Leadership

Pastor / Elders - Deacons and Church Members

The head or leader of Bethel Baptist Church is Jesus. It’s His church, and he’s our senior pastor. We would say below the guidance of Jesus are leaders who are simply qualified Christians who follow Jesus and encourage others to follow him as well. At Bethel Baptist Church, our formal leadership structure involves Pastor / Elders, Deacons, and Church Members also known as the priesthood of believers.

Members as Leaders

As our church grows, we rely on members to support our ministry and to carry out much of the work required to help accomplish our mission to have as many people know Jesus as possible. It’s a high calling that takes hard work—but it’s also the most rewarding work.

The leadership of Bethel Baptist Church strive to love and care for its members well. In turn, we rely on our members to accomplish our collective work as the church. As an organization, we operate with minimal budget, and programming because we trust the Holy Spirit to move through the transformed hearts of our members, mobilizing the collective body of Christ in humble ways to love our members, love our family, our community, and glorify God.

If you’re desiring to make a deeper commitment to Bethel Baptist Church, we encourage you to become a member. Follow the steps listed on the membership page to get the process started.

Membership

PASTOR / ELDERS

Jesus calls qualified men to lead his church as elders, whom we also call pastors. Qualifications for eldership are found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, and include leading their families well, a record of serving Jesus well both in the church and in everyday life, a thorough knowledge of the Bible and a mature Christian walk, and a good reputation both in and out of the church.

The primary duties of elders include praying and studying Scripture, leading the vision of the church, caring for the people of the church, teaching, living lives that are exemplary, protecting the people of the church from false doctrine and teachers, and developing other leaders.

Martin Beamer and Harold Dinsmore are part of a “Church Revitalization” that started in 2021. In July of 2022, God graciously allowed us to move the polity toward an Elder Led model and set our elders and Deacons at this time.

Marty Beamer

Preaching Pastor

B.A. in Christian Ministry, Spurgeon College M.Div., Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Pursuing a Th.M. in Philosophy, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Pursuing a Ph.D. in Ethics, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Harold Dinsmore

Associate Pastor

M.Div., Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

David Hallam

Pastor

M.Div., Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Jed Hayes

Pastor

Bachelor of Science, International Marketing

Jason Dawson

Pastor

Master's Information Technology Management., Webster University B.A. Spanish, Benedictine University

Deacons

Jesus calls qualified men and women to lead his church as deacons, a word that is literally translated as “servants.” The office of deacon is first mentioned in Acts 6. As the burden of ministry grew for the early church, elders, in addition to prayer, study, leading, and teaching, were also taking on large workloads to serve the needy in the church and handle the administrative functions of the church. As a solution, the elders appointed deacons to assist the elders in these responsibilities.

Because Bethel is part of a church revitalization we have Deacons who assist the Pastor/ Elders in the day-to-day functions of church administration and activity. Qualifications for deacons are found in 1 Timothy 3 and include integrity, generosity, soberness, a clear understanding of the Bible, a well-ordered home, and a good reputation both in the church and outside the church. We are continuously on the lookout for qualified men to fit into these roles if this is ever something you would be interested in please let one of the existing Pastor/Elders or Deacons know.