Our History
We began in 1962 as a mission. One year later, Cavanaugh Free Will Baptist Church was officially organized and moved into our original building at 7817 Holly Street in the Cavanaugh community of Fort Smith, Arkansas. We began with 32 charter members and Rev. Dick Shipley as our pastor.
Over the years, our church grew and was blessed. With faith that God would continue to bless us, we purchased land and built a new sanctuary and educational building at 2825 Grinnell Avenue in 1976. The original building now houses our Family Life Center and our childcare ministry, the Cavanaugh Children’s Center.
Seven years later, a small gym and fellowship hall were added. This building is now the home of Kid’s Territory, where our children worship every week.
In 1992, we began construction on a new 650-seat sanctuary, which now serves as our student ministry worship center. The building also houses four classrooms for small group study. That sanctuary was completed in June of 1993.
We added a 10,000-square-foot Administration and Education Complex in 1999, which has offices for the staff and several classrooms used for events and Bible studies.
In 2011, the church voted to purchase the properties surrounding our campus and construct a new worship center with an expanded parking lot. And in 2020, that God-given dream started to become a reality when we broke ground on our new worship center and Wee Worship area, adding 24,000 square feet and 215 new parking spaces to our campus.
Last year, we launched the It’s Our Turn campaign and opened our new, state-of-the-art worship center. Cavanaugh is proud of our rich history of taking bold steps when God calls and serving the River Valley in His name.