Rapid Valley Baptist Church

Welcome to:

Rapid  Valley  Baptist  Church !!!

( Eastern portion of:  Rapid City, South Dakota )

     On our website you will find information concerning our church and its ministries.  We hope you find your time spent here a real blessing.  Our church is a warm and loving church, and we want you to feel comfortable while here with us.  Furthermore, we pray that during the time you are here with us that  you will also feel the presence of God's Holy Spirit.  If at any time there is some need that you have that maybe we can help with, please do not hesitate to let us know.  We will do the best we can, with God's Help, to provide help to you.  Feel free to browse through the various areas of our website, and learn about our fellowship and the many things we have to offer here at Rapid Valley Baptist Church.

      GOD is so GREAT!!!  He continues to bless the work here at  Rapid Valley Baptist Church  (RVBC) just as HE has done in previous years.  We are filled with excitement as to all that God will choose to do here.  HE certainly did allow us to finish the past year and go through much of the current year with great joy with several folks accepting Jesus as Saviour, and others uniting with us by transfer of church letter, etc.

From Your Pastor's Desk

   Now that we are well into 2016,  God  is continuing to guide and bless  His Work  here at  Rapid Valley Baptist Church!!!   God  is still very real to all of us,  and  His Presence  in the person of the  Holy Spirit  is very evident in all of our services.

   It is our prayer that each and every one of us can truly seek  God's Will  for our lives.  And then once  God  has revealed this to us that we can really, really try hard with  His Help  to begin to accomplish  ALL  of the things that  He  has for us to do for  Him  in the days to come.

   As I have already stressed to many of you in certain services, the  Lord  has made it even more clear to me than every before that  "we really do have a tremendous responsibility to share the  Lord  and  Salvation  through  Jesus"  with everyone we come in contact with.  And now that we are about half way through this year, it is extremely evident that the  Lord  appears to be approving of what we are doing here since just during the past couple of months we have seen about 10 folks come forward expressing their desire to join with us and serve the  Lord  here.  Yes, God certainly is GREAT!  And  He  has  demonstrated over and over that  He  will use us and bless us IF we who are  "called by His Name"  are willing to  "humble themselves, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways."  So that is our continuing responsibility, and hopefully more and more of our members will accept this challenge from  God  and will live accordingly.

   Please make plans to be with us for "every" service each week (unless you are prevented from doing so by illness, accident, etc.)   We express thanks to the many, many different ones of you who do this consistently throughout the year.  But there is still room for  YOU  if you are not one of these.  And for the much larger group who regularly attends the  Sunday Morning Worship Services,  please continue coming, and invite someone else to come with you.  It is so great for me to get up to deliver  God's Message to His People  and see so many folks there for the sole purpose of  worshipping Almighty God!!!   So we will be expecting to see  YOU  in at least 2,  if not all 3 of the services, during the next week and the weeks to follow.  God  will help you do this  IF you will only ask  Him  to do so.  And you will learn more and more from  God's Word  plus really enjoy having wonderful  Christian fellowship  with other  Believers!!!

   If you desire to contact Rhoda or I at any time, please do so.  Here are our contact numbers, email address, etc.       O. C. Summers  (&  Rhoda)

              Ph.:  (605) 347-0120    (home)

                      (605)  347-1257    (O. C.'s cell)

                      (605)  347-1314    (Rhoda's cell)

              Email:  oren.summers@gmail.com

              U.S. Mail Address:  12249 Gigear Road

                                            Sturgis, SD  57785

   We love you so very much.  

Your pastor and wife,  O. C. & Rhoda Summers.

Welcome, continued...

     Whether you already live in this area  OR  you are considering relocating to this area, we would love to have you come be our "guest"  for  Sunday School,  for  Worship Services,  and  for all the other activities we have here at God's House...   Regardless of whether or not you have worshipped with us before, if you are seeking a  "Church Home", we definitely ask that you seriously consider this church.  We are so thankful how  God  is really blessing  His work  here, and how that we are growing in numbers, as well as in wisdom and understanding.  So if you join with us here, then you can be a part of this growth.  May  God  bless each of you, and may He guide you as you make decisions.  Again,  WELCOME!!!

     When you visit our church, you will find:

• A caring congregation that will gladly welcome you;
• Preaching / teaching that is centered on the  Word of God;
• Ministries to meet the spiritual needs of every age;
• A corporate outlet for truth-filled and moving praise and worship;

"Praise  God  from whom 'All Blessings Flow..."

     We here at  Rapid Valley Baptist Church  are so thrilled to be a part of the  Lord's Work  here in the Rapid City area.  And  He  really has been blessing the efforts, that is for sure.  Before we even begin to list things that  He  has done, let us make sure to say that  "for each and every thing that is done,  ALL honor,  glory  and  priase  goes to  God, Himself."   We are just servants of  His,  but we are continually trying to seek and follow  His Will  for our lives and for our church.  Therefore, it is for that reason only, yet with great joy, that we state the following facts.

     As pastor, I, Bro. O. C. Summers, am constantly striving to let the  Holy Spirit  guide me each step of the way, as I prepare messages and devotionals, as I visit with folks in the area, and as I send out printed copies of the different messages to folks in places such as Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Alaska, and even up to Yellowknife, Canada.

     Some time ago, we in our church instituted the "Deacons Ministry Plan" in which the different members and visitors to our church are divided up into 5 groups, one for each of our 4 wonderful deacons, and 1 for me, as well.  And this has worked marvelously!  Not only is each person on that list contacted by someone regularly, but each family knows that IF they have a need, they certainly can contact me, their pastor, but they know there is someone else that they can contact for guidance, etc., that being "their Deacon."  We have received many thanks from members for us beginning to use this "Plan."

     I feel that I must also say a word of "Thanks" to the four great Christian men who are serving the  Lord  in the capacity of Deacon here at  Rapid Valley Baptist Church.  These four are as follows:  Bro. Curt Christensen, our Chairman of Deacons,   Bro. Dave Utter,   Bro. Charlie Fuller,   and   Bro. John Malone. These  men  are  EXCEPTIONAL!!!  During the time I have had the privilege of being here at  RVBC,  the deacons and I have agreed 100% on everything that we have needed to do.  I have NOT had a single cross word with any one of them, and I don't expect to have any conflict with any of them in the future.  Not only are they very cooperative and anxious to serve as a Deacon should, but they each are great  "men of God",  very knowledgeable of  God's Word,  always seeking ways they can reach out to others in the congregation and community, and seldom ever is there a worship service held but what each and every one of them are in attendance whether it be Sunday Morning, Sunday Evening or Wednesday Evening.  I thank  God  often for these men, and pray  God's  continued blessings on each of them.  They are what "church leaders" are supposed to be!   Also, I can't say enough about our  "Worship Team Leaders"  who direct us each Sunday Morning through our Musical part of the Service.  Ms. Lynn Fuerst, Ms. Kay Williams, and my lovely wife Rhoda do an excellent job always.  And we certainly thank others who volunteer to deliver special musical numbers from time to time.  Well, I had better stop singling out folks since we have "so many dedicated folks" who help out with Teaching Sunday School on Sunday Mornings, handling the Nursery during Sunday School and Worship Services, conducting Youth & Children classes on Wed. evenings, delivering Children's Messages during each Morning Service, and conducting Children's Church each Sunday Morning while the rest of us are having our Message from  God's Word  upstairs in the auditorium.  Then there are those on the Hostess Committee, Flower Committee, Prayer Chain folks, and helping with Outreach, and the list goes on and on. Thank you Brothers and Sisters!!!   May  God  bless you richly.

     There have been many, many folks who hear  God's Word  expounded upon in Sunday School, Children's Worship Service or Adult Worship Service, and as a result they have learned many important things  God  wanted them to learn.  Often they they have told us about their renewed commitment to  God and His Work  here in this area.

     For each of these who have made a decision for the  Lord,  we pray the richest blessings upon them, and we are so thrilled to have them working with us!!!   Again, may  God's Name  be praised for all that  He  is doing in our midst!!!

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More Information about Activities

     Here at Rapid Valley Baptist Church we have several different activities each week that may be of interest to you and your family.  So we decided to give you a bit more information about at least some of these activities.

     Each Sunday morning from 9:30 to about 10:45 we have our Sunday School during which time we gather in age-appropriate classes to study God's Word and even to share with each other things that God has done for us, as well as any special needs for prayer that we may have.  The Lord has bless our church with lots of great, faithful teachers who really take seriously their tasks involved in leading/teaching a class.  So we encourage you to come be a part of Sunday School.  We feel that once you do, you will be be like so many others have been - excited and thrilled to come again and again.

     Following our Sunday School each Sunday morning, we have a short time of fellowship in the Fellowship Hall with donuts and coffee for everyone (and chocolate milk for the children).  Several dozen folks take part in this each week.  This is a great time for you to come and meet folks you do not yet know, and to share quality time with those you do know.  This begins at about 10:30 (even though Sunday School does not end until 10:45), and this goes until it is time for us to gather in the Auditorium for the Morning Worship Service which begins at 11:00.

     Our Worship Services are informal to a certain extent.  Yet, during this time we realize that we have gathered to worship  God,   to  pay respect to  Him  and to learn from  His Word.  So we certainly make sure that this is a time of reverence and praise.  We believe that  God  expects us to teach  His Word  exactly as printed, so we try very hard to do just that!!!  Since we as a church believe that  God's Word is "Truth without Error",  we certainly present it this way.

     In the Evening Worship Services we have a study of some particular topic found in the  Bible  or of some particular passage of  Scripture,  however I feel the  Lord  leading me.  Earlier, we did do a study of the  Gospel of John,  which was extremely interesting.  The Apostle John was so close to  Jesus  while  He  was here on earth, and since John was the one who  Jesus  addressed from the Cross when  He  told John to take  His  mother, Mary, and to care for her for the rest of her life, we feel that this person should be able to reveal to us many, many things that even other writers may not have known.  This proved to be a very interesting study.  Once we finished with that study, we then began taking "certain" particular chapters in the  Book of Psalms,  and we sought to dig deep into the meaning of these verses.  Then we began examining many of the different Parables taught by  Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Each of these is not only extremely interesting, but since they are taught by  Jesus, the Master Teacher,  they are extremely informative, as well.  And once we ended that study, we have been examining other things that we feel  God  wants us to study.

    On Wednesday evening we have several activities.  Beginning at about 6:00 each week there is a nice meal planned and prepared and served to everyone who wishes to come and be a part of this activity.  There is NO charge for this meal, but those who wish to do so are welcome to make a small donation toward the purchase of the things that are to be served.  Otherwise, the church covers the cost for any/all such meals.  This is also a great time of  Christian fellowship.  Ms. Tara, head of our Social Committee, along with Ms. Rose and a few other ladies, take care of deciding what is to be served each week, and then also preparing the food.  They are all excellent cooks, so these meals are GREAT!!!  Since this meal is available each Wednesday evening, folks know that they can come straight from work to the church, have dinner (or supper, as some call it), then be ready to move on into the auditorium by a few minutes before 7:00 and take part in the Mid-Week service.

     During that Wednesday Mid-Week Service we have Prayer Meeting & Bible Study during which time we study things from  God's Word,  but we devote lots of this time to "prayer" which is so needed in our lives.  At the beginning of each such service, Bro. Curt Christensen handles the "praises and prayer requests" then I conduct the  Bible Study  that I feel  God  wants us to study in that service.  I began doing an indepth study of the  Book of Ephesians,  and that has certainly been very informative.  Now we are studying other things found in  God's Word.  We cordially invite you to come join us for this service, and you definitely will learn things that will be very helpful in your life and in your service for the  Lord.

     I have not mentioned anything so far about our wonderful folk who are involved in Children's Ministry both on Sunday and Wednesday.  But these folks are AMAZING...  During each Sunday Morning Service, one of three persons (Ms. Lynn, Bro. Kenny and Ms. Rhoda) present a Children's Message which emphasizes something that they feel  God  wants the children to hear and learn from.  (I have to admit that we adults seem to enjoy these Messages as much as the children do.) 

     So we invite you to come join with us and find out for yourself what each of these things involved.   We look forward to seeing you real soon!!!    May  God  continue to bless you richly!

   As stated earlier,  WHENEVER  you decide that you would like to contact me personally,  here are the different ways that  I, as  Pastor, can be contacted:

           O. C. Summers  (&  Rhoda)

           Ph.:  (605) 347-0120    (home)

                   (605)  347-1257    (O. C.'s cell)

                   (605)  347-1314    (Rhoda's cell)

           Email:  oren.summers@gmail.com

           U.S. Mail Address:  12249 Gigear Road

                                            Sturgis, SD  57785