55 Years of Serving with Thanksgiving
Rev 1:19
Today we are celebrating 55 years of service to the Lord at Trinity Baptist Church
Before I get into my message, I want to thank Ms. Betty Nevins, Ms. Darlene Hardin, and Mrs. JoAnn Malaise for work on book
And for our Kitchen committee for all of their hard work and preparation
I think it’s appropriate that as we celebrate today we look Rev 1:19 & Ezra 3:11
Rev 1:19
Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
Ezra 3:11
With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD : "He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
Read / Pray
We have some wonderful thanksgiving food waiting for us after the service so I don’t want to take too much time
I know the more Amen’s I hear the faster I and shorter I will preach
First our passage in Rev 1:19 says to write what you have seen…so it is good to…
1. Remember Our Past
We have a rich history here at TBC
This church was organized in the home of C.O. and Edna Griffitts at 1420 37th Street
On 18 Nov 1951, almost 55 years to the day, the first Sunday services were held in the Owens & Brumley Funeral Home chapel
Trinity was accepted into the Wichita Archer Clay Baptist Association on Sept 15, 1952
Mr. Frank Hursh and family donated the lot in Feb 1953 that the current building now sits on
Groundbreaking began for the TBC building on April 25, 1954
The church had 90 members at this time
The first pastor of Trinity was Rev Arvil Richardson, who was one of only 9 pastors that have served here
The longest serving pastor for 20 years at one time was Darius McKay and the second longest is me for almost 9 years now
Trinity has only ordained three pastors with me being the last one
One of the first deacons of the church was brother Art Hoeffner, which was one of the first ordinations of the church
Several other deacons have been ordained throughout the years to serve Trinity
Trinity also used to be on television channel 6 which lasted 30 minutes
Trinity has been involved in the ministry of community evangelism for years
This community over the years has been given bibles, tracts, and the gospel message
There has been food pantries where over 100 families were fed
Then on that terrible Tuesday, April 10, 1977, the church building was completely destroyed
The building which now exists was built after the tornado and was occupied on August 26, 1979.
There is a lot more of rich history you can read about in our Anniversary Book
Needless to say, you can see that a solid foundation was laid for the ministry of Trinity…not even a tornado that completely demolished the church building could destroy it
That was what has happened in the past but now let’s look at
2. What is Now
I was called to be the pastor of Trinity on January 28, 1998…and was ordained by Trinity on May 17, 1998
We have had over 40 baptisms in the last 8 years which is about 5 per year
Unfortunately, many of our elder members have gone on to be with the Lord…but they have left us with a strong legacy AMEN
Our men have been going to Mardi Gras now since 1999…and we now have other men from other churches looking at going this year
We have totally redone our sanctuary with $26,000 worth of upgrades to include a new stage area, carpet, and refurbishing our pews
We bought a beautiful well-lit sign to get the attention of those passer-by’s
We have had two young men recently called to the ministry from our church, TJ Conwell & Keith Laude
We have a thriving congregation that is alive and excited and desires to live for the Lord
We continue to strive to reach the lost in our community and strive to serve the Lord in all facets of ministry
That’s what we have seen in the past and also the present but now…
3. What about the Future?
Well, the Lord miraculously blessed us with $40K to purchase the land behind us
Now, with that land, we have a vision to build a beautiful gymnasium that we hope to use to again reach out to our community
We plan on updating our screen and projector soon and also building a sound booth to house our sound
We plan on continue to take men to Mardi Gras so they can learn to be a witness and to be better men
The evangelism outreach to our community will continue into the 21st Century and beyond
Our challenge will be how to present the gospel to the most technically advanced and mobile generation yet
The message will never change…we must preach Jesus and Him crucified…but the different ways we use to present it will be exciting and possibly challenging
And I know the ministry of Trinity will continue, now matter what may come, because Trinity has been set upon a solid foundation
Ezra 3:11
With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD : "He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
As we celebrate this day, let us give praise and thanksgiving and let us sing to the Lord…because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid
