TRAVELING MINISTRY

Traveling Minister/Circuit rider is a popular term referring to clergy in the earliest years of the United States who were assigned to travel around specific geographic territories to minister to settlers and organize congregations. In sparsely populated areas of the United States it always has been common for clergy in many denominations to serve more than one congregation at a time, a form of church organization sometimes called a "preaching circuit."

Because of the distance between churches, these preachers would ride on horseback. They were popularly called circuit riders, or saddlebag preachers. These frontier clergy were never officially called "circuit riders," but the name was appropriate and it "stuck." Officially they were called "traveling" clergy. They traveled with few possessions, carrying only what could fit in their saddlebags. They traveled through wilderness and villages, they preached every day at any place available (peoples' cabins, courthouses, fields, meeting houses, later even basements and street corners). Unlike clergy in urban areas, circuit riders were always on the move. Many circuits were so large that it would take 5 to 6 weeks to cover them.

The Holy Scriptures:

We believe the Scripture: A MAN HEART DEVISETH THE WAY; BUT THE LORD DIRECTETH HIS PATH. (PROVERBS 16) MAN HAS A PLAN, BUT GOD HAS A PURPOSE

God
We believe in one God, Creator of and Sovereign over all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Deut. 6:4; Gen. 1:1; Ps. 115:3; 1 Tim 1:17; Matt. 28:19)
We believe that the Father, through creation, is father to all men.  He becomes, by the grace of adoption, the intimate father of all whom He has sovereignty redeemed through Jesus Christ. (Acts 17:19; Gal. 4:4-6; Eph. 1:5) 
We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and truly man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Through His perfect obedience and atoning death, He has fully satisfied the justice of God, propitiating God’s wrath and securing eternal righteousness for all who receive Him through faith.  He arose bodily from the dead and has ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He is now High Priest and Advocate for all who believe. (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35; 2 Cor. 5:21; Romans 3:24-25; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Heb 4:14-16)
We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and, that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all who believe into the body of Christ, indwelling, guiding, empowering, and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14)
 
Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God, but in Adam's sin, fell, inheriting a sinful nature, becoming alienated from God, and, of himself, is utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3,12).
 
Salvation
We believe that salvation is wholly of God, ordained by the Father, purchased by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. (Rom. 8:28-29; Eph. 1:4-6; Acts 20:28; John 3:5-7)
We believe that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ provides the only ground for justification and redemption for all who believe, and that this salvation is by the grace of God alone, obtained through faith alone in the work of Christ alone. 
(Rom. 4:25; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-9)
 
The Church
We believe that the true Church is composed of all such persons who have exercised saving faith in Jesus Christ, been born of the Spirit, and by the Spirit are united together in the Body of Christ of which the Lord Jesus is the Head. (1 Cor. 1:2; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 12:13; Col. 1:18) 
We believe that Believer’s baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church. They are, however, not to be regarded as means of salvation. (Matt 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)
 
Last Things
We believe in the personal, visible, bodily, and imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that this, "Blessed Hope," has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer. (Acts 1:11; 1 Thes 4:15-17; Titus 2:12-13)
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. (Matt 25:46; John 5:28-29)