Southern Oaks Baptist Church

What Southern Oaks Baptist Church does

Southern Oaks Baptist Church is a private nonprofit religious organization founded in 1965 and headquartered at 601 E Amherst Drive in Tyler, Texas. Operating under the Southern Baptist Convention theological tradition and led by Lead Teaching Pastor Dr. Brandon Holiski (since July 2014), the church serves the Tyler and East Texas community through a broad ministry portfolio anchored by two Sunday morning worship services — an 8:30 a.m. Classic Worship with choir and orchestra and an 11:10 a.m. Contemporary Worship with a praise team — separated by a 9:45 a.m. Sunday School hour. The congregation is supported by an age-segmented discipleship structure (Children, Youth for 6th-12th grade, College, Men's, Women's, Senior Adults), a G.R.O.U.P.S. small-group ministry, a Mother's Day Out licensed childcare program, a Music Ministry (Celebration Choir, Orchestra, Praise Team, Children's Choir, Youth Praise Band), and the Voices of Faith Choirs choral program for East Texas youth. The church also operates the S.O.I.L. (Southern Oaks Institute of Learning) Contextualized Leadership Development program in partnership with Spurgeon College at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, delivering tuition-free accredited courses, and runs an S.O.S. Initiatives outreach program and an Acts 1:8-aligned Missions program with international trips (e.g., Ecuador).

The church's technology stack is modest and entirely third-party: an Ekklesia 360 website CMS hosts welovethegospel.com with sermon archives, Bible reading plans, and digital connection cards; Church Center (sobctyler.churchcenter.com) powers online giving and event registration; YouTube hosts sermon streaming with downloadable PDF notes and transcripts; and Facebook serves as the primary social channel. No proprietary software, APIs, mobile apps, or AI/ML capabilities are evident. Annual recurring programs include Vacation Bible School, Music Camp, and Youth Camp, with the 2026 slate already published.

Revenue is generated almost entirely from voluntary tithes and offerings (recurring donations) routed through Church Center, supplemented by tiered Mother's Day Out tuition ($215-$580/month per family plus registration and supply fees) and, indirectly, the S.O.I.L. program which is tuition-free. All other ministry services, programs, and events are free to attend. The church employs 19 staff and is governed by congregational Baptist polity with elders/deacons; it maintains no parent company, subsidiaries, or external investor involvement, and reports no public financials.

Name

Southern Oaks Baptist Church

Legal name

Southern Oaks Baptist Church

Website

https://welovethegospel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1965

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Southern Oaks Baptist Church is a Tyler, Texas-based Southern Baptist congregation founded in 1965, offering Sunday worship services, age-segmented discipleship ministries, Mother's Day Out childcare, theological education (S.O.I.L.), and community outreach to families and individuals across East Texas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131), Religious Organizations (81311), Religious Organizations (813110)

SIC

Services-Child Day Care Services (8351)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAJAA

Local Congregations & Worship Communities (Churches, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Religious & Faith-Based Organizations

SECONDARYBPAGAJAG

Faith-Based Social Services & Community Outreach (Food Pantries, Shelters, Counseling)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Religious & Faith-Based Organizations

SECONDARYBPAGAJAE

Faith-Based Missions & Evangelism Organizations (Domestic & International)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Religious & Faith-Based Organizations

SECONDARYEDAHACAF

Religiously Affiliated Liberal Arts Colleges

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Liberal Arts Colleges

Keywords

• Religious services
• Worship services
• Biblical education
• Youth ministry programs
• Childcare services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tyler

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Tithes and Offerings: Church receives voluntary contributions from congregation members during worship services and through online giving platforms

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Southern Oaks Baptist Church is a Southern Baptist congregation in Tyler, Texas that delivers in-person worship services, age-specific discipleship ministries (children, youth, college, men's, women's, senior adults), theological education through its S.O.I.L. program, community outreach missions, and a licensed Mother's Day Out childcare program. All ministries are free to attend and supported by voluntary tithes and offerings from the congregation.

Product overview

Southern Oaks Baptist Church is a traditional Baptist congregation in Tyler, TX, offering a broad portfolio of ministry programs rather than a unified technology product. The church's offerings are organized around in-person worship services (traditional and contemporary Sunday services with supporting Sunday School), age-segmented discipleship ministries (Children, Youth, College, Men's, Women's), and specialized programs including the Mother's Day Out childcare program, Voices of Faith Choirs, a Music Ministry (Celebration Choir, Orchestra, and Praise Team), the SOIL theological education program in partnership with Spurgeon College/Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, community outreach (S.O.S. Initiatives), an international missions program, sermon archives, and seasonal events (Vacation Bible School, Music Camp, Youth Camp). The church also provides digital engagement through an online sermon library, Church Center for giving/registrations, and the Ekklesia 360 CMS-powered website. All programs are free to attend; the Mother's Day Out operates on a tuition model.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sunday Worship Services
• Mother's Day Out
• G.R.O.U.P.S. Discipleship Ministry
• S.O.I.L. (Southern Oaks Institute of Learning)
• Children's Ministry
• Youth Ministry
• College Ministry
• Music Ministry
• Voices of Faith Choirs
• S.O.S. Initiatives (Southern Oaks Samaritans)
• Missions Program
• Sermons
• Men's and Women's Ministry
• Prayer and Care Ministry
• Membership Program
• Vacation Bible School An annual week-long summer Bible program for children (completed Pre-K through 6th grade). The 2026 VBS is titled 'Illumination Station' and runs June 15-18, 2026.
• Music Camp An annual summer music camp for children (completed 1st-5th grade). Includes breakout classes in choreography, instruments, drama, puppets, and art, culminating in a performance. Free to attend. The 2026 camp runs July 27-31.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Spurgeon College at Midwestern Baptist Theological SeminarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSouthern Oaks Baptist Church has partnered with Spurgeon College (undergraduate division of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries) to deliver Contextualized Leadership Development (CLD) courses. These accredited courses offer pathways to tuition-free undergraduate credit applicable to certificates, diplomas, or degrees. The S.O.I.L. (Southern Oaks Institute of Learning) program provides ministry training for small group leaders, Sunday School teachers, ministry staff, pastoral residents, missionary team members, and interns.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Green Acres Baptist Church: A long-standing Southern Baptist congregation headquartered in Tyler, Texas. Operates in the same immediate geography and denominational tradition with similar ministry breadth, making it the most directly comparable peer for membership and program overlap.
• Second Baptist Church Houston: A multi-campus SBC-affiliated church in Houston with comparable ministry breadth (children, youth, adults, education, missions). Provides a reference point for what a multi-site scaling path could look like for a Texas SBC congregation.
• Prestonwood Baptist Church: A large SBC-affiliated church in Plano, Texas offering a comparable portfolio of age-segmented ministries, education programs, and missions work. Similar in theological identity though materially larger in scale.

Broad incumbents

• Elevation Church: A large multi-site evangelical church in Charlotte, NC with strong digital content strategy and age-segmented ministries. Comparable in digital engagement model but operates at substantially greater scale.
• North Point Community Church: A multi-campus evangelical church in the Atlanta metro area known for its small-groups strategy. Comparable ministry design philosophy though much larger in scale and operating in a different region.
• First Baptist Dallas: A major SBC-affiliated megachurch in downtown Dallas. Operates in the same Texas Baptist ecosystem with broader programming, media reach, and theological-education infrastructure, though at a substantially larger scale.
• Saddleback Church: A large evangelical congregation in Lake Forest, California with a similarly structured small-group and educational programming model. Operates at national scale but offers comparable ministry architecture.
• Bellevue Baptist Church: A historic SBC-affiliated megachurch in Memphis, TN. Similar denominational foundation and ministry breadth, but with national media reach and a substantially larger operational footprint.
• Watermark Community Church: A large non-denominational evangelical church in Plano/Dallas, TX. Comparable in age-segmented ministry structure and community outreach, but operates with a broader evangelical identity rather than SBC affiliation.

Regional players

• McLean Bible Church: A large evangelical congregation in the Washington D.C. metro area with multi-site campuses and similar age-segmented programming. Comparable in ministry breadth but operates in a different geographic market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Southern-Oaks-Baptist-Church-176645309053710
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southern-oaks-baptist-church

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Southern Oaks Baptist Church