On September 21, 2012: The center Effingham Baptist Church began posting its sermons on the Sermon Audio website. The site is a wonderful resource for sermons from churches all over the world; that preaches the word of God, and subscribes to the articles of faith as required by Sermon Audio.
Pastor Gilpatric is pastoring in two churches in the Effingham area both are churches of rich traditional and historical background and of theological conservative stand. The Center Effingham Baptist Church, finds it roots in the more historical background of the Calvin Baptist Church began sometime around 1806. The Effingham Falls Bible Baptist Church has its roots in the Free Will Baptist Church as it was founded in 1842. The two churches are now sister churches with the same pastor and have small but active congregations, holding services on the Lord Day at different times to accommodate the preaching of the Word of God in both churches.
The preaching of the gospel is the primary business of these churches and following the New Testament program of ministry they do preach the word, sing the hymns of the faith and pray together, worshipping God as a fellowship of believers.
I would like to relate something about each of these churches historically as to their founding and origins. I will begin with the Effingham Falls Bible Baptist Church. This church was founded by the Free Will Baptist Connection, at a time when revival was affecting the New England Area. The founder of the movement in New England was Benjamin Randal. Randal had his beginnings as far back as when George Whitfield was preaching in New England and came to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area. Benjamin Randal was saved through the thunderous preaching of Whitfield, who came in the area on an evangelistic campaign. Randal as a young man came under the conviction of the Spirit of God and ran for his life, thinking he had escaped the fearsome word of the evangelist, and became comfortable for a time. Yet, Randal could not forget the Word of God proclaimed by the evangelist and returned again to hear more of Whitfield’s sermons. Randal realized that the sermons of this man of God were a haunting reminder of his need for the soul saving work of God. Whitfield suddenly died and Randal yet unrepentant began to seek the Lord, he succumbed to such strong conviction that he called upon the Lord Jesus and was wonderfully saved. This of course is just the beginning of a great story of how Randal became a firestorm for Christ; and which later lead to the founding of the Free Will Baptist Connection in New England that would leave a legacy of many churches preaching and teaching the Word of God. Within a 50 mile radius there are a number of churches still standing and some of them still active in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the scriptures. Randal became a circuit riding evangelistic preacher planting churches throughout New England and the Maritimes. Effingham Falls Free Will Baptist Church was just one of those churches which were founded after the death of Randal. The South Parsonsfield Free Will Baptist Church, the Limerick Free Will Baptist Church, and Randal’s home church, the New Durham Free Will Baptist Church still stands as a legacy of his early beginnings for God and the legacy he left for the cause of the gospel.