Steps of prayer, partnership, and local leadership turned a decades-long decline into fresh momentum—moving Tigerville Baptist Church from eight members to a growing, multi-generational congregation.

Tigerville Baptist sits on North Greenville University’s (NGU) doorstep and has a long history with the faculty and students at NGU and the surrounding community. For years, it was on the decline. Through prayerful persistence of a few members, Baptist cooperation, and a pastor rooted and dedicated to the community, the church is now baptizing new believers, welcoming families and students, and imagining a future as a missions sending church.

Prayerful Members

Leland Browder witnessed the ups and downs of the church since attending as a boy in the 1950s. “It was a thriving church,” Browder said. “Even in the balcony, this place was filled.” As the population of the church grew older and the church experienced a string of interim pastors, membership dwindled. “We started sort of slowly going down numerically, and it’s kind of been struggling ever since,” Browder said.

Browder and the remaining members trusted that the Lord had a plan, whether that was for the church to continue or not. “We tried to hold it together the best we could,” Browder said. They reached out to their local association, Three Rivers Association, who put them in contact with Travis Agnew. Agnew pastors Rocky Creek Baptist Church in Greenville, SC.

A Growing Partnership

A graduate of NGU, Agnew’s heart for Tigerville Baptist began while in college. “I was desiring to see the church in a faithful, growing place to be a hub for Gospel ministry here in the Upstate,” Agnew said. He began to pray, even then, that the Lord would move at Tigerville Baptist, even praying that the Lord would use him to be part of the revitalization work.

Later, when Agnew was several years into pastoring at Rocky Creek, he heard that Tigerville Baptist was down to eight members. At the guidance of the association, Browder, now the last remaining elder at the church, reached out to Agnew for help. Agnew said, “I saw very quickly that Leland had a love for missions, and he just wanted to see this church in a healthy place.” The coming months established a partnership between Tigerville Baptist and Rocky Creek Baptist that would include practical help and support including building updates, getting the baptistry working, and finding an interim pastor.

A Local Interim Pastor

Enter Joshua Gilmore. Also a graduate of NGU, Gilmore was familiar with Tigerville, even storing his drums at the church when he was a student. In 2018, he returned to NGU staff with a lingering burden for the church just across the road. He began prayer walking the building and parking lot, asking God to send the right man to lead the Tigerville Baptist. One man that the Lord led Gilmore to seek out was Travis Agnew. “I was a member at Rocky Creek. Travis just asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘Well, if given the opportunity, I think I’d like to help Tigerville Baptist,” Gilmore said.

Gilmore felt the Lord drawing him to the church. “I just can’t live with knowing that a church is dying on our parking lot and I haven’t done anything to help,” he said. That conversation led to Gilmore being asked to interim pastor the church for a few months.

Early Fruit and Fresh Momentum

After a successful interim period and seeking the advice of trusted mentors, Gilmore agreed to be the pastor. For Browder and other church members, this move couldn’t come soon enough. The excitement grew, word spread, and at his installation service, over 200 people attended. “The support of the community was overwhelming,” Gilmore said.

In a short amount of time, the church went from eight people on Sunday to nearly 80. In addition, the church has baptized four people. “Now we have a long way to go. There’s 53 pews in here, not counting the balcony, but by God’s grace it will be filled,” Gilmore said. “God will move again in this congregation.”

Leland Browder is hopeful about the direction the church is headed, saying he’s excited to see a blend of all ages joining in worship. “It’s kind of a new day and a new excitement,” Browder said. “I think there’s a new spirit that’s here.”

Though they’ve seen exciting changes, Gilmore emphasized that the work is not done. He asked for prayers for revitalization and that the Lord would continue to grow the church. “It’s God’s work that is bringing change to this church,” Gilmore said. Their hope is that Tigerville Baptist would be a church that sends its people out on mission both locally and globally, becoming a Gospel hub in the Upstate.