MANCHESTER, Conn. (BP) — It’s a new year and a new pastor at First Baptist Church here, but some things don’t change.

First Baptist Manchester has long been a stalwart of the Baptist Convention of New England, thanks to its faithful congregation, says David Saylor, a Connecticut native who has pastored the church for 31 years and will soon retire.

FBC Manchester started a rocketry club in 2009 that has reached the national finals of The American Rocketry Challenge nine times.

“The church has a lot of things I can’t take credit for,” Saylor told Baptist Press. “We don’t have a welcoming committee because we’re all supposed to be welcoming. I think that’s part of the DNA of our church, and I think it’s an important part.”

In addition to being a welcoming church, First Manchester is a going, doing and giving church — all parts of its DNA, the pastor said.

“We exist to help people to join His family; grow into His likeness; share in His mission,” is the church’s vision, according to its website — fbcmct.org — adding that its mission is to be a church of “genuine worshippers of Jesus seeking to fill this world with His worshippers.”

On Wednesday evenings there is Awana for youngsters and The Vine for teens, four of whom this year are going on a weeklong Discipleship Quest sponsored by the Baptist Churches of New England.

A strong youth program, led by Jose Lopes, is also part of the church’s DNA, the pastor added.

With a “good number” of aerospace engineers as members (United Technologies, which manufactures Pratt & Whitney engines, is Manchester’s major employer), the church started a rocketry club in 2009. The club has made it to the national finals of The American Rocketry Challenge nine times, including a fifth-place finish in 2015 out of 100 finalists from 5,000 initial competitors, and an 11th-place finish in 2022.

“Our church isn’t built on any of these good ministries,” Saylor said. “The life of our church is based on orthodox theology and looking at what God’s doing in the world. Expositional preaching. Small groups.”

“We’ve always believed you need to get people into small groups to make disciples,” the pastor continued. “We have some small cell groups, but since we’ve had a building that could house classrooms, we found the Sunday school model for all ages has worked well for families.”

The Cooperative Program has been effective for Southern Baptists, Saylor said. First Manchester allocates 8% of its regular giving for CP missions, plus more for its association and other local missions.

“I have never seen a better missions agency than the Cooperative Program to support that which gives its money to actual missions work,” the pastor said. “I think the main reason the denomination exists is to support missions. We’re on board with that, the way everyone does what they can. We’ve always been comfortable with the way the Southern Baptist Convention does its work.

“Some churches just give to missions before the end of the year, but we’ve always done it every month,” Saylor continued. “Even when we’ve gone through harder times, like during a building program where the church doubled its building space or during COVID, we still gave consistently, and God has always blessed us when we give.”

First Manchester is also a strong partner with MACC, the Manchester Area Conference of Churches, which is involved in several local ministries, such as a six-day-a-week free soup kitchen, food pantry, thrift shop and more.

The church also sends its youth on mission projects in New England and farther afield, and its adults on North American and overseas trips, including the annual medical mission trip to Guatemala, which has taken place every October since 2017.

Saylor cautions church plants to make missions giving a commitment early on. “We see a lot of churches in a growth area like ours, and when they don’t start off being missional, it’s hard to start later,” he said.

Associate pastor Jose Lopes, who was a youth member when Saylor arrived 31 years ago, has served on staff since 2019. Saylor mentored Lopes just as Ray Allen, First Baptist Manchester’s planter, had mentored him.

Almost two years ago, Saylor told the congregation he planned to retire when they found a new pastor. Saylor led the congregation through Bryant Wright’s book, Succession: Preparing Your Ministry for the Next Leader, which he “highly recommended.”

“We’ve grown back a lot since COVID,” Saylor said. “This year, we have baptized more people — 23 — and gained more members — 25 — than the last five years combined. The church is on a positive trajectory. We’re very excited.

“That kind of growth is unusual, especially during an active search for a new lead pastor,” Saylor continued. “God is moving in New England. A lot of our churches are growing.”

In December 2024, the church concluded its search and called Brock Gee (pronounced “G”) from Texas to serve as the new lead pastor. He and his wife, Cortney, are set to begin their ministry in Connecticut in mid-January.

Gee has been in ministry for 20 years, often in student ministry, in Mississippi and Texas.

“I’ve been in the South my whole life, 20 years in ministry,” Gee told Baptist Press. “We saw this opportunity in Manchester. It was a long shot, but God lined everything up.

“Cortney and I are excited to serve alongside the great body of believers that is First Baptist Manchester,” Gee continued. “We want to honor Pastor Dave’s leadership and help the church continue to grow as it reaches lost people from all over the world who now live in Connecticut.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)