovations, and parking lot improvements have come in waves since then. The sanctuary itself received a complete renovation in 2003, with services held in the fellowship hall while the work was underway; the project was celebrated on Heritage Day that same year.
More recently, in 2019, members turned a basement that had been considered "unusable" into a youth space called The Underground. Sherwin-Williams in Myrtle Beach donated half the paint, and over eight months - delayed briefly by Hurricane Florence - a small group of volunteers and students transformed the space. The Underground opened on May 19, 2019.
What the Church Believes
Loris First Baptist Church holds to the Baptist Faith and Message, the confession adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention. Its members describe themselves as a local congregation of baptized believers with Jesus Christ as their head, committed to reaching their world for Jesus Christ through praying, giving, and missions. The church is associated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Waccamaw Baptist Association.
The mission statement runs short and direct: "Make disciples who make disciples who follow and act like Jesus Christ." Four functions support that mission - reaching the lost, discipling the found, equipping the discipled, and sending the equipped - drawn from Luke 19:10, Matthew 28:19-20, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and Matthew 9:37-38. The ministries of the fellowship are organized around worship, teaching, service, stewardship, and evangelism, with the preaching of God's Word as the guide and authority for life and living.
Worship itself is described as a blend of traditional hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs, with true biblical teaching and a time of prayer. Baptism is by immersion and is a prerequisite for church membership and the Lord's Supper, both ordinances observed as acts of obedience.
Sunday Mornings on Main Street
A first-time visitor on Sunday can expect a structured morning that begins with Sunday School at 9:00 AM and runs into the main worship service at 10:15 AM. Sunday School groups are open to everyone - from nursery-age children to adults - and meet in classes for adults, women, men, children, youth, and college-aged students. Nursery care is available for children three and under during both Sunday School and the worship hour.
The 10:15 AM worship service combines hymns and contemporary songs, biblical preaching, and prayer. Children's Church runs alongside the service for children who are potty trained through kindergarten. After the service, Sunday afternoons continue with a Grief Share Support Group at 4:00 PM in the Good News Sunday School classroom and an evening discipleship hour with Adult Discipleship Training and Youth Discipleship Training, followed by youth ministry time at 5:00 PM.
Children's Choir rehearses on Sundays from 4:30 to 5:30 PM and is divided into the Tiny Trebles (PreK through 1st grade) and the Son Singers (2nd through 5th grade). The choirs sing in morning worship about once a month and present musicals through the year.
Wednesday Nights Around Prayer, Grow Kids, and the Choir Loft
Wednesday is the church's other main gathering day. The Children's Grow program opens at 5:30 PM for children ages two (who must be two by September 30) through elementary, using a three-year scope and sequence that walks kids through every major Bible story - the Old Testament chronologically over three years and the New Testament every year with a fresh rotation of stories. A new theme complements the teaching each month.
At 6:00 PM the church holds a combined Prayer and Bible Study for adults and youth, and a separate Youth Worship and Bible Study for middle and high school students. Adult Choir and Praise Team rehearsal follows at 7:00 PM and runs to 8:30 PM. Instrumentalists of any kind - brass, woodwinds, strings, drums, percussion, guitars, and bass - are welcome to join.
For anyone unable to attend on a Wednesday evening, the prayer and Bible study hour is also livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel.
The Underground and the Children
The Underground has become the heart of student ministry at Loris FBC. The space is open weekly to students in 6th through 12th grade for Youth Hangout at 5:00 PM and Bible study at 6:00 PM on Wednesdays, and for Open House times on Mondays and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:30 to 4:00 PM. Inside, students can play video games, ping pong, pool, and foosball, or simply hang out in a space designed as a refuge for young people in the community. The Underground was funded in part by a Heritage Day offering and built by a small group of dedicated members and students.
The children's ministry operates a parallel set of programs. Nursery care is offered during the morning worship service, Sunday evening discipleship classes, Wednesday evening services, and special services for babies from birth to two years. Children's Church runs during the 10:15 AM worship service for children potty trained through kindergarten, and the Good News Club is an after-school program held on Tuesdays at Loris Elementary for elementary children. Vacation Bible School is a five-evening event that runs each summer for babies through youth. The church also maintains a written Child Protection Policy, approved by the Children's Council.
Ladies' LASE, Men for Christ, and the Senior Saints
Loris FBC's ministry to women runs through LASE - Ladies Actively Serving and Encouraging. The group is co-chaired by Tammy Holt and Kay Vaught and promotes the Southern Baptist missions offerings: Annie Armstrong (North America, spring), Janie Chapman (fall), and Lottie Moon (international, December). LASE also packs Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes through Samaritan's Purse, fills Easter baskets for children of unwed mothers at Bethesda House, and assembles appreciation gifts for teachers, senior citizens, and shut-ins. Two sub-ministries invite hands-on participation: a Sewing Ministry that meets to create items for charities, and a Wrapped in Love Ministry that teaches crochet to make blankets, prayer shawls, lap robes, and baby blankets for home-bound and hospital patients.
Men for Christ is open to all men of the church and the wider Loris community. The group meets on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM for a meal, Scripture study, and discussion of mission projects. Its stated goals include fellowship, teaching men to become disciples, ongoing Bible study, mentoring younger men, and mission work in the community.
The Senior Adult Ministry seeks to keep older members connected through classes, trips, luncheons, dinners, socials, and volunteer activities. The Home-Bound Ministry reaches members who can no longer attend in person, visiting shut-ins in homes, rehab centers, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. On Sundays the team sets up the livestream for shut-ins; on Wednesdays they play Bingo at The Oaks of Loris.
Other named ministries include a Condolence Committee that provides meals to grieving families, a Flowers and Decorating team that prepares the building for special services, an Audio/Visual team that manages sound, lighting, Song Show, and PowerPoint during services, and an Usher and Greeter team that welcomes members and visitors at the doors.
Reaching Beyond the Walls
Loris FBC has built its mission outward through several partnerships. Coastal School Ministries is an outreach started in January 2022 that brings Release Time Bible classes to students at Loris Middle School - "Release Time" meaning students are bused off campus for one class period to receive evangelistic Bible teaching, then returned to school. The church works with Coastal Schools Ministries, an organization that has been teaching the Bible in middle and high schools for more than twenty years, and the church helps fund two teachers' salaries through designated giving.
Operation Christmas Child is another major outreach. The congregation packs shoeboxes filled with small toys, hygiene items, and school supplies through Samaritan's Purse, and they maintain an online goal page where members can build virtual boxes for a suggested donation of $25. The boxes ship to more than 100 countries affected by war, poverty, natural disaster, famine, and disease, and to children on Native American reservations in the United States.
The church also partners with Rivers Edge Church Plant and with United Christians for Arab Israel (UCAIM), a church plant in Israel. Senior Pastor Shane Phillips frames the church's international work with a direct statement: "Our mission is to spread the gospel throughout the world. We do this through our local and global mission projects."
Bible Studies, Discipleship, and Grief Share
Loris FBC has built a deep bench of in-house Bible study material. Senior Pastor Shane Phillips teaches a series called "52 Vital Doctrines of the Bible," walking through topics such as the inspiration of Scripture, the Trinity, the deity and incarnation of Christ, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, dispensations, covenants, angels, salvation, the church, and end-times prophecy. Other studies offered through the church include books on James, Ephesians, Daniel, and Revelation, plus topical series on Biblical Mathematics, The Gospel in the Stars, God's Gospel in the Tabernacle, and Marks of a Disciple.
Discipleship is structured around mentoring. Adults can be paired with a mentor to study the Disciplines of a Godly Man or the Disciplines of a Godly Woman, working through an Individual Discipleship Plan and using Initial Discipleship Assessment forms that are available online. A Discipleship Mentoring program is available for both men and women.
Grief Share meets on Sundays from 4:00 to 6:00 PM in the Good News Sunday School classroom and is led by facilitators who have personally experienced grief. The group walks members through a 13-week curriculum designed for the season after a funeral when community attention has moved on.
Staying Connected Through the Week
Worship services are livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, and the Home-Bound Ministry sets up the livestream for shut-ins on Sundays. Members can give online through the church's Realm account, submit prayer requests, review bulletins, and follow sermon notes through the Loris FBC Church App. The church also maintains a Facebook page, an Instagram account, and weekly bulletins available online. Prayer requests can be submitted online at any time.
Office hours run Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and the church office is reachable at (843) 756-7385.
The People Behind the Pulpit
Rev. Shane Phillips serves as senior pastor. A native South Carolinian and graduate of Emmanuel College and Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, Phillips was called into ministry as a young teenager and has served in pastoral leadership for more than 28 years. His favorite verse is John 16:33: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Rev. Bobby L. Huguley, Jr., a Clemson graduate and Southern Seminary alumnus, leads the music ministry. He and his wife Marsha live in Myrtle Beach and have two children and six grandchildren.
Austin "Trey" Shoars serves as Youth and Children's Minister, having graduated from Columbia International University with degrees in Youth Ministry, Family and Culture, and Bible. He and his wife Hannah share a passion for helping students grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. His go-to verse is Proverbs 22:6.
Desiree Fernandez serves as the church's piano player, supporting the blended worship style each Sunday morning.