First Baptist Church of Los Lunas celebrates 85th birthday

LOS LUNAS — After celebrating 85 years in the county, the First Baptist Church of Los Lunas continues to follow the message of Ephesians 4:1 — “Live a life worthy of the calling.”

First Baptist Pastor James Runyon said he has never been a part of another congregation as hardworking as this one, from developing a community garden to hosting a weekly food bank and more service projects in between.

Runyan, who has been leading the church since 2013, said the church got off to a rough start in 1937, with church records showing deacons and elders at that time being forced to find refuge within the church walls in order to prevent some Catholics from burning down what the Baptists had built.

“We’ve been trying to keep going since that time,” Runyan said. “Success is a relative term. I come from the deep south where the churches are 2,000 (people) or better. When I moved here as a pastor from other churches, I had a choir bigger than this church.”

Today, the church has several community projects going.

The community garden, located on the eastern edge of the church property on Los Lentes Road SE, currently holds several plots which are utilized by both families within the church and broader community. The garden has a hydroponic system, a small catfish farm and even a few egg-laying chickens.

First Baptist Deacon Richard Montgomery says any excess produce which won’t be used by the growers will usually find its way to the community pantry.

Every Thursday morning, a truck from Roadrunner Food Bank  brings canned goods and other foods to the church volunteers so they can supply the weekly food bank.

“You’ll have a string of cars that start here on the dirt and it goes up to the curb back there,” Montgomery said of the line of people needing food on a weekly basis.

The food bank can typically serve anywhere from 25 to 70 families a week, with that number drastically increasing since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When all the other food pantries shut down, we had to take up the slack,” Runyon said. “We went from feeding six families a week to 60 families a week and it’s never slowed down.”

Community members can donate to the First Baptist of Los Lunas’ food pantry by sending items or monetary donations directly to the church. The food bank is held from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. every Thursday.

The church is currently in the process of constructing a new building to replace a temporary building, which had stood in the back of the worship hall for four decades. The new, 50-foot by 60-foot building will be the new home to the food pantry.

While it was originally expected to be finished by September, the project has been plagued by supply-chain issues and increasing costs of materials like many other construction projects.

In addition to the pantry, the new building will also house three classrooms to expand the church’s home-schooling co-op program, run through Abeka curriculum. Abeka produces Christian curriculum for primary and secondary grades.

Montgomery estimates about 40 students are currently enrolled in the co-op program. The classrooms will also be utilized for Sunday school classes.

In addition to the new building, the church has big plans for the rest of the 15-acre property, however nothing has yet come to fruition. They are currently tossing around ideas, such as building a soccer field to provide more activities for children in the community.

“We are working every day to live worthy of the calling, Ephesians 4:1,” the pastor said. “… That’s what the Christian walk is about. Sometimes it’s not about being thanked or being appreciated for the work; it’s doing the work.”