When Pastor Greg Wilt Sr. looks out at the Liberty Lake community, he sees more than parks and neighborhoods, schools and businesses or roads and roundabouts.
“People often discuss the physical infrastructure of a community, but we do not always think about the spiritual infrastructure,” said Wilt, the founding pastor of Liberty Lake Baptist Church. “We want to be a part of developing the spiritual infrastructure of Liberty Lake and the surrounding area.”
With the celebration of its fifth anniversary this past fall, the church recently made a further investment in the community, purchasing property just west of the Ridgeline High School development with plans to eventually renovate an existing 6,500-square-foot building and move to the new site. Since its founding, Liberty Lake Baptist Church has held services in the Liberty Lake Portal building.
With pastoral structure to his communication, Wilt listed the plans to “Let us rise up and build” (Nehemiah 2:17-18) as one of three “Ts” that currently describe the church — “in transition.” A second T, “timeless,” Wilt said he hopes to apply to the building’s architecture, creating a space “meant for worship, not renovated from retail.” But, of course, the word “timeless” has far broader applications.
“As a church, we are not old-fashioned, we are timeless,” he explained. “We teach the timeless truths, and we sing the timeless songs of the faith.”
Wilt said the final “T” relates to the church’s desire to be “in touch,” as illustrated by its purpose statement: “Liberty Lake Baptist Church exists to glorify God by giving everybody, everywhere, every opportunity to hear the Gospel; learn the timeless truths of God’s word; see the principles of the Bible lived out in the lives of ordinary people; and act upon what they heard, learned, and observed so that they can have a vibrant personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Visitors are invited to join the church for weekly 11 a.m. services at 23403 E. Mission Ave., Suite 112 (temporarily moved online as of this press deadline due to COVID-19).
NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in the 2020 Liberty Lake Yearbook.
