Landmark Baptist Church Haines City FL

Landmark Baptist Church strives to meet the Biblical standard of a church, and fully meet the Spiritual needs of its people. The Bible tells us that we are to win people to Christ, baptize them, and train them to do likewise. That we should strive to teach others, that they, in turn, may teach their children to walk in the ways of righteousness. These commands from Scripture are followed in practical ways at Landmark and combine to form the basis of our Church.

Doctrinal Statement

Landmark Baptist Church is proud of its Baptist doctrine, practice, and heritage. We are proud to defend the fundamentals of the faith, and we support without compromise the old King James Bible. We believe in aggressive evangelism, the preservation of God's Word, Christian Education and the local church.

A Bible Baptist is one who believes in a supernatural Bible, which tells of a supernatural Christ, Who had a supernatural birth, Who spoke supernatural words, Who performed supernatural miracles, Who lived a supernatural life, Who died a supernatural death, Who rose in supernatural splendor, and Who will one day return in supernatural glory to establish a supernatural kingdom on earth.

 

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Our History

Landmark Baptist Church began as the First Missionary Baptist Church founded by Bill Edmonston in November of 1958. The first meetings were held in the local VFW. God blessed the church, and in July of 1959, they moved into their own building with 50 charter members. The Lord called Pastor Edmonston to another work and during the next ten years Jimmy Walker and then Paul Crouch served as Pastor. In 1967, Pastor Edmonston returned and the following year a new auditorium was completed. In the fall of 1970, the Lord led Pastor Edmonston to take a church in Tallahassee.

On Wednesday night, December 23, 1970, Mickey Carter was unanimously voted as Pastor. On Pastor Carter's first official Sunday, January 3, 1971, the Sunday school attendance was 37.

In the late summer of 1972, the decision was made to start a Christian day school. Just a few weeks later, the school opened in classrooms adjacent to the east side of the main auditorium, with approximately 30 students from kindergarten through 3rd grade.

With attendance growing almost weekly, a new auditorium was built in 1974 on property adjacent to the east side of the old auditorium and day school. Attendance the first Sunday, August 11, was 706.

The plans to start a summer youth camp were presented at the Watch Night service that year. Ten acres had been donated by a longtime member of Landmark for this purpose and Pastor Carter and members of the church began to clear the land on New Year's Day. The first camp session at "Camp Glory" was in August of 1975. Later the church had the opportunity to purchase 40 adjoining acres. Before the first payment was due, a member of the church paid the note. The camp now occupies 50 acres located a few miles northeast of the main church property. Junior Camp is held during the third week of June for 2nd - 6th graders and Teen Camp is held during the third week of July for 7th - 12th graders. Many young people have been saved or surrendered their lives to Christ through this outreach.

The Christian day school program was extended through the 12th grade by the start of the 1975 - 1976 school year. The summer of 1976 brought two miracles for our school ministry: 1) previously unavailable (and much needed) land adjacent to the east side of the main auditorium became available and 2) on one day, Sunday, June 6, $100,000 was raised to make the down payment on the property and build the gymnasium and classrooms.

In 1979, First Missionary Baptist Church's name was changed to Landmark Baptist Church. This change was based upon Proverbs 22:28.

During that same year, Pastor Carter was burdened to establish a college dedicated to the same principles upon which the church was founded. The college was originally housed on the property east of the main auditorium.

1979 also brought the start of an outreach program to the senior citizens of our area. Originally called Super Sixties, the Senior Patriots meet each Saturday from November through March for preaching, singing, fellowship and lunch. There are also opportunities to go on day trips to local attractions. This ministry encourages both physical and spiritual activity throughout the "golden years."

The radio ministry began in 1971 with a 15-minute question and answer series each Sunday morning on a local AM station. In 1973, Dr. Carter began broadcasting the morning worship service. In the early '80's the radio station came under new management and Landmark was forced off the air. The new station did not last long and was eventually purchased and given to Landmark through the generosity of one of our members. On April 6, 1986, WLVF (We're Landmark's Voice of Faith) began to broadcast at 930 on the AM dial.

Landmark Baptist Christian Retirement Village was started in 1985. The village property is on the west side of the church and includes 78 privately owned homes and a chapel where Bible studies and special events are held.

The balcony of the auditorium was extended in 1987 to accommodate the continued growth of the church membership.

In 1989, the church added a much-needed fellowship hall adjacent to the back of the auditorium which included a commercial size kitchen and cafeteria for the day school.

In 1990, the 90.3 FM frequency was added to the radio ministry, and Gospel 90.3 became a favorite in Central Florida.

The Spanish ministry was started in 1992, Iglesia Bautista Landmark.

As the Lord blessed and attendance continued to grow, the auditorium was once again enlarged to its current size in 1996.

In 1997, Landmark Baptist College moved forward in growth and expansion. The historic, ten-story Palm Crest Hotel in downtown Haines City was obtained and renovated for use as a college campus. The radio station's broadcast studios were relocated to this property as well. The building is one mile west of the church facilities on Hinson Avenue. Since then, LBC has also obtained the two buildings of the former Holiday Motel (directly across the street from the Palm Crest Hotel) as well as the former First Presbyterian Church campus. These facilities have provided a greatly increased number of dorm rooms, classrooms, a beautiful chapel, Christian bookstore, social parlor, snack shop and recreation room.

In August of 2001, Gospel 90.3 began to broadcast worldwide on the internet at gospel903.com. This was done, in part, to enable many of our winter residents to listen year-round. It also provides an excellent source of good music for the missionaries supported by Landmark Baptist Church, most of whom do not have a conservative gospel radio station in their field of service.

The Christian school continues to grow and on Sunday, March 16, 2008, Landmark Baptist Church and Christian School held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new gymnasium in honor of the late Rich Lemon. Brother Rich Lemon was a graduate of Landmark Christian School and Landmark Baptist College. He served on the Landmark Baptist Church staff and was the youth leader when he went to be with the Lord in 2004.

Our Pastor's History

Dr. Mickey Carter has been the pastor of Landmark Baptist Church in Haines City, FL since 1971. He is also the author of Things That are Different are Not the Same and The Elephant in the Living Room. Both books major on God's promise to preserve the pure Word of God. Dr. Carter has also written Trophy of Grace which that tells of his personal testimony and his newest book His Hand Is Real.

Pastor Carter was born in Georgia but has lived in Florida since his family moved to Haines City when he was in the third grade. As a young man, he began racing cars and became well known in the area for his success in racing. He became interested in dating a young lady named Sonja Wright, but she was a Christian and said the only place she would go with him was to church. She was a member of an independent Baptist church and after a few services, he fell under conviction and was saved. Through his testimony and concern for his family, his parents and brother were soon saved, as well.

Dr. and Mrs. Carter were married on August 30, 1957, and began serving the Lord together. After a few years, God called him to preach. Upon graduation from Bible college, he was called as pastor of Gant Lake Baptist Church near Webster, Florida. In January 1971, God called him back to Haines City to take the pastorate of Landmark Baptist.

God has blessed and multiplied Dr. Carter's ministry tremendously. Landmark Baptist Church has grown from an attendance of 37 on that first Sunday in 1971 to an average attendance of over 1,250. The record attendance of 4,142 was set in January, 2009.

One verse that Pastor Carter often quotes is Zech. 4:6b. It is his goal to finish the course in a way that would be pleasing to God. God has blessed Landmark, through Pastor Carter's leadership, to establish many ministries to see souls saved and lives changed for the glory God, including the Bus Ministry, Spanish Ministry, Fishers of Men, Phoster Club, Key to Life Prison Ministry, Camp Glory, Senior Patriots, WLVF Gospel Radio, Landmark Christian Schools and Landmark Baptist College. The church also helps support over 150 missionaries worldwide.

Pastor Carter's stand for the Authorized King James Version of the Bible is known throughout America and in other countries. Many pastors and laymen have been impacted through his stand to remain true to the inspired and preserved Word of God. His understanding of this crucial issue, has helped stem the tide of compromise in good churches across America and now, through missionaries and national pastors, in other countries, too.

In 2001, with the liberal attack on the display of the Ten Commandments in public places, Dr. Carter, with our county commissioners, began an effort to place a monument in our county administration building that would document the true history of law in America. The monument, named the "American Heritage Foundation Rock," was installed in an official ceremony on September 11, 2003, and is engraved with quotes of our founding fathers, other orders of law that influenced our legal system and the Ten Commandments. A replica of the Liberty Bell sits atop the seven-foot marble monument.

Dr. Carter's main emphasis has always been soul-winning, but on occasion, he has also had to take a stand as a citizen for issues of freedom and decency. In his early years of ministry, he helped rid the county of so -called "adult bookstores," and in 2003 was made an honorary deputy of Polk County by Sheriff Lawrence Crow. He stood with Lester Roloff when the state of Texas threatened to close down the Roloff homes. He has fought in both Washington, D.C., and Tallahassee, Florida, to preserve freedom for our Christian schools and colleges.

Dr. and Mrs. Carter have one son, Steven. He and his wife Paula have four children.