Two Sunday Mornings on Rosemark Road
Gateway Baptist Church sits on Rosemark Road just outside the center of Atoka, a small town in northern Tipton County, Tennessee. The building is easy to spot: a worship center, a children's wing, and an annex across the street called Hebrews where the college and career group meets. For years the church has been a steady presence in this corner of West Tennessee, and it now reaches further than Atoka through an expanding set of ministries, mission teams, and a new church plant in nearby Millington.
Sunday is built around two identical services. Worship begins at 9:30 and again at 10:45, with the same music, the same message from Pastor Steve Carpenter, and the same children's programs at both hours. Adult Connect Groups meet at 8:15, 9:30, and 10:45 for those who want a smaller Bible study hour around the services, and youth small groups are built into the morning as well. Greeters wearing bright "HEY" badges wait near the visitor parking spaces by the front doors and walk first-time guests to the right places, whether that is the worship center, a classroom, or the children's check-in.
The services are Christ-centered and more contemporary than traditional. A band and vocal team lead a mix of old hymns, new hymns, and modern worship songs each week, with a choir joining in occasionally. Guests are not asked to put anything in the offering plate; the church invites visitors simply to sit back and take in the morning. An assistive listening system is available at the sound booth just inside the doors to the worship center for anyone who needs it.
Children from birth through pre-school are checked in at iPads in the Children's Lobby. Parents receive a printed code on a sticker that allows a quick and safe pickup after the service. At 9:30, kindergarten and first grade head to Kids' Worship while second through fifth grade attend Sunday School. At 10:45 the rotation flips, and second through fifth grade join Kids' Worship after singing the first part of the adult service.
Gateway Kids and Mother's Day Out
Children's ministry at Gateway is named Gateway Kids and stretches from birth through fifth grade. Sunday morning is the centerpiece, but the work continues through Wednesday nights during the Fall and Spring semesters when adults gather for Grow Groups. Children's classes at every age run at the same hours, so a family can arrive together, adults go to their own group, and children go to theirs.
Wonderfully Made is the church's ministry for children and families touched by special needs. Led by Jessica Yeager, a special education teacher with Bartlett City Schools and a Gateway member of twenty-two years, the program pairs each child with a trained adult buddy. A dedicated Sunday School class for special needs meets at 9:30, and the children's church at 10:45 welcomes buddies and learners together for the rest of the hour. The ministry also hosts a Parents' Night Out several times a year, where children with special needs and their siblings are cared for by volunteers while parents step away.
Mother's Day Out runs alongside the children's ministry on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 2:00. It serves children from twelve months through pre-K with two teachers in each room and child-to-teacher ratios tuned to each age group. The program follows the Tipton County School District calendar, charges $170 per month with a $25 registration fee per child, and is led by Patricia McLain. Parents can pay online through a dedicated portal, drop a check in the lobby box, or pay by paper check.
Gateway Students from 6th to 12th Grade
Gateway Students is the church's ministry for middle and high schoolers and it runs out of the Youth House at 270 J.E. Blaydes Parkway, a house tucked just behind the Atoka Campus worship center. Wednesday nights are the main weekly gathering, running from 5:30 to 7:30 and drawing students from sixth grade through twelfth grade together. Younger siblings can be dropped at K through fifth grade classes inside the children's wing.
Sunday mornings are split by grade. Middle school students meet for Sunday school and Connect group from 9:30 to 10:30. High school students meet for the same kind of hour from 10:45 to 11:45. Students typically sit together during whichever service they do not have small group in, reinforcing the sense that Gateway is a youth-friendly place as well as a children's one. Student ministry is led by Pastor Phillip Nathan and centers on small groups, discipleship, Bible study, summer camp, and weekly fun.
Several rhythms mark the year. The first Wednesday of every month is visitor week, and first-time guests entered during the previous month are entered into a $50 gift card drawing. Wednesday nights in July become Color Wars, with teams competing for points. Promotion Sunday, held in August, realigns Sunday Connect Group placements to grade level for the new school year, with middle school meeting at 9:45 and high school at 10:30 going forward. A wish list at a linked Amazon page lets supporters help stock the Youth House.
Connect Groups, Grow Groups, and Launch
Small groups are the discipleship backbone at Gateway and come in three flavors. Connect Groups meet on Sunday mornings before or between the services at 8:15, 9:30, and 10:45, with more than twenty groups available for men, women, couples, singles, college students, youth, and junior high. The gatherings cover Bible study, mission, and friendship, and they are designed as a low-pressure onramp for newcomers who want smaller community around the worship services.
Grow Groups run on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 7:30 in twelve-week Fall and Spring semesters. Children's classes meet at the same time, so the whole family can attend together. Each semester, new classes are offered for men, women, students, and kids, covering books of the Bible, marriage, parenting, finances, and other topical studies.
For people ready to go deeper, Launch is a nine-month intensive discipleship program. Participants commit to daily personal study, prayer, and scripture memory, and meet once a week with an experienced leader and a small group of two or three. The aim is to make disciples who then make disciples, and Launch is open to anyone who wants to be trained in that direction.
Helping newcomers find the right group and the right next steps is the role of the Next Steps Desk, set up just inside the main entrance to the worship center each Sunday. Members and visitors alike are invited to a Starting Gate class led by Pastor Steve and the staff; it covers the basics of the Christian faith, what membership means at Gateway, and the church's core values. The class is required for membership but is open to anyone thirteen and up who wants to learn more, and a meal and child care are provided.
Embrace Ministries for Single Parents
Embrace is Gateway's umbrella for three groups that walk alongside single, pregnant women and single, expecting fathers. Embrace Grace is for women navigating an unplanned pregnancy and meets for twelve weeks each semester. Embrace Life is for single moms of young children and runs for two semesters of support. Both groups provide a judgment-free community, a baby shower of new items for those who complete the program, and a special celebration day for mom. Childcare is included.
Embrace Legacy is the parallel group for single, expecting or new dads. It meets for twelve weeks, culminates in a special "guys day" event, and gives men a place to talk honestly about fatherhood in a community of other men who want the same thing. Childcare is provided here as well.
The church describes Embrace as a way to make sure that when a woman learns she is unexpectedly pregnant, the first call she reaches for is the church. The same intention shapes the work with fathers. Anyone interested in any of the three groups can fill out a contact form on the Embrace page and will be reached by one of the ministry leaders.
Grief Share, Mom to Mom, and The Next Chapter
Several longer-term care groups run alongside Sunday and Wednesday ministries. Grief Share is a thirteen-week support group for people who have lost a spouse, child, family member, or friend. The Atoka group meets on Mondays from 10:00 to 12:00 in the Student Building at 270 Blaydes, just behind the main church. There is a $20 fee for the workbook, and scholarships are available so that money is never the reason someone cannot come. Past participants describe the room as feeling like warm arms wrapped around you when you are shivering.
Mom to Mom is a biblically based parenting program built around Titus 2:4, in which older women come alongside younger mothers. Meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month from 6:00 to 8:00 at the Atoka Campus, with free childcare. There is a $20 annual fee for the childcare, but the first visit is free and scholarships are available. The format mixes teaching, small group discussion, and the natural mentoring that comes when experienced moms pour into newer ones.
The Next Chapter is for widows and widowers, whether or not they currently attend Gateway, and meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month from 10:00 to 12:00. The group is built around fellowship, encouragement, and laughter, with outings that change from month to month to keep the rhythm fresh.
Fostering Love for Tipton and Wonderfully Made
Fostering Love for Tipton is Gateway's response to the reality that not all children in Tipton County live with their birth parents. The ministry runs a Foster Closet stocked with clothes for boys and girls in sizes from newborn through teen, with collection boxes near kids check-in at every Gateway campus for people who want to donate. There is also a private Facebook group called Fostering Love for Tipton where foster and adoptive parents connect. Gateway explicitly invites the rest of the church into the work, noting that most people will never foster a child but all can pray, donate clothes, or serve in other ways.
Wonderfully Made, the special needs ministry described under Gateway Kids, also includes parents and siblings, not just the child who walks into the room. Jessica Caudle, another volunteer with extensive credentials, joins Jessica Yeager in leading this work. The pair run a dedicated Sunday School class at 9:30, a buddy-supported children's church at 10:45, and events like Parents' Night Out that give caregivers time to themselves.
Trail Life, led by Peter Gillespie, completes the family-side ministries. Trail Life is a character and outdoor adventure program for boys, structured similarly to scouting but built around Christian values and community. Gateway also lists Prison Ministry among its ongoing works, with leaders Mike Reese and Jeff Parsons carrying its work.
Missions: Nepal, Indonesia, Uganda, and Beyond
Gateway takes seriously the idea that "love on display is our most convincing witness," and a steady drumbeat of short-term mission trips is part of the rhythm. Pastor Jeff Gautney, the Missions and Family Pastor, leads trips including a recent journey to Nepal and Indonesia. Reports from those trips describe gospel conversations among Muslim communities in Indonesia and a week in Nepal where seven people came to faith alongside local pastors.
Congregants also travel on their own initiative. A church member named Kathryn Bailey went to Uganda to lead women's discipleship, and her report fills out the mission archive on the church's site. A Turkey Trip is set up in the fall. Gateway also supports missionaries year-round through the Lottie Moon international missions offering; supporters can mark their online giving to direct funds to that line.
The church's International Mission category is also how members support short-term trips organized through Gateway. Giving is handled online through the church center, and time and talents can be offered through a separate volunteer form.
Joy Community Church: A New Plant in Millington
Gateway has been working toward planting a new church in nearby Millington, Tennessee, and the project launched in the first week of November 2025 as Joy Community Church. The new congregation meets in Millington and is pastored by Konnor Kessler, with Ben Montoya serving as worship leader. Gateway's leadership sees the plant as an expression of the conviction that church planting is how the gospel reaches unreached communities, and they have prayed through an extensive list of Scripture-grounded requests for the new core team, from intimacy with Christ and identity in Christ to wisdom, favor, unity, and the multiplication of disciples.
Joy Community Church functions as a second campus in practice, even as it forms its own identity. People interested in the plant can sign up for updates through Gateway's church center; the new plant's Facebook page carries the most current information about its own services and rhythms.
Essential Beliefs
Gateway's doctrinal statement begins with a posture: "In essential beliefs, we have unity. In non-essential beliefs, we have liberty. In all our beliefs, we show love." Within that framework the church teaches that God is the Creator, Sustainer, Provider, and Ruler of the universe; that Jesus is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and the sacrifice for human sin; that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and indwells believers at salvation; and that the Bible is God-breathed, without error, and the trustworthy road map for the Christian life.
Salvation is taught as God's free gift, received through repentance and simple faith rather than earned by good works. Human beings are made in the image of God but inherit a fallen nature and need a Savior. The church holds to the eternal security of the believer, on the grounds that God is both the author and the keeper of salvation. Eternity is described as a literal heaven and a literal hell, and the church frames its mission around the desire to see no one in its sphere of influence enter eternity apart from Christ. Starting Gate is the path for anyone who wants to go deeper into the doctrinal foundation before becoming a member.
A Pastoral Team Built Around Families
The Atoka Campus staff is led by Lead Pastor Steve Carpenter, who preaches the main weekend services and oversees the church's overall direction. Jeff Gautney carries the missions and family portfolio and is also the church's associate pastor. Jay Jerrell oversees worship ministry and small groups, leading the band, vocal team, and the rotation of Grow Group classes. Phillip Nathan is the Student Pastor for grades six through twelve. Charlotte Martin serves as Children's Director and oversees Gateway Kids, Mother's Day Out, and the Wonderfully Made special needs ministry.
Joy Community Church is pastored by Konnor Kessler with Ben Montoya leading worship. A team of ministry leaders supports the staff across the whole church, including Dutchy Nabakowski (Women's Ministry), Jeannie Starnes (Women), Paul Martin (Men's Ministry and Deacons), Leandra Roberts (Fostering Love for Tipton), Stephanie Paschal (Embrace Grace and Life), Mike Reese and Jeff Parsons (Prison Ministry), Linda Reese (Prayer), Melinda Smith (Hospitality), Jessica Yeager (Wonderfully Made), Peter Gillespie (Trail Life), Mike Hatter (Personnel), Rick Weiner (Building and Grounds), Candi Smith (Stewardship), Dave Smith and Keith Adkison (Safety), and Pat Ward (Grief Share). Carla Taylor is the administrative assistant for the Atoka Campus and is a key point of contact for most inquiries.
Practical Details for Visitors
The Atoka Campus is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 4:00 for in-person inquiries, and the office can be reached at 901-837-8087 or by email through Carla Taylor. Anyone can text "Hello" to 901-329-7929 to be connected with a staff member. The mailing address is 1915 Rosemark Road, Atoka, TN 38004.
Sunday services at 9:30 and 10:45 are livestreamed and posted to YouTube afterward under the Gateway Tipton channel; the most recent services are also linked from the Watch page on the church's site, along with a podcast version on Apple Podcasts under the Gateway Tipton Podcast. For Tipton, a recurring one-day service and community-service emphasis, brings the whole church together on a single Sunday morning each fall to work on projects that benefit Tipton County, replacing the usual Sunday schedule for that one day.
A Safe Haven Baby Box, operated in partnership with the Big Hatchie Baptist Association, sits at the Atoka Fire Department and is available twenty-four hours a day. The church also operates Gateway Gear, a small store of branded apparel and accessories; t-shirts for For Tipton Day are given out free on that day. First-time guests who want to update their information, share a prayer request, or sign up for an event can do so through online forms connected to the church center.