First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales stands one block east of Scenic Highway in the historic downtown of Lake Wales, Florida, a stone's throw from Park Avenue at 16 North Third Street. The church is a member congregation of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP), a denomination shaped by the Reformation and rooted in the Westminster Standards. Across a full city block, the congregation gathers each Sunday morning for worship that is deliberately neither contemporary nor traditional but aims at worshiping in Spirit and in Truth. Throughout the week, children, students and adults return to the same campus for choirs, classes, a Wednesday-night fellowship meal, a range of small groups, and a deep bench of partnerships that reaches from the Lake Wales Care Center to the mission fields of the world.
Sunday Morning Worship at 9:30 a.m.
Sunday worship is the gravitational center of life at First Presbyterian. The service begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary, located on the corner of Third Street and Park Avenue, and lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes. The liturgy follows a Reformed pattern: welcome and announcements, then congregational singing from hymnals or song sheets, responsive readings, Scripture readings, prayer, and a sermon. Each week one of the pastors preaches from God's Word. The church typically preaches verse-by-verse through books of the Bible, with occasional topical series. On the first Sunday of each month the congregation gathers around the table to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
The Chancel Choir leads music that draws on hymns, praise songs, and classical pieces, and the congregation supports that music with voices lifted in unison. Children are not excused from this gathering. As the church explains, the children of the church are welcome to be present, and the noise and wiggles they bring are part of the family of faith growing into worship. The pastors typically wear the Geneva Gown, a dark robe that visually sets aside the personality of the preacher and points attention to the office and to Christ whose Word is set before the people. In the warmer months the gown gives way to a suit.
Attire on Sunday morning runs the full spectrum. Some attenders wear suits and dresses; others wear jeans or shorts. Most wear business casual. Whatever a visitor chooses is welcome.
The Campus: Vintage Buildings and the Family Life Center
The campus occupies an entire block of downtown Lake Wales. At the north end of the block, where Park Avenue meets Third Street, sit the vintage buildings: the Sanctuary, the chapel, the church offices, classrooms, the music department and the children's department. At the south end of the block, where Central Avenue meets Third Street, stands the newer Family Life Center. The Family Life Center houses a gymnasium, a fellowship hall, a kitchen, the youth department and additional classrooms.
Visitors driving in can park across Third Street from the vintage buildings or in the lot on the Central Avenue side of the Family Life Center. Once on campus, members of the congregation are ready to help newcomers find their way and locate a seat. The church's motto for first-time guests is simple: there is a spot reserved just for you.
Rock on Wednesdays
From September through May, the Family Life Center transforms on Wednesday evenings into what the church calls the Rock, and the program is known as Rock on Wednesdays. The conviction behind it is that Christians are not Christians only on Sundays; the rest of the week matters too. Rock on Wednesdays exists to provide fellowship, encouragement, and discipleship to the whole church and to the wider Lake Wales community.
The evening begins at 6:00 p.m. with a fellowship meal that runs until 6:40 p.m. On the first Wednesday of the month, the dinner is a potluck with the church providing the main dish and dessert and families bringing a side. On the other Wednesdays the kitchen crew prepares dinner; a salad bar is offered on the second, third, and fourth Wednesdays, and a suggested donation of five dollars per adult and two dollars and fifty cents per child helps defray the cost, with a fifteen-dollar family maximum. Meals must be reserved by 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning so that the kitchen knows how much to prepare.
From 6:40 to 7:30 p.m. the program shifts into age-specific discipleship. The schedule rotates through the month. The first Wednesday is a Fellowship Night for all ages, often featuring a game and a spotlight on one of the missionaries or ministries FPCLW supports. The second and fourth Wednesdays are Breakout Nights with separate classes for adults, middle and high school students, and children. The third Wednesday is a Prayer Meeting in the Sanctuary. On a fifth Wednesday, the church does not meet.
Students also have a dedicated Wednesday Bible Study that meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays during the Rock on Wednesday program.
The Sunday Discipleship Hour and The Hub
After the service ends, the Sunday Discipleship Hour runs from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. This is the church's main venue for intergenerational teaching. The format varies from group to group: some walk through the sermon just preached; some dig into in-depth Bible study; some cultivate deep relationships and serve together. A central feature of the hour is called The Hub, a multi-generational, large-format gathering led by an elder or pastor that opens up the morning's sermon for discussion.
Nursery care is offered for newborns through age three during both the worship hour and the Discipleship Hour. The nursery staff and volunteers are trained and background-checked. For children age four through fifth grade, Sunday school gathers downstairs in the children's department for breakfast, music, Bible study, and an art project that engages the lesson of the morning. Parents sign children in by computer and present a printed tag at pickup.
Middle and high school students meet for their own Sunday school at 11:00 a.m. with Bible study and breakfast, using the same hour to engage God's Word and apply it to their daily lives. Adult groups round out the hour with everything from sermon discussion to deep Bible study to outreach-oriented community groups.
A Music Ministry Built Around the Rieger Organ
Music is a serious joy at First Presbyterian. The Music Ministry is guided by three convictions: Soli Deo Gloria, Sola Scriptura, and Imago Dei. Music exists to glorify God, to teach and admonish one another with the words of Scripture set to melody, and to express the image of God in the lives of those who offer it. Worship songs draw on direct Scripture or on faithful exposition of Scripture. The aim is not to manufacture an emotional mood but to sing truth from the Scriptures.
The Music Ministry serves every age. Musical Beginnings gathers children ages zero to three with a parent or guardian on Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Covenant Kids Choir, for ages four through six, meets at the same hour in the Handbell Room. King's Singers, a choir for ages seven through fourteen, rehearses Wednesdays from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Choir Room. The Chancel Choir, open to middle school, high school and adults, rehearses Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. The Handbell Choir, also open to middle school, high school and adults, rehearses Mondays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. The Director of Music Ministries is Dr. Teresa Irwin, a voice teacher and choral clinician with a Doctor of Musical Arts from Indiana University and a Master of Music from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Organist and Accompanist is Vince Treadway.
The Sanctuary is home to a Rieger organ, a gift to the church in memory and honor of Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Updike, Sr., from their children. The Updikes were childhood sweethearts from Trenton, New Jersey, whose family came to Lake Wales in 1941 to acquire Alcoma citrus holdings. Mr. Updike served First Presbyterian as a Sunday school teacher, elder, and trustee of Erskine College. The Rieger Organ Company of Schwarzach, Austria, founded in 1845, assembled and tested the organ in its factory, then sent Casper von Glatter-Goetz and Klaus Knoth to spend four weeks reassembling and voicing the instrument in the Sanctuary. The organ has 1,472 pipes housed in a contemporary case of solid natural oak. It uses complete mechanical, or tracker, action; only the blower and lights draw on electricity. The instrument has four divisions: Pedal, Positiv, Hauptwerk (Great) and Swell. In 2018, Walker Technical Company added digital stops to the Swell division and new couplers linking the Swell to the other divisions.
Children and Students in the Life of the Church
The children's ministry at First Presbyterian is built on a simple conviction: the children of the church should grow into adult worshipers. The work of the ministry is to invite children to come to Jesus and to support families as they disciple their children at home. Through Christ-centered worship, biblical teaching, service, fellowship, and fun, the church prays that children will grow in the knowledge and love of God, build a foundation of faith that will deepen throughout their lives, share God's good news with others, and serve others in Jesus' name.
Sunday morning begins with children in the Sanctuary. For the youngest among them, a nursery is open from 9:30 a.m. through 12:00 p.m. for newborns through age three, with a Sunday school option for two- and three-year-olds. Printable children's bulletins are posted each week on the Sunday Preparations page. After worship the children's Sunday school meets downstairs with breakfast, music, interactive Bible study and an art project.
On Wednesday evenings, children participate in Rock on Wednesdays programs alongside their families. During the summer, the church offers Vacation Bible School. The 2026 VBS, called Faith Expedition, runs June 1 to 5, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, welcoming children rising VPK through completed fifth grade. The program walks through Hebrews 11 and points children to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of their faith.
Student Ministry, led by Director of Student Ministry Walker Kirkpatrick, exists to present Christ, His Word and His Church to students, to prepare them to follow Him throughout their lives, and to propel them into life after high school with Christ as their focus. Youth Group meets on Sunday afternoons from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. with a lesson, snack, and games. Sunday school runs from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with Bible study and breakfast. A Wednesday Bible Study meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays during Rock on Wednesdays. The ministry also takes students to Horizon and Quest summer conferences, hosts winter retreats, runs mission trips both domestic and international, and partners with First Presbyterian Church of Frostproof for inter-church family fun days.
A Founding Partner of the Lake Wales Care Center
First Presbyterian is a founding partner of the Lake Wales Care Center, a faith-based community service organization that demonstrates Christ's love by building bridges between people in need and people with a desire to serve. The Care Center works to meet the physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual needs of residents in Lake Wales and the surrounding communities of Indian Lake Estates, Dundee, Babson Park, and Waverly. Its programs include emergency services, transitional housing, Meals-on-Wheels, a community kitchen that serves hot meals, home repairs, youth and after-school programs, elderly-care home visits, holiday assistance, a thrift store, and a food cooperative called SHARE.
The church's youth participate in two of the Care Center's signature programs. The Stay-at-Home Work Camp brings around one hundred campers and counselors each week for four weeks of summer service; campers stay at Camp Endeavor or the h.e.a.r.t. Village and spend their days painting, doing yard maintenance, and making home repairs for neighbors in need. Thanksliving is a similar service camp in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, when students visit nursing homes, help with backyard Bible clubs, deliver Thanksgiving meals, and gather for daily devotionals.
Living As Servants: From the Diaconate to the World
The call to servanthood shapes everything the church does. The Diaconate, the church's board of deacons, helps the congregation live out that call in the body and beyond it. In addition to the work of the Lake Wales Care Center, the church supports the Reformed Church Plant network and the church-planting efforts of ARP churches throughout Florida. The church also supports Camp Joy, a denominational ministry that shares Jesus' love with people who have special needs. Through World Witness, the foreign mission board of the ARP, First Presbyterian sends and supports missionaries around the world.
The Session, the church's governing body of elders, oversees the spiritual life and direction of the congregation. Members of the Session serve rotating classes that span multiple years, with officers including a Moderator (the Senior Minister), a Vice Moderator, a Clerk of Session, a Chairman of Deacons, a Deacon Secretary, a Chairman of the Congregation, and a Treasurer.
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Connection
First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales is a member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, a denomination more than two hundred years old that springs from the rich tradition of God-centered and Word-centered worship that came out of the Reformation. The congregation is Presbyterian and Reformed, committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to the Bible as the Word of God.
The church professes to worship the Triune God, to seek unity with other believers in Jesus Christ, to practice total stewardship of life through the giving of time, talents and money (including tithing through the local church), to pursue excellence in education and in equipping leaders for tomorrow, to love and care for one another and for others, to spread the Gospel to all parts of the world, and to evaluate and change church structures as needed while preserving the best of the past. The church holds to the Westminster Standards as an accurate summary of the Bible.
Worship is shaped by these convictions. The Bible is the one rule of faith and practice. The focus is on the ordinary means of grace: hearing God's Word read and preached, prayer, and the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Following the pattern of the Gospel, the order of worship moves from God's call, to repentance, to assurance of salvation, to hearing God's Word. The service is shaped by the Bible rather than by man-made traditions.
Online Discipleship and The Diligent
Beyond the walls of the Sanctuary and the Family Life Center, First Presbyterian offers a steady stream of resources for at-home discipleship. The Livestream is available on YouTube for those unable to attend in person. The Sermon Archive keeps preaching accessible week to week, and a Sunday Preparations post each week provides the bulletin, sermon notes, and children's bulletins in advance.
Two long-form video studies are available through the Virtual Resources page. A four-session study on prayer walks through the importance of prayer, the characteristics of biblical prayer, and the Model Prayer in two parts, with discussion notes for personal or group study. A more extensive eleven-session study walks through the book of Hebrews, working through Jesus' greatness and the salvation found in no other name. For family discipleship, the church maintains a paid subscription to RightNow Media that members and friends can use at no additional cost, with recommended children's series including The Slug and Bugs Show, Superbook, The Mr. Phil Show, and VeggieTales. Truth78 provides tools for parents who want to disciple their children at home. A listing of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and a quick guide to family devotions round out the resources.
The Diligent, the church's monthly newsletter, carries thoughtful articles from the pastors and ministry directors, ministry highlights, mission reports, members' birthdays, and notices about upcoming events. Recent issues are available online.
The People Who Lead
Senior Minister Rev. Mackay Smith joined First Presbyterian in 2017 as Associate Pastor for Discipleship, focusing on the adult small-group ministry and the Wednesday night program. In 2021 he became Interim Senior Minister, and in 2022 the congregation and Session called him to be Senior Minister. He preaches and teaches weekly, shepherds the congregation as an elder, and oversees the church's administration. A graduate of Erskine College (philosophy) and Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, Mackay grew up in a Christian home in North Carolina and previously served as Associate Pastor for Families at White Oak ARP Church in Coweta County, Georgia. He and his wife Rachel were married at First Pres in 2013, and they have four daughters.
Associate Minister of Family Discipleship Rev. Myers McKinney received his call to First Presbyterian on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, and graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania, with his Master of Divinity on the very next day. A Wake Forest University graduate in history and a former varsity cross-country and track runner, Myers previously served in campus ministry and brings a deep gratitude for the opportunity to do Gospel ministry at FPCLW.
Dr. Teresa Irwin directs the music ministry. Mark Markham is the Director of Administration. Walker Kirkpatrick directs the student ministry. Vince Treadway serves as Organist and Accompanist.
The mission of the church, as stated by the congregation itself, is to be a Christ-centered fellowship of believers devoted to glorifying God through true worship, personal evangelism, discipleship and servanthood. On a Sunday morning in the Sanctuary, that mission takes visible shape in the sound of voices lifted in song around the Lord's Supper, in the rustle of children learning the language of worship, in the rolling phrases of the Rieger organ, and in the steady cadence of a sermon opened from the Bible. On Wednesday evenings it takes shape around a table of food, in small-group classes, and in prayer meeting in the Sanctuary. Week by week, the people of First Presbyterian Church of Lake Wales gather to draw near to God and to be sent back out to serve the town and the world around them.