Our Story
Established in 1859, White Hall Baptist Church is a small but vibrant congregation serving the community outside of Danville, PA. Our worship service tends to be centered on traditional styles of hymns, Bible-based expository sermons that help relate the truths of Scripture to daily life. Dress is casual, and no one is expected to dress up.
We do have junior church available for children 12 and under. This is a separate event held in our downstairs fellowship hall during the latter half of the regular worship service. During junior church there are fun activities, songs, and age appropriate Bible teachings by adults with clearances, and experience in caring for children.
We offer Zoom worship and the ability to tune in on 87.7FM in the parking lot for those who cannot join us for face-to-face services. Zoom may be accessed by most electronic devices at the following link: ZOOM (Meeting ID: 494 086 9445 Passcode: 15gy6a ).
Please join us for adult Sunday School at 10:15AM where we go through a prepared lesson, enjoy a brief opening devotional, and have coffee with refreshments. Many times these refreshments are home-baked by members of our class.
The congregation is active in many ways within the life of the church, including an American Baptist Women’s Ministries (ABWM) group. Our missions, offerings, and much of our outreach is coordinated through the ABWM, and they are always welcoming to people who want to join them.
White Hall Baptist Church is poised to grow and ready to see what God has in store for us next. Join us, won’t you? You are welcome here!
OUR MISSION
We glorify God by expressing our love in worship, serving others in love, growing as disciples of Jesus Christ through the study of God’s word, sharing the gospel with our world, and encouraging believers in Christian fellowship.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe:
- In one God who is infinite in wisdom, power and love, revealed in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
- That Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, born of the virgin Mary (without a human father involvement) by God’s Holy Spirit.
- Jesus Christ atoned for our sins on the cross and was resurrected bodily from the grave, and He is alive eternally.
- Salvation is by grace through faith in the completed work of Christ and personal acceptance of Him as Savior and Lord.
- The Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and is sufficient for living the Christian life through faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.
- The Bible reveals 10 Commandments, not 10 suggestions.
- Baptism is by total immersion of those who have believed in Jesus Christ’s person and work.
- Hell is literal and to be avoided, and Heaven is also literal and to be gained.
- The Church Universal consists of all true believers in Christ of all ages and the whole world.
- The local church is the people of the Body of Christ gathered in a specific location for worship, fellowship, and service to Christ.
About Pastor John McCarty
I was raised mostly in suburban neighborhoods in Delaware with my younger sister, Gillian. Our parents were not Christian even though they had been raised in the church. They felt that we would choose our beliefs when we grew old enough to decide. I do remember having some exposure to Christian churches, and individual Christians but I never had an experience that drew me to find out more about Jesus. Mostly, I felt judged by those representing Christ, unworthy to approach Him. Nevertheless, looking back, I see God reaching into my life to slowly ease my resistance, and bring me to salvation.
It was not until my early twenties that I came to a tipping point in my relationship with God. Half-way through my sophomore year in college I got a new roommate who happened to be a new Christian. His name was Mark, and he tried his best to introduce me to Jesus. I tried my best to stall him and dismiss his invitations to church until finally I agreed to attend services with him to shut him up. One Sunday led to more and finally one week I remember feeling the pull of the Spirit to go forward on the altar call. Because of the tears in my eyes I couldn’t see the lyrics of the hymn “Just As I Am” before I stumbled forward to the front. I prayed with the pastor and gave my life to Jesus.
Almost immediately it was as if my life past-forwarded toward what God wanted me to do over the next years. I felt a call to do something more with my life than just become a therapist, which had been my goal after graduation. It seemed as if God was nudging me toward pastoral ministry to broaden my impact on people’s lives.
In 1986, after graduating with a BA in psychology from Shippensburg University, I began attending Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. My call continued to change as I found the facets of what God was revealing to me. This change came as result of an exceptionally good internship at a south Jersey church, and later as I met and became engaged to my wife, Margie. We are both pastors, and our first charges were together.
After a challenging first pastorate in upstate New York, I had all but given up on the ministry, and resigned myself to working in restaurants, or anywhere else other than the church. It was not until a few years after we had moved to Pennsylvania with our first son and were raising a second that I felt that maybe God had not given up on me as a pastor. White Hall Baptist contacted me for pulpit supply. As it happened, they were looking for a pastor, so I eventually agreed to be interim pastor. They called me as pastor, and God used this time as one of reinvigorating, and healing me as a person, and as a pastor. I had seven great years with White Hall Baptist when my wife was called to northeast PA where we each served different churches until 2020.
We moved to Bloomsburg in June of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, and even as I searched for work, I asked God that if He had another pastorate for me, that it work out the best way possible. In the meantime, I started working as a cook at a local restaurant. It’s been amazing that White Hall was looking for a pastor and that I have the chance to serve there again. I look forward to what the Lord has in mind.
White Hall Baptist Church 