An interview with Casey Lute, pastor of Peace Bible Church, Salem, Oregon, planted in 2023, and Tim Baker, pastor of its mother church, Bethany Baptist Church, Salem, Oregon

Tim: The dream to plant a church was something that began 20 years ago, as I took a seminary course on church planting and learned that church planting is the most effective evangelism program any church could undertake.

That initial dream shared with our congregation caused us to begin to pray and think. And then in 2021, one of our church members gave a legacy financial gift, the majority of which was designated to help us start a new church.

Casey: And at that same time, my wife and I were considering where the Lord was leading us in ministry and what our next steps would be. I had been the associate pastor at Bethany Baptist Church for nearly a decade. And we were starting to think about how maybe the Lord was leading us to something else. But at the same time, we didn’t want to leave that ministry and the people that we loved. This idea of church planting gave us an opportunity to continue ministering to the people in our city, our hometown of Salem, but to branch out and to do it in a new way.

Tim: I was thrilled when Casey came to me and said, “Hey, Tim. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I would be interested in being considered.” And it was a joy to my heart to know that God had been working in him.

We shared that with our elders at church, who took time to pray and to meet with Pastor Casey. We sent him for a church planter assessment process, where we received an in-depth report on his fitness for the work. And our elders then presented to our church that we had appointed him as a church planting pastor, as part of the work there at Bethany.

Casey: And from that point, we continued on, we moved forward, and we started to see who the Lord was leading into this new work. And we began core team meetings, and we began meeting as a Sunday School class and preparing together to launch as a new church. And then last October 2023 we covenanted together as a brand new church with 42 members—27 of whom were transferred members from Bethany Baptist Church.

It’s just been such a blessing to be supported all along the way, as Bethany has supported us with people and finances and resources. And through our planting church and our networks, like the Baptist Network Northwest and Regular Baptist Ministries, we’ve been well equipped for this work.

And so we launched in October. We’ve been meeting ever since, growing together as a church. What was about 75 percent of our people coming from Bethany is now about half, as we’ve seen a lot of new people come in, and we’re even starting to see people trust the Lord as Savior and get baptized and join our church.

We’re just very grateful for where God has brought us, and we’re excited for the future.

Tim: It’s been a joy to watch Casey thrive and grow in this role. I got to visit Peace Bible Church a couple of months ago for the first time and sit in the back row and watch what is happening in this church plant. And I even love that he and I shared a preaching series on what it means to start a church, to ready our people for it. It was a joy for us to be able to send a block of people and a significant financial gift—nearly $100,000—to start this new work.

I’ve told our people that our fruit grows on their tree. We get to share in the joy of reaching our city for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Kevin Mungons is a Chicago-based writer and editor. Darrell Goemaat is director of photography for Regular Baptist Ministries.