Who We Are

Unity Baptist Church in its current form is the result of a 2014 merger of Centerpoint Church & the former Unity Baptist Church.

The original Unity Baptist Church was founded in the Millington area in 1988.  They moved to the current UBC location (9596 Evander Road, Millington TN) in 2000.

Centerpoint was a 2001 plant of Faith Baptist Church in Bartlett, Tennessee.  It was located in the Lakeland suburb of Memphis until the merger.

Unity Baptist is a place where God is worshiped as sovereign & glorious, and where the Bible is held up as the ultimate authority for our faith & practice.  More information on who we are & what we’re about is available in the links in the drop-down menu.

We hope you’ll take the opportunity to visit one of our public services & join with us in celebrating God’s goodness in worship & sitting under the teaching of His Word.

Unity Baptist Church exists to magnify the supremacy of Christ &
the centrality of the gospel to our neighborhoods & to the world.

Elders

The Bible teaches that individual local churches are to be led by a plurality of qualified men identified in Scripture by three interchangeable terms: Elder, Overseer/Bishop, & Pastor. We have chosen to use the title Elder because it’s the term used most frequently in Scripture to describe these leaders.

At Unity Baptist Church, Elders are jointly responsible for leadership, ministry in prayer, pastoral care, & supervision of teaching ministry for the church family. Each Elder has full pastoral authority over the body, & the Elders have pastoral authority over each other.

  • Dr. Louis Brenton

    Louis grew up in Indiana but has lived in the Memphis, Tennessee area for much of his adult life. He is a graduate of Ball State University where he majored in Religious Studies. In addition, he holds a Master’s Degree from Memphis Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Practical Theology from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his major fields of interest include practical theology, expository preaching, and mentor discipleship.

    Louis became a Christian early in his freshman year of college. He began serving in professional ministry when he was 19 years old, and since then he has served the Kingdom in the positions of youth pastor, senior pastor, and college professor. Louis has been married to his wife Monica since 1998 and they have four children: Israel, Gabriel, Hannah, & Esther.

  • Mark Driver

    Mark has lived in the Memphis area his entire life. He is a graduate of Christian Brothers University where he majored in Business Administration and then obtained his CPA.

    Mark likes to say that he attended church 9 months before he was born. Raised in a Christian home, he was blessed to come to know Christ at the early age of 10. Mark was called into lay leadership with the then Centerpoint Church in 2003. Mark has been married to his wife Christine since 1989 and they have three daughters: Kelsey, Morgan and Alexis, and two grandsons Titus and Asher.

  • Mark Byrd

    Mark has lived in the Tipton County area since he was 11 years old, currently resides in Munford with his wife Katherine and son Owen.

    Mark came to Christ just before he turned 16, and felt the call to ministry when he was 17. He is pursuing a degree in Biblical Studies at Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary, and became an elder of Unity Baptist in 2022.

  • Nick Bacoka

    Nick Bacoka has called the Shelby Forest home since 2021. Wrapping up a 20-year career with the U.S. Navy that took him from Virginia to Hawaii and back again, Nick has finally dropped anchor in the forest. Alongside his wife Laura, he's navigating the adventure of parenthood with their eight children, all aged 9 or younger: Uriah, Ephraim, Asaph, Isaiah, Celia, Oshea, Nehemiah, and Eliza.

    Having heard the Gospel call at a tender age, he was baptized upon the profession of faith when he was 15. Currently, Nick is pursuing a diploma at the International Reformed Baptist Seminary in Mansfield, Texas. He was installed as an Elder in 2023.

Deacons

The office of Deacon is a servant position, filled by biblically qualified men who assist the Elders in order to free up the Elders to be able to pastor.  Deacons are responsible for managing the practical concerns of the church, including finances, property, & benevolence ministry.

  • Bucky Bullock

  • Kevin Cockerell

  • Larry Glover

  • Carl Quick