Bethel Baptist Church
Pastors laying hands on Brandon Bankert at his ordination, December 2025

About Bethel

Forty-two years. Still going.

A church planted in Inverness in 1984, at home in Hernando since 1994, and in the middle of what its pastor calls the Re-Growth.

Pastor Brandon Bankert with his wife and their three children in front of the cross at Bethel Baptist Church
Pastors laying hands on Brandon Bankert at his ordination, December 2025
Pastor Bankert at the pulpit with a child beside him, poinsettias on the platform

Our pastor

Pastor Brandon Bankert

Pastor since March 2025 · ordained at Bethel, December 5, 2025

Pastor Bankert graduated from International Bible College in Stonybrook, NY in 2003.

My wife and I were married in 2011 and we are blessed with our three wonderful children. I was an assistant pastor and Christian school teacher for ten years and have served in various church ministries. I have also served in the bus ministry where we have reached many children for the cause of Christ. God has given me a heart for the lost and a love for God’s people.

We have a great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature from the city of Hernando to the uttermost parts of the earth through missions. We invite you to be a part of the Re-Growth of Bethel Baptist Church. God bless you.

In his own words, from the church’s pastor page.

Write to Pastor Bankert

Our story

From Highway 41 to McGee Drive.

Pastor Nile Stine planted this church in Inverness in 1984 and pastored it for almost thirty-five years. Two pastors later it is the same church, in the same building, with new floors and the same Bible.

  1. 1984

    First service, October 21

    Inverness Baptist Church meets for the first time on Highway 41 under Pastor Nile Stine. He and his wife Sharon hold Wednesday night services in their home.

  2. 1990

    The land on McGee Drive

    The church buys 2289 N. McGee Drive in Hernando, where it still stands, though it cannot build yet.

  3. 1993

    A new name

    The church becomes Bethel Baptist Church. Bethel means “house of God.”

  4. 1994

    Home, July 16

    After six months in the Inverness Women’s Club, the first service in the new building on McGee Drive.

  5. 2019

    Thirty-five years

    Pastor Stine retires in March after nearly thirty-five years. In November the church calls Matthew Sandiford, who serves until July 2024.

  6. 2025

    The Bankerts

    Brandon Bankert and his family come to fill the pulpit and sing. On March 2 he is voted pastor, unanimously. He is ordained in December.

  7. 2026

    Grand reopening, March 1

    After a year of work by the members’ own hands, the rebuilt church reopens its doors with lunch for everyone.

The church before the rebuild, pale blue siding with red letters under Spanish moss
The building before the rebuild: pale blue, red letters.
The front of the church on a sunny day: white metal siding, black trim, a tall white steeple
The same building in 2026.
The rebuild, in photosWhat we believe

Independent Baptist

Self-governing, answerable to no hierarchy, run by its own members under the New Testament pattern.

King James Bible

The Authorized 1611 Bible, inspired and preserved, the final authority for faith and practice.

Old-fashioned

Hymns, not a worship band. Preaching, not a talk. Lunch, not a coffee bar. A family, not a crowd.