50 years, showing forth the path of life

For fifty years, Good News Baptist Church has served as a gospel light in Chesapeake, VA. The church began on Wednesday, April 12, 1972 at the home of Jerry and Libby Yarbrough. The first service was held on Sunday, April 16 and the church was officially chartered. Rev. Dallas Ainsley was the founding Pastor. On July 1, 1973, the first service was held in new facilities built at the current location of Good News at the corner of Bruce Road and Taylor Road. Since then, an educational wing, a fellowship hall, and a new auditorium have been added and many improvements have been made to the facilities.

Four men have served as senior pastor of Good News. Dallas Ainsley was the founding pastor and continued in that position until 1984, when Mac Palmer became the new pastor. In 1991, Mac Palmer stepped down and Walt Coles became pastor. Pastor Coles led Good News from 1991 to 2014, when Mike Ascher followed him as pastor.

The church’s first Missions Conference was held in 1974. Since then, Good News has supported over one hundred different missionary families. Currently, Good News serves as the home church for eight active missionaries serving around the world. Over the years, Good News has contributed nearly six million dollars to the work of worldwide missions and missionary work continues to be a great passion for our church. Over the years, groups from Good News have taken missions trips to Bolivia, St. Kitts, and Canada, among other places and have encouraged and supported missionaries all around the western hemisphere.

We are grateful for every opportunity to reach out locally and internationally. We are honored to be the home of Armed Forces Baptist Missions , a missions board seeking to reach the military with the gospel. We are also blessed to be the host Iglesia Bautista Buenas Nuevas, an autonomous Hispanic church seeking to reach Spanish-speakers in our area.

As we look back at fifty years, we can truly say that we have been witnesses of God’s grace and power and we look forward to many more years together, showing forth the path of life.