About Us

In the spring of 1945, Reverend Joseph Engel, his wife, and their young son came to South Florida from Bloomfield, New Jersey. Sent by Brookdale Baptist Church, they came to plant churches and share the gospel.

When they arrived in Naples, they gathered with other families in a small outbuilding behind a local grocery store. On November 6, 1945, they held their first worship service. Just one year later, 24 charter members gathered in a new chapel on 8th Street South, overlooking what is now Cambier Park. That was the beginning of what is now First Naples.

Over its 80 year history, this congregation has been shepherded and led by men of God who had a vision to reach people for Jesus Christ: Reverend U. Curry Walton (1946-1958), Reverend Robert F. Martin (1959-1969), Reverend Freddie Smith (1970-1977), Reverend Irvin Northcutt (1978-1980), Reverend Max Cadenhead (1982-1991), and Dr. Hayes Wicker (1992-2019). In 2021, First Naples voted to elect its eighth lead pastor, Alan Brumback.

As the church grew, God continued to provide opportunities to reach more people. In 1977, the church moved from downtown Naples to a 12-acre campus on Pine Ridge Road. In 1995, God provided 100 acres of former orange groves at the corner of Orange Blossom Drive and Livingston Road, where our church family gathers today.

God’s work has never been about buildings or campuses. For more than 80 years, God has been moving through the people of First Naples. He has brought people to Himself, grown His church, planted churches, and used ordinary people to make an eternal difference. He’s not finished!

Church planting has been part of our story from the beginning. In 1956, East Naples Baptist Church became the first church planted out of First Baptist Church Naples. That legacy continued through Spanish plants in Golden Gate and Bonita Springs.

 Today, First Naples continues that mission by investing in church planting, supporting more than 25 missionaries and mission partners, and a network of over 170 church plants, taking the gospel to our neighbors and the nations.

First Naples is a church family committed to helping people love Jesus and live for Him every day. Our vision is to be a multigenerational, multiethnic, and multiplying church, raising up the next generation of disciple makers, church planters, missionaries, and world changers to reach our neighbors to the nations.

We look back with gratitude for all God has done and look ahead with expectation for all He will do next. The story of First Naples is ultimately about what God has done through His people, and we believe the best is yet to come!