On Tylersville Road in West Chester, Ohio, a single brick church building hosts one of the most unusual Sunday schedules in Greater Cincinnati. By the time the last campus service ends, the building will have held worship in English, Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Nepali, and Swahili, fed dozens of children, and welcomed international neighbors into classrooms to learn the language of their new country. That is everyday life at Lakota Hills Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation that has made multiethnic, multigenerational ministry its identity since the day it organized in February 1967.
From 27 Charter Members to a Sending Church
Lakota Hills began as a mission of Winslow Park Baptist Church two years before it organized, then formally launched in February 1967 with 27 charter members. Today the church describes its calling with one sentence: Led by the Holy Spirit, we exist to make disciples of everyone we meet for the glory of God. The people who gather there are committed to a strategy built on three verbs: Serve Christ, Share Life, Support Others.
The current lead pastor, Travis Smalley, has been at Lakota Hills since 2006 and also serves as the Send Cincinnati Missionary with the North American Mission Board. In that role he works to discover, develop, and deploy leaders and congregations to start new churches across the city. Pastor Travis holds a bachelor's degree from Clear Creek Baptist Bible College and a master's degree from Liberty University, and is a SYMBIS assessment certified facilitator.
The church subscribes to the Baptist Faith and Message, the confession of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention. A full statement of beliefs is available for download, and the teaching of God's Word is central to everything the church does.
Sundays at Lakota Hills
The West Chester campus gathers at 6300 Tylersville Road for two identical Sunday morning hours. Each hour includes a worship service and an adult small group:
- 9:00 AM - Worship Service and Small Groups
- 10:30 AM - Worship Service and Small Groups (livestreamed)
The 10:30 service is broadcast live each Sunday, and a complete sermon archive going back to 2017 is kept online for anyone who wants to catch up or share a message. There are no assigned seats and no dress code. Visitors are invited to come as they are and find a friend at LHBC.
The worship service is led by a rotating contemporary band and vocal team, with a tech team handling sound and media. The whole ministry operates under the banner of Soli Deo Gloria - everything done for the glory of God alone. A Christmas choir also sings for special services during the year, with rehearsals held on Thursday and Sunday evenings.
One Building, Seven Languages
Perhaps the most distinctive thing about Lakota Hills is what happens around the edges of the English-language schedule. The church's vision is to create a multigenerational, multiethnic community of believers, and it lives that out by hosting international church plants that share its building:
- Swahili - Worship Service at 2:00 PM with Comfort Missionary Baptist Church, pastored by Emery Nzamuye
- Arabic - Worship Service at 4:00 PM with the Arabic Church of Cincinnati, pastored by Amer Safadi
- Korean - Worship Service at 10:30 AM with Dreamer's Church, pastored by Chulmin Yang
- Nepali - Worship Service at 10:30 AM with Holy Immanuel Church, pastored by Purna Rai
- Hispanic (Spanish) - Small Group at 10:30 AM with Lakota Hills Hispanic Church, pastored by Bob Allan
- Multi-housing - Life Group on Thursdays at 7:00 PM and a Ladies Bible Study on Sundays at 5:30 PM with Abundant Life Church, pastored by Allen Lawless
The church also extends this multiethnic reach off-site. The Fairfield Campus, called Neighbor's Church, meets at 695 St Clair Avenue in Hamilton, Ohio, with a worship service on Sundays at 10:45 AM.
Free English Classes for the Whole Community
Wednesday nights at Lakota Hills belong to ESL. Free English as a Second Language classes meet from 6:00 to 8:00 PM year round, with beginner and intermediate levels offered at 9:00 AM on Sundays as well. The program serves more than thirty-five different people groups in a typical week and has become the church's most visible outreach to international neighbors.
Students take an assessment on their first day so they can be placed in the right class, and registration forms are available online in both English and Spanish. While adults are in class, free childcare is provided for children from infancy through 12th grade in age-appropriate rooms: nursery for infants through age 2, Mission Friends for ages 3 to 5, TeamKID for kindergarten through 6th grade, and the youth group for 7th through 12th graders. The children's program teaches Bible stories, missionary stories, songs, and crafts.
After class, students gather for Baptist Bistro, a full hot meal cooked and served by church volunteers so that students can practice conversational English while they eat. ESL students eat free, and church members eat for $5 to help cover the cost. The classes are coordinated by ESL Director Robin Smalley.
Summer Lunch and Community Festivals
For more than five years, Lakota Hills has partnered with the Faith Alliance of West Chester/Liberty Township to provide free summer lunches to children and teens at a mobile home community in West Chester. Children receive a meal, hear Bible stories, take part in educational activities, and play games during the summer months when school meals are not available.
Throughout the rest of the year, the church partners with local public schools, area nonprofits, community organizations, apartment complexes, and neighborhoods to put on free festivals with inflatables and food machines. No donations are accepted at these events. The investment of equipment, food, and volunteers is the church's way of expressing the love of Jesus to its neighbors.
Kids, Youth, and the Next Generation
Children are valued at Lakota Hills, and the church has built a robust set of programs around them. Sunday mornings provide preschool classes and graded small groups at both the 9:00 and 10:30 hours. Nursery care is available both hours, with pagers given to parents so they can be reached during the worship service if a child needs them.
On Sunday mornings, Jump Start runs from 10:30 to 11:30 for 1st through 6th grade as a large-group children's church. Graded small groups meet from 9:00 to 10:00 for 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and a 5th and 6th grade group called FLIGHT. On Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00, 1st through 6th graders gather for TeamKID, which emphasizes missions and famous missionaries alongside games and friendship-building.
Youth ministry is led by Associate Pastor Ryan Miller, who has been on staff since 2014 and holds a bachelor's degree in pastoral leadership from Liberty University. Students meet in two Sunday morning Bible study groups (7th-9th grade and 10th-12th grade) at 9:00 AM, gather on Wednesday nights for Paressia 120, a deeper Bible study focused on the why questions (the name comes from the Greek word for boldness in Philippians 1:20), and connect socially at a monthly Hangout hosted by a member family. A monthly structured activity ranges from Christmas parties to service projects, lock-ins, and summer camp.
The safety of every child is taken seriously. All volunteers who serve in children's and youth ministry pass background checks, and every room always has at least two adults present.
Small Groups for Every Season of Life
The church's strategy names small groups as the primary way people move from simply attending to truly belonging. On-campus adult small groups meet at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM on Sundays. Off-campus groups meet during the week, including two Tuesday evening groups at 6:00 PM (the Miller Group and the Spurlock Group) that meet in homes around West Chester. A Legacy fellowship group hosts social events every other month for adults, ranging from community Christmas concerts to Octoberfest.
Service groups keep the church running. Volunteers serve through the Worship Ministry (band, tech team, choir), the Baptist Bistro kitchen team, the Sidewalk/Lawncare Saints who maintain the property, the Setup and Tear Down Crew, and as ESL teachers and childcare helpers.
Planting Churches Across Cincinnati
Lakota Hills takes seriously the biblical call to send. The church points to the math: across the United States there is now roughly one church for every 6,194 people, but only one for every 16,214 in Ohio and one for every 60,000 within the city limits of Cincinnati. Through a coordinated national strategy called Send North America, the church partners with the North American Mission Board to launch new congregations in neighborhoods across the Queen City.
The campus plants meeting at Lakota Hills are one expression of that calling. Standalone church plants the church has helped send out include Bridge Point Community Church in Somerville, Ohio (pastored by Jeff Bridgeford), Relationships Indian Church in Cincinnati (pastored by Sunil Prasad), and a Korean church plant in Seattle, Washington (pastored by Donghyeuk Kim).
Values That Shape Everything
Five values guide the church's life together:
- Christ-Centered Worship - everything flows from identity in Christ, and Christ is exalted in all the church does.
- Reaching Others - doing whatever it takes to reach one more person for God's glory.
- Selfless Service - every believer plays a part in God's redemption story.
- Intentional Community - taking the time to know and encourage one another.
- Spiritual Intimacy - growing in relationship with God and coming with confidence into His presence.
How to Give and How to Join
The church offers several ways to give: online through Realm, by text message (text "lakotahills" to 73256), in person on Sundays, by ACH bank transfer (a downloadable PDF form is available on the giving page), and through the offering plate. A weekly email with daily devotions centered on the previous Sunday's scripture is offered for anyone who wants to start the day in the Word.
Those interested in formal membership can take the Join Lakota class, which teaches the church's core values and how to live them out as a member. A welcome letter and a downloadable schedule are available for newcomers who want to plan a first visit, and the office is reachable by phone, text, or email during the week.
A Little Taste of Heaven on Earth
Ask the leadership why they do what they do and they will point back to a single line in their vision: the church is meant to be a little taste of heaven on earth. In a region where the church-to-population ratio has stretched past one congregation for every sixty thousand residents, Lakota Hills has chosen to be both a gathering place for its own neighborhood and a hub for the many nations now calling Greater Cincinnati home - all under one roof, in seven languages, week after week.