Know Christ, Make Him Known
On Main Street in the town of Warrenton, the seat of Fauquier County in northern Virginia, Warrenton Baptist Church has set its clock to a simple motto: Know Christ. Make Him Known. The church is a community of Christ-followers whose purpose is to bring glory to Jesus by gathering for teaching and worship, growing deeper in the knowledge of and obedience to God's Word, doing life together in biblical community, and mobilizing the people of God to bring the Gospel to their neighbors and the world.
The congregation reads itself as a family: students, parents, retirees, tradespeople, and professionals, each with a place in the body and each expected to use the gifts the Spirit has given them. Whether someone is studying, raising children, working in the marketplace, or enjoying retirement, the church invites them to partner in what Christ is doing right here in Fauquier County and around the world.
Sunday Mornings on Main Street
A Sunday at Warrenton Baptist follows a steady rhythm. At 9:00 AM the Bible study hour fills the building. Adults gather in small groups named Agape, Fellowship 2:10, Foundations, Steadfast, and Truth Seekers, while a Young Adult study meets in the Fellowship Hall for those ages 18 to 25. Down the halls, age-appropriate classes are running at the same time: Little Lights for babies through kindergarten, Shine for first through fifth graders, and Radicals for students in sixth through twelfth grade.
After the Bible study hour, folks drift in and out of the Fellowship Hall for coffee, treats, and conversation before the 10:30 AM worship service in the Sanctuary. The service is multi-generational and intentionally includes children. Worship typically includes corporate singing in various styles, Scripture reading, prayer, a short children's message, and an expository sermon. Most services run about an hour and fifteen minutes.
The service is livestreamed on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person, and past sermons are available through the church's sermon archive on the same channel.
What to Expect on a First Visit
Visitors often wonder three things before they walk through the doors: what to wear, where to park, and where their kids go. The answers are simple and the welcome is warm.
On a typical Sunday morning, folks show up dressed anywhere from casual to semi-formal, and the church encourages everyone to come as they are. There are two parking lots - one off Sixth Street and one off Fifth Street. If both are full, additional parking is available on Main Street and behind Great Harvest Bread Company off South Fifth Street.
Door greeters direct families to secure check-in for each age group. During the 9:00 AM Bible study hour, there are age-appropriate classes for children and youth of every stage. Children ages five and up then join their parents for the worship service. For babies through age four, the church provides childcare during the 10:30 AM service.
Children: Little Lights and Shine
Warrenton Baptist takes its ministry to children seriously enough to spell out a written mission. The children's ministry seeks to glorify God by growing families in the knowledge of Christ, loving children in a safe environment with age-appropriate Bible study, opening hearts to the needs of others, recruiting and training teachers, involving children in worship, furnishing activities that reinforce family bonds, and yearning for God's direction as it ministers to the whole child - spiritual, mental, social, physical, and emotional.
Little Lights is the preschool ministry for babies through kindergarten. On Sunday mornings, babies, toddlers, threes, and fours gather for Sunday School from 9:00 to 10:30 AM, with extended care running through 11:30 AM. Older fours and kindergartners have a separate Sunday School from 9:00 to 10:00 AM. On Wednesday nights, babies and toddlers up to eighteen months receive childcare, while older preschoolers take part in WAMM - Worship, Art, Music, and Missions - from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. Little Lights also participates in Vacation Bible School, Parent and Child Dedication, small group Bible study for mothers and babies, and family playdates.
Shine is the ministry for first through fifth graders. In addition to participating in worship, children learn in large and small group studies and activities. They are encouraged to join in family events throughout the year, including Vacation Bible School, Promotion Sunday, outdoor activities, and missional events. Wednesday night WAMM programming continues for Shine students from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, weaving art, drama, singing in traditional and modern styles, and lessons on praying, giving, and doing missions. Children's Director Kristie Beals oversees this ministry alongside her team.
Youth: Radicals
For students in sixth through twelfth grade, Radicals is the youth ministry, led by Youth Leader Michael Caporaletti. The goal of Radicals is to lead students to allow Jesus Christ to change their lives, their friends' lives, and the world around them - through Bible study, discipleship, worship, prayer, and missions training. Students are encouraged to spend time daily in personal prayer and Bible study.
On Sunday mornings, Radicals meet for Bible study from 9:00 to 10:00 AM. On Wednesday nights, the schedule includes recreation from 6:00 to 6:30 PM and Bible study from 6:30 to 7:00 PM, working through The Gospel Project from LifeWay. Through the year, Radicals also enjoy a ski retreat, bowling outings, mission trips, FredNats baseball games, hiking, game nights, and Christmas caroling.
Wednesday Nights Around the Table
Wednesday is a busy night at Warrenton Baptist. Beginning at 5:30 PM, the church hosts a time of dinner and fellowship before programming. At 6:00 PM the building fills with three streams running in parallel. Children in Little Lights and Shine gather for Worship, Art, Music, and Missions. Youth in Radicals start with recreation and move into Bible study. And adults gather in the Fellowship Hall for Following Jesus in Everyday Discipleship, a study of the life of Christ and how it intersects with prayer, Bible reading, evangelism, and other rhythms of faith, running from 6:00 to 7:00 PM.
Mid-Week Groups for Men and Women
Around the Wednesday anchor, several smaller groups meet on other days. Men of Grace & Granite gathers every Tuesday from 6:30 to 7:30 AM at The Gathering Place for a study of the Baptist Catechism. Men's Wednesday Evening Study meets from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in Room 302 to work through Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Women have two Thursday options: a Ladies' Thursday Morning Study from 9:30 AM to noon at The Gathering Place (children are welcome) working through Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Hughes, and a Ladies' Thursday Evening Study from 7:00 to 8:00 PM at the home of Nansi Paun working through Christian Beliefs by Grudem. Refresher, a fellowship group for women twenty-one and up, gathers on the third Friday of each month from 7:00 to 8:00 PM at The Gathering Place.
Small Groups and Sunday Morning Communities
Small groups are the connective tissue of the church. The five Sunday morning adult Bible studies - Agape, Fellowship 2:10, Foundations, Steadfast, and Truth Seekers - all meet from 9:00 to 10:00 AM in rooms across the building (206, 210, 302, 208, and 102 respectively). The Young Adult Study shares the 9:00 AM hour in the Fellowship Hall and Room C30.
Pastoral staff and ministry directors also point newcomers toward the connection card available online, which allows visitors to indicate interest in a relationship with Jesus, church membership, joining a small group, baptism, or serving in a particular ministry.
Serving Warrenton and Beyond
Service is treated as the responsibility of every believer at WBC, and the church supports a wide range of outreach ministries.
Local Outreach
Dinner Church is an evangelistic monthly outreach. On one Thursday each month, a kitchen team prepares a home-cooked meal at WBC and transports it to Moffet Manor, where a setup team arranges dinner tables with tablecloths, real china, and flatware. After dinner, the group gathers for a brief Bible story and table discussion led by WBC table leaders.
ESL Ministry shares the love of God with international neighbors who want to learn English, offering weekly or bi-weekly classes where volunteers teach English and American culture, build relationships, and offer devotions. No foreign language ability is required to volunteer.
Rooted provides spiritual support and care to guests and residents staying at local motels. The ministry collaborates with other churches and community volunteers to bring hope through intentional conversations, prayer, Scripture, and needs-based outreach.
HomeReach visits homebound members in their homes and in nursing homes, sending cards, preparing gift bags, and calling on the phone to keep them connected.
Nurture 139:13 walks alongside women facing unplanned pregnancies, fostering a community where they know they are not alone and feel supported to take on motherhood.
People Helping People of Fauquier County, a nonprofit staffed by volunteers, helps local citizens with immediate needs such as heat, electricity, medication, and other essentials. Warrenton Baptist provides ten volunteers who work three hours each week to interview applicants and recommend funding.
The Firewood Ministry provides free firewood to low-income neighbors who heat their homes with wood. The team meets every Saturday morning year-round - 9:00 to 11:00 AM from October through May, and 8:00 to 10:00 AM from June through September - with a retired-volunteers crew meeting on Wednesdays as well. Wood is cut, split, and stacked in the warmer months and delivered in the colder ones.
Beyond Fauquier County
The Sewing Ministry partners with Hope4Kids International to provide new clothing and essentials to children suffering from extreme poverty in Uganda. The team gathers on the third Saturday of each month from 9:00 AM to noon in the Fellowship Hall to produce handmade dresses with matching cloth dolls, tie-dyed t-shirts, and other personal items, which are hand-delivered during annual mission trips. No sewing experience is required.
Worship Support Teams
The Music and Worship Team provides a variety of musical styles and creative ministries for all ages. The Audio/Visual Team operates the sound board and projectors during Sunday services; no previous experience is required. The Coffee Fellowship Team sets up coffee and snacks each Sunday morning, and the Sunday Greeting Team and Welcome Ministry greet visitors, help families find classrooms, and encourage newcomers to fill out a Connect Card so staff can follow up.
Warrenton Baptist Tiny Tots
For more than thirty years, the church has partnered with the Warrenton Baptist Tiny Tots Care Center to provide a strong family ministry in Warrenton and the surrounding communities. The Center ministers to families and children in the spirit of Christ, supporting overall healthy child development through its childcare program. Director Brittany Burgess oversees the center.
What We Believe
Warrenton Baptist holds to a classic Baptist confession of faith. The church teaches that the Holy Bible is God's revelation of Himself, written by men divinely inspired, totally true and trustworthy, the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. There is one true and living God, infinite in holiness and all other perfections, who reveals Himself eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with distinct personal attributes but without division of nature, essence, or being.
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In its broadest sense it includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ.
A New Testament church is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Its two scriptural offices are pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a symbol of the believer's death to sin and resurrection to newness of life in Christ, and a prerequisite to church membership and the Lord's Supper.
The church also teaches that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society, that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime, and that children from the moment of conception are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. A full doctrinal statement with supporting Scriptures is available on the church's beliefs page.
Giving and Staying Connected
Tithes and offerings can be given in the offering plate before, after, or during any worship service, mailed to the church office, or left in the secure mailbox outside door C11 in the Sixth Street parking lot. Members may set up automatic bank drafts on a weekly or monthly schedule by contacting the church office, or give instantly by text by texting 123Main to 73256. Online giving is available through the church's Realm giving portal.
Weekly email updates, called Church Enouncements, keep subscribers informed about what is coming up. The church is also active on Facebook and Instagram, where news and events are posted.
Leadership
Brad Beals serves as Senior Pastor and Elder. Brad grew up at WBC and has served on staff since 2012, overseeing music and worship, teaching, youth ministry, small groups, and outreach. He completed a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry at Liberty University School of Divinity, specializing in discipleship and church ministry. Caleb Moore serves as Associate Pastor of Adult Discipleship and Elder, with prior study at Reformed Baptist Seminary (Florida) and Mission University (Missouri). Michael Caporaletti leads the youth ministry as Radicals Youth Leader. Kristie Beals serves as Children's Director, David Haynes as Director of Music, and Brittany Burgess as Tiny Tots Director.