The Story of Oak Meadow!

From time to time you hear about new churches starting as a result of a church splitting over some disagreement…but how often do you hear about two churches with different cultures, different age groups, and different personalities, joining together to start a new church?

Welcome to Oak Meadow Baptist Church!

South First Baptist Church was an established church just north of Ben White on South 1st that was started in 1965. It was a ministry that had endured many struggles and found itself in 2000 with a small but committed number of members.  They had paid in full the six-acre property and facilities, but felt it was being underutilized.

Genesis Baptist Church was a young church that was started in 1997 by Pastor Gilbert Chavez.  His vision was to have a ministry that targeted English-speaking Hispanics.  The church met in homes at the beginning, then moved into the fellowship hall at Congress Avenue Baptist Church, then to Bedichek Middle School's cafeteria and in 2000 was meeting in a rented space North of Oltorf and South First.  Genesis was in great need of a permanent home to call its own.

God inspired South First Baptist to approach Genesis about merging.  It was said, “South First has a building but only a few people and Genesis has many people but no building.”  By God’s providence and grace, these two churches that were separated by culture and age came together with a common purpose, “To reach South Austin for Jesus.”  We decided a new name was needed to demonstrate that we were all joining together in God’s plan.  We named our new church, “Oak Meadow Baptist Church.”  God has blessed this union and has shown His love and mercy toward us.  So no matter your background, culture or age, we know you will feel at home at Oak Meadow, we invite you to join us!