The Partial Gospel Baptist Church

Spartanburg, WV –Cumberland Park Full Gospel Baptist Church of Spartanburg, West Virginia voted last Sunday evening to change its name to Cumberland Park Partial Gospel Baptist Church.


The name change was originally sparked by a TBNN post back on February 19, 2008. In the post “72 Bible Verses that Simply Can’t Mean What They Say," Elder Eric, D. TSaB, reported on the published statement of Asbury Theological Seminary to help evangelical churches fend off the increasing threat posed by Calvinism.

"Someone from the church read the post, looked up the verses, and left everyone confused, especially me, said Pastor Walter Barnhill. "At the very next business meeting, we established a committee to see if we could determine what the verses really meant."


After months of study, the committee brought its findings before the church at the June 15th business meeting. The committee had a simple conclusion stating, in part, "Our best conclusion is that these 72 verses mean exactly what they say.”

Upon the reading of the report at the June 15th business meeting, confusing discussion ensued until someone asked, “Perhaps we should not be Full Gospel after all?” Before the meeting ended, a motion was passed to change the name to “Cumberland Park Partial Gospel Baptist Church” and amend the church’s statement on scripture to the following:

SCRIPTURE
*We believe that almost all of the holy bible is the inspired word of God.
*With only 72 questionable verses (see attached list of exceptions) the holy bible is a revelation from God to man.
*We believe the holy bible is the closest possible revelation (see attached exceptions) to the infallible and authoritative word of God that exists today.
*We believe the holy bible has supreme authority in almost all (see attached exceptions) matters of faith and conduct.
*We further believe that the holy bible is almost entirely (see attached exceptions) inerrant in the original manuscripts.

Pastor Walter Barnhill is adamant that the heart of the Gospel remains unchanged, “The central theme of the good news is the same: Jesus loves everybody and is waiting for you to choose Him.”