Our Beliefs
The Foundation Of Who We Are
One of the most important aspects of a church is what they believe because, ultimately, what they believe will dictate who they are, what they do, and who they do it with. In short, we desire to align our beliefs with the character of God as revealed in scripture. From the time of the Apostles to today, Christians have seen the benefit of setting forth in a concise fashion the cornerstone truths of their church as guided by Scripture. Our Statement of Beliefs summarizes essential Christian beliefs, shows unity in Christ, and guards the church from error. This statement affirms our belief in historic evangelical Christianity, believer’s baptism, and congregational polity.
Our Staff
Dr. Jay Worthington
Senior Pastor
Pastor Jay was born in Alabama before spending his childhood years in North and South Carolina. He received a Bachelor's in Business Management from Auburn University, a Master’s in Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
While at Auburn, Jay met his wife Frances, and after 25+ years of marriage, they have seven children; two biological, three adopted through foster care, and two adopted from China.
Jay has served churches full-time since 1997 in roles such as Student Pastor, Education Pastor, Children’s Pastor, and Executive Pastor. He has been at North Conway since 2022.
Before starting with North Conway, Jay and his family spent two years traveling the country full-time in an RV. You can see some of their adventures on their YouTube channel Find Your Crazy (https://www.youtube.com/@FindYourCrazy). Jay enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, traveling, reading books and playing video games.
Will O'Brien
Associate Pastor
Pastor Will was born and raised in Martinsburg, WV. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Coastal Carolina University and a Master of Theological Studies in Preaching and Pastoral Ministry from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Will met his wife, Tori, at a Starbucks in Denver, CO, in 2013 while serving on staff with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was interested in joining the FCA staff, and he was interested in her. It took a little while, but God's grace prevailed! They have been happily married since 2014 and are blessed with three wonderful children: Liam, Lily, and Lyla.
Before joining North Conway Baptist, Pastor Will served in various pastoral and ministry roles in Colorado and California, including Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, and College and Youth Pastor. He began his role at North Conway in June 2024.
In his free time, Will enjoys spending time with his family, reading, working out, watching sports, and golfing. He loves meeting new people and hearing their stories, so don’t hesitate to reach out and set up a time to connect.
Abbi was born and grew up in Conway. She was a member of the Acappella Choir, the All-County Chorus, and the All-State Honors Choir. Abbi attended the Governor’s School for the Arts for vocal performance and has studied and taught private voice lessons. Abbi attended North Greenville University for Church Music and Horry Georgetown Technical College for Business.
Abbi has been serving ministry at North Conway since 1999 in the roles of Music Director, Youth Director and is currently the Director of Music Ministries.
Abbi and her husband Jeff have been married since 1998 and have two sons.
Abbi enjoys spending time with her family, leading a mom's prayer group, volunteering at school, watching her sons play sports, listening to podcasts, and hosting fellowships.
Abbi Santa
Director of Worship Ministries
Chery Stevens
Director of Children’s Ministries
Chery was born and raised in Lancaster, SC. She attended Anderson University where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Ministry.
While at Anderson, she met her husband, Corey, who is a native of Horry County. They were married in October of 2016, and they now have one daughter and one son.
Chery began her ministry at the age of 18 in her hometown and home church in Lancaster, SC as the Director of Family Ministries overseeing the children and student ministries. Upon college graduation, this position moved to full-time where she served until marrying Corey and moving to Horry County.
Chery has been a member of North Conway since 2017, and began her role as Director of Children’s Ministries in September of 2018.
Chery enjoys visiting new places, drinking iced coffee, reading, writing, and spending time with her family.
Born and raised in Conway, SC, Bryce has been involved in student ministry his entire life. As the son of a former youth pastor, Bryce previously served in student leadership at Langston Baptist Church, Newsong Church, and now at North Conway for 10+ years.
Bryce attended the University of South Carolina and Coastal Carolina University, where he studied Accounting, Finance, and Sport Administration. Bryce is married to the incredibly talented Lauren Holmes Skipper, with whom he has two daughters, Rory and Sydney. He considers his family to be his most important ministry.
Bryce’s focus is to partner with parents to help strengthen our students’ foundation in Christ so they can not only be prepared for what the world throws at them but may also go out themselves and make disciples of those around them.
During his free time, Bryce is a Staff Accountant with FOCUS Broadband in Shallotte, NC. His passions include Gamecock Football, Golf, and all things Star Wars.
Favorite Quote: “Want to change the world, there’s nothing to it.” -Willy Wonka
Bryce Skipper
Director of Student Ministries
Our Story
North Conway Baptist Church began as a new mission work on June 3, 1956 with eleven members meeting in the 12 th Avenue Elementary School. Rev. W.F. Chambless, Director of Missions for the Waccamaw Baptist Association, became the leader of the new mission. The seed for this new church was planted when the Missions Committee of First Baptist Church of Conway saw a need for a new church in the North Conway Area.
The Southern Baptist Convention set a goal of establishing 30,000 new churches by 1964. These churches were to be established in areas where there were no nearby existing Baptist churches. NCBC is proud to be the very first of the 30,000 new works anticipated under this plan.
The mission needed a permanent meeting place, so plans were made to secure land and build a place to meet. The first wing of the present church building complex was completed in November 1956. The mission was organized into a church on December 2, 1956 just one week after the mission moved into its new building (the present East Wing). There were 95 charter members by then, forty of these having been received from First Baptist Church.
Our prayer for the days ahead is that the hope of the Gospel will continue forth from our church into Conway and to the regions beyond. Missions DNA was infused into our church from the very beginning because we were founded as a result of a missionary enterprise. May God continue to bless us in the years to come as we seek to serve and glorify Him.