About

On Friday night, January 29, 1943, a group of like-minded believers met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Keener in the Houck's Chapel community of Catawba County for the purpose of organizing a new church. As the first order of business, "Calvary" was decided upon as the name of the church. The 33 charter members then heard the reading of the Church Covenant and the Articles of Faith and adopted them unanimously.

The Rev. W. W. Marr was called as the first pastor of Calvary Baptist church, a post he was to hold for life. The newly formed congregation met for services in the homes of various members until a small building was completed at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 18th Street Pl. SW, Hickory. The first service was held in the temporary church house on June 13, 1943. A building program was soon underway to construct a permanent church building which was completed in June 1946.

In February 1968, the church called the Rev. Dexter E. Couch as assistant pastor. Dr. Couch served in that capacity and then served as pastor for four and one-half years. The Rev. J. Bert Dixon preached his first service at Calvary on Wednesday, January 1, 1975, and continues to serve as Pastor today.  Pastor Dixon's grandson, Dayton Haas, began to assist with church ministries during his teenage and college years and became the Assistant Pastor after graduating college in May 2024.

In the summer of 1981 work began on a new, larger sanctuary located beside the original church building. Services were first held in the new facility in December 1981, with the older church building still used for Sunday School.  An updated fellowship hall was completed in May 1998.  Throughout its history, Calvary Baptist Church has supported individual missionaries and other local and international missions projects as its members seek to spread the gospel from the West Hickory community to the uttermost part of the world.

We believe…

·       …in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Old and New Testaments.

·       …in the preservation of God’s Word through the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus.

·       …that the King James Version is the best English translation of the Bible.

·       …in God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

·       …that God created the world in six literal twenty-four hour days.

·       …that all mankind is sinful, in need of salvation, and unable to save himself.

·       …that Christ died for the sins of all mankind and that salvation is by grace, through faith alone, based upon the finished work of Christ on the cross.

·       …in the bodily resurrection of Christ and His bodily ascension into heaven, where He now intercedes for believers.

·       …in the reality of Heaven and Hell.

·       …that man was created as a responsible being and as such, he may choose to accept or resist the grace of God.

·       …in the eternal security of the believer.

·       …that the local church is God’s institution to carry out the Great Commission.

·       …that the two ordinances of the local church are baptism by immersion for believers only and the Lord’s Supper as a memorial.

·       …in the pretribulational rapture of all believers.

·       …in the premillennial return and millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

·       …in the judgment of believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ and the judgment of unbelievers at the Great White Throne.

·       …in the obligation of every believer to live a holy life and to witness to the lost of the saving power of Christ.

·       …that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts, and that the gifts of evangelists and pastor-teachers are sufficient for the perfecting of the saints for today.

·       …that speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established.

·       …that the positions of Calvinism and Arminianism are unbiblical.

·       …that all forms of compromise with liberalism, ecumenicism, neo-evangelicalism, or the charismatic movement should be avoided by those who wish to live in obedience to God.

·       …that God ordained marriage to be between one man and one woman and commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage. Any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography is a sinful perversion of God’s gift of sex.

·       …that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance.