The Pastors - Part 2

Number 7 - Rev. A. S. Brown was called to serve the church in what I would like to call "The Golden Era". There was so much hope and promise in the air and that led to great growth and stability. After Rev. C. C. Frost's push to get us into the new building on West Main Street, life settled down and the Church actually took root in the community for the first time in it's eighty year history. The emphasis moved away from discipline and maintaining the status quo to bringing new life to community around them.

Rev. Brown worked hand in hand with William Cowen, the Sunday School Superintendent, to emphasize religious education for all. The Sunday School enrollment grew to well over two hundred people and that included adults too! There was peace and all the bickering and pain that marked so much of the early years of our life together vanished. The church was seen as a beacon on the hill and it drew people from all over the West side into its doors.

Number 6 - In 1897 Herbert Wise began his tenure as the pastor of First Baptist Church and he continued the work begun by Rev. Brown and extended it. The peace and prosperity continued and so did the influence that the church held over the west side of the city. The enrollment of the Sunday School topped three hundred members and the church was bulging at the seems. The faith of those who stepped forward in 1879 to begin work on the magnificent building were seeing their dreams of grandeur rewarded. Back then Elder Curtis Keeney cast a vision of what God wanted to do. A handful of people accepted the challenge and God made it grow. The building looked so large when it was completed in 1883 but by 1900 it was not nearly large enough to house the harvest that God was bringing in.

Rev. Wise got to see the church mark it's centennial with a great celebration. Two former pastors A. S. Brown and C. C Frost returned and rallied the congregation as they looked back on the glorious past. The church had hoped to retire the mortgage for the building on this occasion but times were tight. The late 1890's were hard financial days for the church as well as for the world around them. Yet, the spirit was high and the hopes abounded. They decided to put off that challenge for another day and to simply give thanks to God for what they had.

The young people really loved and admired Rev. Wise. He got involved in the church and even extended his ministry to the wider community and often worked with youths from neighboring towns. His smile and his charm carried him and when he left, he left a big gap in the heart of our city.

Number 5 - Whereas Herbert Wise was a younger man when he came, Rev. Walter Schoepfer was in his fifties and well established in ministry. He was called to serve the congregation in 1957. Yet don't let his age fool you. He was a dynamo and he came in and carried the congregation to new heights in family and community ministry. His predecessors, Kilmister, Loomis and Gracey had established a platform for our ministry on the West Side in the thirties, forties and fifties, but Rev. Schoepfer came in and immediately connected to the young people and their families.

First Baptist began drawing in many new younger families and everything reached outward. Even as our neighborhood was changing, Rev. Schoepfer reached out to the newcomers and made them feel welcome. By the mid sixties we had outgrown our building and an educational building was purchased directly behind us. Classes in the Sunday School were overflowing and the youth ministry program had several levels to it. We were active with the state convention and often traveled to other churches to meet with youth from the region. Many of the leaders in our congregation today were a part of that exciting time. Rev. Schoepfer worked hand in hand with Steve Roscoe, Karl Soderberg, Tom Leffingwell and Paul Lorraine. At the same time the ladies in the church were very active putting on suppers and holding fellowship events. Although the church had always been an active place, the lights always seemed to be on under his leadership.

In the pulpit he was a good speaker as well. He was short in stature but he could preach a message that connected to the people and the times. When he left in 1967, he left behind a legacy that was hard to measure.

More to come...

Cal