First Baptist Church — Church Directory

Quick Facts

Pastor — the shepherd God holds accountable Rev. Rosetta Stewart (18th Pastor, first woman pastor)

Founded 1870

Denomination SBC

Service Times Check website for times

Men's Ministry No

Kids Ministry No

Website www.fbccovington.org

Pastor Credentials Verify

10-Point Theological Scorecard

Christology

Is Jesus the only way? (John 14:6)

Historic African American Baptist — orthodox Trinitarian baseline assumed; specific creedal statement not surfaced.

Strong

Scripture

Inerrancy affirmed? Final authority?

High view of Scripture in Baptist tradition; explicit inerrancy framing not confirmed.

Caution

Men's Discipleship

Intentional formation for men?

Not stated on available sources.

Caution

Soteriology

Faith alone? How is salvation presented?

Baptist sola fide tradition; specific framing not surfaced.

Strong

Gender / Biblical Design

Biblical manhood and womanhood by God's design — patriarchal, complementarian, egalitarian, or affirming gender ideology?

Rev. Rosetta Stewart is the 18th Pastor and first woman pastor in the church's 152+ year history (installed c.2022) — egalitarian ordination; disqualifies for complementarian convictions.

Female senior pastor (Rev. Rosetta Stewart) — first woman pastor in church's 152+ year history

WARNING!

Leadership Structure

Male elders/pastors? Accountability?

Historic single-pastor Baptist model; deacon board likely but elder structure not confirmed.

Caution

Preaching Style

Expository or topical/therapeutic?

Not stated on available sources.

Caution

Mission Clarity

Great Commission central?

Historic community role since 1870; mission specifics not surfaced.

Caution

Cultural Alignment

DEI/CRT language? Social justice crowding out gospel?

Congregation's progressive trajectory implied by ordaining first woman pastor; no overt DEI language surfaced.

Caution

Accountability Structure

Denominational home, elder plurality, or external network — is the pastor answerable to anyone?

Homepage shows 'Meet Our Pastor' with photo but NO name rendered. Unable to confirm Rev. Rosetta Stewart by name via live fetch, but prior notes cite her as 18th Pastor and first woman pastor. Site makes no SBC Cooperative Program claim. Tag 'sbc' in source data likely incorrect — historic African American Baptist congregation with female pastor. Red CONFIRMED per prior gender evidence — held.

Caution

Assessment

First Baptist Church in Covington, VA. Needs evaluation.

#covington#shenandoah#sbc

Sources & Evidence

Enrichment Notes

IMPORTANT: The website fbccovington.org actually returns a DIFFERENT Covington VA FBC with lead pastor Cliff Marion (male). The historic 1870 African American FBC Covington with Rev. Rosetta Stewart has Facebook at BaptistChurch1870 but may not own fbccovington.org. The record here mixes two different churches — recommend splitting into two entries after verification.

These are the URLs consulted to arrive at this church's scoring. Score-note claims are synthesized from homepage content, denominational directories, and public statements of faith at the time of review. Church websites change frequently; we're progressively adding Internet Archive snapshots to prevent link rot.

[1] Live source fbccovington.org
[2] Archived snapshot web.archive.org/web/20260309085645/https://virginianrevie…
↳ Snapshot of virginianreview.com/232157/ (live link)
[3] Archived snapshot web.archive.org/web/20241221062320/https://en.wikipedia.o…
↳ Snapshot of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_(Covington,_Vi… (live link)

Transparency note: MOOP ratings are researcher judgments about publicly available theological and ecclesial evidence. They are not infallible. If a church's public posture has changed since our review, or if we've mis-read evidence, tell us — we publish corrections.