About Us

About Us

We're more than just a building

Beth Haven Baptist Church is an exciting church with a love for people that flows from our love for God. We have a heart to make you feel welcome and accepted no matter what phase of life you are in. We are passionate about following God, as all of us realize we aren’t perfect. If you’re looking for a relevant message from a timeless book, then you will enjoy BHBC! We have clear Bible preaching, a warm friendly atmosphere, a vision for the future, and a passion for knowing God.

People from all across the OKC metro have found Beth Haven a place to call home. I hope you’ll join us this Sunday. You, too, may find that BHBC is your “place to call home!”

Our History

Where we came from

On August 7, 1988, the Beth Haven Baptist Church had it’s humble beginnings. Founding Pastor, Ivan Casteel, planted the church out of Maranatha Baptist Church in Newcastle, OK. Services were held in the living room of his home, and God began to work and bless. 

Beth Haven soon built their first building at the current location, and people in the community began to attend. The leadership of the church had a burden to train young men and women for the ministry as well as provide training to
preachers already in the ministry. They placed a special emphasis on Biblical Counseling, and Beth Haven
Baptist Seminary was founded – Fall 1996. 

On May 3, 1999, an F-5 tornado tore through Moore-South OKC and completely leveled the church building.
Interestingly, earlier that morning, Pastor Casteel had just made final building payment for the church.

As Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.”
  God allowed the church to rebuild and most of the 
current-day church building was built during early 2000.

A few years later in October of 2008, Pastor Casteel resigned with a recommendation that the church call Rick Carter, Jr. to be it’s next pastor. Pastor Rick had graduated from Beth Haven Baptist Seminary, spent several years in church planting and evangelism, and was pastoring a church he started out of BHBC in The Dalles, OR. God led him to accept the call of the church, and the church voted him as the next pastor.

Much was accomplished while Pastor Rick led the church. Physically, The fellowship wing add-on, the Administrative Office Bldg (Bldg B), acquiring an education center which in turn God “multiplied” into the donation of the new Seminary Bldg — we were all blessed to witness the miraculous hand of God at work. Spiritually, the church grew in number, in doctrine, and in faith! Academically, the church launched Beth Haven Baptist Academy and Beth Haven Baptist Seminary soared to new heights.

In September of 2023, Beth Haven called Joshua Carter (Pastor Rick’s brother) to come as a Co-pastor, laboring alongside the church as the ministries were expanding beyond what one man could oversee. There was a sweet harmony and unity in leadership that led the church through the days ahead. Nearly two years later, Pastor Rick felt God’s call to resign as pastor and go into full-time evangelism and missionary helps ministry. The H.O.P.E. Recovery Program (written by Pastor Rick) had blossomed to the point that thousands of local chapters had formed across the United States and many other countries. God desired that the practical truths developed through many years of Biblical Counseling be spread through Pastor Rick and Mrs. Angela’s new chapter of ministry.

As of January, 2025, Pastor Josh Carter was the sole pastor of Beth Haven Baptist Church. The church was prepared for this transition long before it occurred by the will of God. It is such an exciting time to be a member of Beth Haven and we hope you’ll join us soon!

Our Beliefs

1. We believe the Authorized King James Bible is the Inspired, Inerrant, Infallible and preserved Word of God for English speaking people and use it exclusively.  We accept the Bible as the supreme and only authority in faith and life.  We do not however hold the Ruckman position of double inspiration.

2. We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

3. We believe that the Genesis account of creation is to be accepted literally, not allegorically or figuratively; that man was created directly in God’s own image and was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary change of species.

4. We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of Mary, a virgin, and is true God and true man.

5. We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also that spiritual death which is separation from God and literal eternal judgment in Hell and the Lake of fire: and that all human beings are sinners in thought, word, and deed.

6. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.

7. We believe that Salvation is by grace through faith without the addition of any works.  We believe that repentance is necessary to salvation.  We reject the doctrinal errors of both Calvinism and Arminianism. We believe in both the response of man, and the sovereignty of God, that when man chooses to accept salvation, he is kept by the power of God unto the day of redemption (eternal security).

8. We believe in believers only baptism, that baptism by immersion is an answer of good conscious toward God. That salvation and scriptural baptism are requirements to membership in the Local New Testament Church, but that baptism holds no saving power.

9. That the Church of our Lord is a visible, local, self governing body of believers who have been baptized and that there are only two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s supper, both of which are administered only to believers.  We reject the doctrine of the universal church.

10. We believe that upon salvation the believer is sealed and indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God. We are non charismatic, and do not believe that speaking in tongues, or signs and wonders are actively being used by the Holy Spirit of God today.

11. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present life there as High Priest and Advocate.  We believe as well that because of His bodily resurrection we will also be bodily raised and given a new glorified body to live with Him forever.

12.  We are dispensational in theology and believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the saints and a Pre-Millennial return of Christ to set up His literal Kingdom on this earth.

Outreach

Missions

Because we believe that reaching the lost is the responsibility of all believers, Beth Haven is actively involved in both local and
global missions. We financially support over seventy missionaries from all across the world to help further the good news that Jesus saves.

What is Missions?

The definition of missions is evangelizing the lost. It is the result of both a passion for the person of God (1 Corinthians 9:16) and
obedience to the command of God (Mark 16:15). Missions centers on God – not on a need, although it is great; not on a burden, although it may be present; and not on the lost though there be many, but entirely on God. The demonstration of missions is threefold and involves: going, telling, and making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

The deployment of missions is by degree and should be local, regional, national, and global, and all should be done concurrently (Acts 1:8).

What is Faith Promise Missions giving?

Faith Promise Missions giving is for the furtherance of missions that is beyond the tithe. It is not a pledge to the church, but it is a commitment between the giver and God. As with all giving, faith is the key, trusting God to provide that which He has prompted the giver to give.

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