A Short History of Fifty Years of God’s Working regarding the Pastors and Physical Property of Grace Baptist Church
White Salmon, WA
April 16, 1957 Eleven adults met in the Elmer Baumgarden home and voted unanimously to incorporate as “Grace Baptist Church”. The church registered 22 charter members.
April 1957 – 1962 Rev. Duane Hatch, first Pastor. The Inman house in Bingen was rented as the church’s first meeting place. The congregation then moved to the Grange Hall in White Salmon to continue its ministry. Pastor Duane was ordained at Grace Baptist September 19, 1960, as was Frank Turner, April 10, 1962. (We were privileged to have had Pastor Duane and Vannie Hatch visit and share with us, shortly after our first celebration service in our new building - 48 years after coming as our first Pastor!)
July 1962 – 1964 Rev. James McGraw, second Pastor. The congregation purchased the Kyser property for a parsonage and the adjoining land at 555 NW Loop Road. On May 25, 1962 there was a groundbreaking for the first building of Grace Baptist Church on Loop Road, with its dedication service on November 10, 1963.
October 1965 – 1969 Rev.William Newkirk, third Pastor. The church continued to grow and mature under the young pastor’s ministry.
April 1970 – 1983 Rev. Dave Steckmann, fourth Pastor. Pastor Dave was a much-loved pastor who served for 13 dedicated years. Faith promise offerings began during this time, supporting world mission outreach. He had a particular interest in Tecate Mission in Mexico where he and his wife also served a short time.
1981 – 1983 Gary Cowden, first Assistant Pastor serving as Minister of Evangelism & Discipleship. After Dave Steckmann’s heart attack in 1982, Pastor Gary served as interim until 1983.
January 1984 – March 1990 Rev. Robert Long, fifth Pastor. The AWANA children’s program flourished and the Crisis Pregnancy Center was founded through the church. The church grew substantially during this time, and in June 1985, a down payment was made to Chuck Landgren, for five acres of land on West Jewett Blvd.
June 1990 – October 1990 Interim Pastor Russell Wood
October 1990 – December 1997 Rev. Joel Hibbs, sixth Pastor. Pastor Joel blessed the Church with, among other things, his dramatic presentations, focus on “God-sightings”, and the development of discipleship with the Care Group ministries. The deteriorating church roof was replaced and the refurbishing of the interior was begun. The old parsonage/educational building burned down in November 1997.
October 1998 – May 1999 Interim Pastor Bob Ellison
May – October 1999 Interim Pastor Jerry Larson
November 1999 – to present Rev. Dan Kennedy, seventh Pastor. The congregation built a new annex, which was opened for use in the spring of 2000. Attendance increased and two morning worship services were begun March 2003, the Sunday before Easter. During this time, Pastor Bob Long retired from CBI in Ireland and graciously returned to become our much appreciated, volunteer Associate Pastor in 2003. The Lord continued to raise up other wonderful volunteer leadership. The AWANA children's program was begun again and continued to grow to serve the community children. The young married couples and young families grew in their fellowship together through Bible Studies and other activities. The Lord brought us Mark Long as a part-time Youth Pastor . Youth activities were offered. Sunday School was strengthened. The worship team continued to faithfully meet together and grew. The senior segment of the congregation met regularly for fellowship and potlucks. The senior men met for weekly coffee and the women formed a growing Bible Study. And it became evident that it may be the time to re-visit the idea of building. All this was possible through the blessing of the Lord and through a host of dedicated, volunteer leadership that He provided for us throughout the last few years.
In January 2003 the congregation decided to sell the Loop Road church property and pursue the building of a new Church. In July we began the process with Daniel Cook & Associates to use “Building God’s Way” to develop new facilities. By December the Lord had allowed the completion of the sale of our former church buildings to the White Salmon School District and Early Childhood Services. This gave us the finances and motivation to initiate building a new Church on the five-acre parcel at West Jewett Blvd., purchased 20 years previously. We were blessed to be able to continue meeting in our old buildings until the new owners began remodeling. In April 2004, we began meeting in the interim facility of the White Salmon Park Center, through the kindness of the School District. On May 26, 2004, groundbreaking for the construction of our new Church began (43 years and one day after the groundbreaking for our first building on Loop Road). On August 7, 2005, we met together in our new Gym for the first time in a Celebration Service for the completion of the first of three building phases in our new Church complex!
Less than two years later, on May 18, 2008 we enjoyed the wonderful dedication of our finished auditorium, completing the final phase of the new Grace Baptist Church complex. We thank God for His amazing grace to us and for the special skills and abilities that He gave all those who worked, gave, prayed and sacrificed to see our church finished.
We honor God for what He has done for our Church in the past, and look forward to what He will do in this Congregation, in the future!