To love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and all our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We are a presence of Christ in the world, a fellowship of Christians who share a passion for Jesus Christ and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice.
We are a Cooperative Baptist Church. See http://thefellowship.info/ for more information.
This church gives about 25% of its annual budget to missions - helping others

The church supports the Carmi Children's Home, the Glen/Ed Food Pantry, the various charitable arms of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missions, Christian Activities Center, Faith in Action, Habitat for Humanity, Oasis Center, Phoenix House, American Forest Foundation, Baylor University/ Truett Theological Center Faith Table, and other charities.

Our charitable giving is to put power behind, and accountability to, our beliefs:

"We believe in love. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We affirm the freedom and responsibility of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed or the control of clergy or government. We believe in diversity and oppose racism, sexism, violence and hatred. We are committed to protecting and preserving the earth and the environment. We are filled with joy and celebrate the freedom of Christianity."

CHURCH HISTORY

The church started as a mission from the Calvary Baptist Church of Edwardsville in 1971. It was originally founded to be a Christian presence to Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. It met in the YMCA until 1975, when a small structure was built on the corner of ESIC and University Drives about 2 miles from the campus. The current building was constructed in 1987. The church joined the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1998.

Planning for the church started in 1967 when a resolution to form a mission church was passed by the membership of Calvary Baptist Church of Edwardsville. In 1969, five acres of land was purchased for by the Illinois Baptist Association. This land was a substitute for land that was to be developed on the grounds of Southern Illinois University for a Baptist Student Union. The property on ESIC Drive at University Drive near the YMCA had close proximity to the newly formed Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. The property was seeded to ESIC Baptist Church for the site of their future church building in 1974.

The original mission of ESIC Baptist Church was to be a Baptist Church with outreach to the University. The church first held services at the Edwardsville YMCA on ESIC Drive.

The first “Shepard” for the church was W.J. Richardson, of the Madison County Baptist Association. Its first pastor was Thom Harvength who joined the church in October 1972. By September, 1973, the Church had grown and designated “Charter Members”, people who joined the church during its first year. By July of 1973, the church had adopted a constitution, by-laws, covenant, and confession of faith.

In 1975, ground was broken for the church building. The building was designed by Leonard Land and L. E. Spellman and dedicated in 1976. The building had a sanctuary, a small kitchen, an office, and a large open space that could be divided into classrooms with folding walls. A significant addition and remodeling of that structure occurred in 1987 - 88 resulting in the current building. The mortgage for the building and the addition was completely paid off in 2008.

ESIC Baptist Church was originally established as a Southern Baptist Church. In 1998, by a unanimous vote of the membership, the church left the Southern Baptist Convention and joined the Cooperative Baptist Association.