A BRIEF HISTORY OF

CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH, ESPANOLA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later that first year, a radio station started in town and CBCE had one of the first locally generated gospel programs every Sunday morning from 8:45 to 9:00 a.m. In the fall, the church began youth meetings on Friday nights at the Webbwood School gym. At the end of September, 1976, CBCE started to meet in the gym of the A.B. Ellis Public School for the morning service and the Mitchell home in Webbwood for Sunday evening and Wednesday prayer meetings. The following year the use of the A.B. Ellis gym for Sunday evenings began. Then after a few years CBCE was permitted to hold  Wednesday meetings in the Webbwood School gym.

On October 28, 1978, CBCE was officially constituted with seventeen charter members. Before long, the church was supporting four missionaries, one in Japan, Ivory Coast, Brazil and Quebec. CBCE eventually made contact with the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches, then joined it and received some pastoral support from some of its churches.

When the time was right, the church purchased its property on Barber Street. Then CBCE erected the church sign on the property and began deliberations about the kind of building would best suit the churches needs.

In 1990, CBCE contacted Tim Starr at the Fellowship at an opportune time. Home Missions was considering helping four churches get into their first buildings as the Fellowship project for the coming year. Churches that would qualify had to own a property to build on and have a credible amount in their building fund. Calvary Baptist qualified. The four churches chosen, one from each region in the Fellowship would receive a share of a special offering taken among Fellowship churches and receive assistance to build their church in one week through the Baptist Builders under the leadership of Stu Sylvester and his contractor son-in-law, Bruce Fitter. By the time volunteers from Fellowship churches started to arrive eleven days before Labour Day, 1991 All the requirements were met, so the work began ahead of schedule and by Saturday night, the main floor installed and three of the four exterior walls erected. Sunday was of course a day off but early Monday the remaining wall was raised and the hoisting of trusses into place. In all, some seventy volunteers, some of them expert trades people, assisted in this project and at midnight Saturday, several people were sweeping the basement in readiness for the first Sunday in their own church building. How blessed those of CBCE were! The Fellowship project offerings across the country added an additional $30,000.00 toward our costs and the volunteer labour cut our building costs approximately in half.

One man who worked at the lumber yard was impressed with the demeanour of those from the church and project with whom he came in contact. He and his wife did come, professed faith in Christ, were baptized and joined the church. In time, people continued to come and CBCE was saw people come to Christ, join bible studies and were baptized. Six years after the church was built, the church assumed full responsibility for pastoral support and a year later finished paying off the debt on its building.

 

Throughout the years, CBCE have seen pastors come and go, each adding their own touches to what God has been doing. Today, CBCE continues in its efforts to be a church who preaches the Word, Loves the community and be known as people of prayer.

 

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