First Baptist Church Temple City

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Welcome to the online ministry of the First Baptist Church of Temple City, California.
We believe that people, not buildings or programs, are what were about. Were not a social services agency, were not into historic preservation, and were not a preserver of a tradition. We dont have anything against those things; its just not what were called to do.
And we really do believe were calledcalled by God. Back in 1941 a group of people met at and formed this church. At that time, Temple City was on the far edge of greater Los Angeles. We were out in the country. Not now. Now Temple City is the small town in the midst of the big city. And now nearly half of the people who called Temple City, Arcadia and the surrounding communities are immigrants from other lands.
Were convinced that the changes in the community didnt catch God by surprise, and that God has given us an opportunity to serve people from all over the world. And our congregation shows it. In addition to native-born Americans, we have people here from Latin America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, South Asia and of course from China and other parts of Asia like Taiwan, Korea, Japan and the Philippines.
We dont see this as a problemwe see it as a blessing. The Bible says that heaven will be a gathering of people from all the nations of the earth, which means that our church looks a lot more like heaven than the average church!
All we do can be summed up in our church motto:
Loving God, Serving People.
The most important thing in the world is loving God. We make no apology for the fact that Hes number one around here! We believe that Jesus is Gods Son and that He lived among us and died for us and rose up from the dead. Thats His message. We dont try to modernize that message, because its good enough just as it is.
We believe that the Bible is the word of God. It tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about God and life and happiness and death and the future and everything else. We trust it 100%.
We believe that were not special. We believe that God is really special, and thats why we love Him. Were messed up people whove been blessed up by God. Weve come to know His love and His ways, not because were special, but because God is so good.
We're inviting you on a journey toward Jesus.
We believe that Jesus is the most radical, transformational person who ever lived. The word radical means, to the root. What Jesus taught about God, about life, about money, about relationships, and about eternity cuts to the root more than anything anyone anywhere has ever taught.
What He taught goes beyond what Moses or Buddha or Muhammad or the great sages of Greece or China ever said about life or God or anything else. They said some good things, but Jesus goes farther! Read the gospels and youll see how His words were constantly amazing everybodyeven His most bitter enemies.
Speaking of His enemies, what Jesus did with them was pretty radical too. He voluntarily let Himself be arrested by a crooked government that was hell bent on killing Him. After a rigged trial, they practically beat Him to death and then they crucified Him. After hours on the cross, He died.
But heres the thing: He didnt stay dead. He rose from the dead. Thats not just a storythe historical evidence for Jesus rising from the dead is very strong.

FBC Temple City is therefore, unapologetically Jesus-centered. Were not religion-centered, or tradition-centered, or social service centered. We are all about Him.
This website is here so you can see all the ways we serve the community in the name of Jesus, and in obedience to His commands. Were also here invitating for you to join us in our journey.
Were convinced that God has great plans for your life. Even better, God has a big plan. And one thing were discovered is that its better to have a small part in Gods big plan than to have a big part in my silly little plan!
Hey, heres the big plan in one verse from the Bible, from John 3:16:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Thats a big planGods love through Jesus, through His death on the cross, and the fact that we can become part of the plan by simple, basic trust in Jesus. The payoff? Eternal life: that means a life of significance now that then lasts forever.
God bless you,
Pastor Glenn Layne
I'm looking forward to meeting you. You can contact me through this website, or you can email me directly. You can reach me at glenn@templecitybaptist.org or you can call me at (626) 286-3125 x 11 or you can even mail me at:
First Baptist Church

Temple City, CA 91780
(The image to the right, bottom, was made using the words on this page at www.wordle.com).