| History of Lemoyne Baptist Church |
Jesus Said, ". I will build My church, and the gates of
Hades shall not prevail against it." Mat 16:18
1. In Feb of 1974 three families, Jones, Motters, & Radabaughs left the
liberal church they were attending. Ted Motter, after meeting with the
minister (who denied the writings of Paul as being inspired & denying the
virgin birth of Jesus Christ) said "If it is the Lord's will we will start
a Bible believing church in the area."
2. The group began to meet together in the living room of Ted & Lois Motter
on Wednesday evenings. The Word of God was taught and an offering was
taken.
3. Pastor Earl Umbaugh, the missionary for the state of Ohio met with the group
and helped begin planning the start of a church.
4. The Lemoyne town hall was leased for one year at $1 and the 1st service was
planned for Dec 1st, 1974. But due to grand snow storm services were not
held until Dec 8, 1974. A van was used for one of the Sunday School
meeting rooms. On occasion, the raccoons were heard running up and down
inside the walls and playing in the attic while the service was gong on.
5. Pastor Curt Classen of Wauseon, OH held the first service and was soon called
to be the first pastor.
6. On Dec 7, 1975 LBC began holding services in the Holiday Inn on Rt 280.
There were 82 in attendance at the first service.
7. On April 13, 1976, 5.5 acres of land that was used to grow corn (at corner of
Genoa and Bradner Road) were bought in cash from James Wetmore.
8. On July 31, 1977 a call was extended to Pastor Charles Alexander to be the
second pastor of LBC. Pastor Alexander started working on the building
plans and did much of the work along with other members in constructing the new
facilities.
9. On Wednesday, Dec 20, 1978 the saints of LBC met in the building for the
first time.
10. In May of 1986 LBC extended a call to Pastor Ronald W. Shinkle. Pastor
Shinkle accepted the call and began preaching every Sunday starting in June of
1986. On Aug 15th he and his family moved from Warsaw, Indiana to minister
to the
saints of LBC.
11. On September 5th, 1999, Lemoyne Baptist Church held a ground breaking
service to start building an 8,400 square foot multipurpose room with
classrooms, nurseries and bathrooms. With the use of missionaries from
Baptist Missionary Builders, the church by God's grace will build this structure
debt free. All praise to the Lamb!
12. On July 29, 2000 The new 8,400 sq. ft. multipurpose building, attached to
the back of the current structure, was completed thought the direction of
Baptist Missionary Builders. This addition includes seven class rooms
(about 400 sq ft each), a fully equipped kitchen, two large nurseries, spacious
bathrooms, and a 2,700 sq. ft. fellowship room with all of it air conditioned.
The costs have been driven down to about $30 sq ft thanks to our missionary
builders, much volunteer help, and special pricing on materials. What
would normally costs a $1,000,000, LBC has built for under $300,000 and debt
free on top of it! We praise our awesome God. He has given us a
spirit of unity as we have gone through this building phase. The phone
system and over 300 padded chairs have been donated.
"And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all." Acts 4:33 |