What's now Covenant Fellowship Baptist Church began in January of 1981, when God put a desire in the heart of the church's founding pastor, L.C. Campbell. It was on January 4, 1981, during a long-distance phone conversation, that L.C. shared his vision with Dr. Jim Buttles. It was a vision for a different kind of church in Stuart, and the name that God had given him was "Covenant Fellowship".

Following that conversation, on January 22, 1981, a group of twenty-one people met in the home of Jim and Shirle Buttles, to pray and to ask for God's leading. They continued to meet on Thursday nights in various homes, praying for God's guidance, until L.C., who was then living in McMinnville, Tennessee, came down and met with a group of people in Orlando to discuss the forming of a church. As a result of that meeting, they planned a Bible Conference for that April. The conference was held at the Stuart Women's Club, and L.C. taught from the book of Nehemiah, exploring the truth that when God is behind something, there's no stopping it.

Covenant's first official service was held at the Howard Johnson's, on Easter Sunday, 1981. There were over 200 people in attendance, and one of those, Ms. Debbie Steinke, was the first person saved under the new ministry. It was a time of celebration and rejoicing in God's goodness.

From that point on, the church met to worship on Sunday mornings, and for Bible Study on Wednesday nights. In June of 1981, L.C. Campbell moved his wife Gail, and their two daughters, Lori & Casi, from McMinnville to Stuart to serve as the pastor. There was a sweet spirit from the start, and a desire to be the kind of church with a sensitivity to the leading of God's Spirit and to the needs of the community - from Stuart, throughout Martin County, and beyond.

Later that year, God led Bunny Jensen to Stan Smith who owned a piece of property in south Stuart, right in the heart of a growing area. The land at the end of Aster Lane was purchased, and the planning process began. On February 9, 1982, the final decisions were made about building, and Mosley and Son Construction was chosen as the contractor. They broke ground on February 28, 1982 with an old plow, which everyone took turns pulling. While services were held outdoors on the property from time to time, the first service in the new building was on Easter Sunday, 1984.

Since that time, God has blessed the ministry of Covenant Fellowship, and through it all, has remained faithful to work in, through, and even in spite of us all. The miracle of the gospel has remained in the forefront - the miracle that God loves us all, and that he can and will work through any of us who will allow him to. And as Nehemiah discovered, we've found and continue to find that when God puts a passion in the heart of one man, where that man is faithful, others will join him. And through all kinds of challenges and even opposition, God makes a way to bring it to life and to bless it in ways that can only be explained in terms of what God has done.