Churches merge in Russellville, A New Vision at First

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. – In an effort to save one church and accommodate another, New Vision Community Church and First Baptist Church are merging.

New Vision founded in 2009 had an attendance boom just a few years before COVID and founding pastor Brad Rogers was on the hunt to find a new home for the congregation. Of course plans were derailed when the pandemic hit, and even still when the dust settled.

“We had people offer us land and we were like this is great free land, but then when we got contractors and everyone involved, it was going to take more money just to prep the site than we thought we’d pay for the whole project…” Rogers said to News 40.

We spoke to Chairman of the Deacon Board at First Baptist, Larry Wilcutt about the merger as well, who said it’s been a beneficial move for the old church, perhaps saving the history of the building.

Both Wilcutt and Rogers said a lot of things go into creating a church as well as merging two, so they aren’t too sure just yet when it will be complete but the hope is for the first Sunday of 2025. Both New Vision and First Baptist will still hold services independently until then.