CRESTVIEW — Palm Chapel Primitive Baptist Church is different from many other places of worship around here.
"There are two things that define the Primitive Baptist from any other faith in the world," pastor Silas Ford said.
First, people of many faiths evangelize to the spiritually lost, but the Primitive Church's members believe God's chosen people will experience their own form of spiritual birth through God.
"It is merely by God's act that his children are chosen," Ford said. "We don't believe that the church necessarily needs to go out and get to them. Salvation is totally in God's hands."
The second difference is that Primitive Baptists do not have Sunday school services or feature live church music.
"We sing a capella," Ford said. "The congregation picks out the songs … we sing for 30 minutes and then the preacher preaches."
Ford, the church's head pastor since September, invites interested residents to attend services starting at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 22.
"If people want to learn more about us, I will go through our 15 articles of faith and after that … we will go through why we worship and how we worship," he said.
Next month, residents can view, as a group, a streamed debate on creationism versus evolution. The church will present the discussion, featuring creationist advocate Ken Ham and Bill Nye "The Science Guy," at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 4.
The topic is important to Ford.
"… If we can't believe in the first chapter of the Bible, then everything else (in it) is up to interpretation," he said.
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: Palm Chapel Primitive Baptist Church
WHEN: Sunday worship service begins at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday night services, beginning Jan. 22, start at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: 201 Cadle Drive, Crestview Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Palm Chapel pastor to explain Primitive Church's faith