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On April 10, 1870, in a house on the corner of
Third and Washington Street, plans were made for organizing a Baptist
Church in Bicknell, Indiana. Members held their worship services in the
Methodist Church building while plans were made to construct the new
church. John Bicknell, founder of the city, donated the ground. Eli
Chambers and his sons made the bricks and the lumber was hauled from a
farm near Wheatland. Due to a lack of funds, it took seven years to
build the brick building, which is part of the present structure. When
the church building was completed, the congregation chose as their
pastor, Warren C Keith, who was paid a salary of $120 a year. John
Bicknell was the first janitor and received a monthly salary of 25
cents.
A parsonage was built just south of the church building in 1903. A
community hall, built by the city in 1922, was purchased by the church.
The old parsonage was demolished in 1976 to make room for an addition
that created a new entrance, enlarged the sanctuary and added an office
and classroom. In 1995 property across the street was purchased for a
parking lot. The following year a major remodeling project added two
now handicapped accessible restrooms and a new nursery along with
several other much needed improvement. In 2000 major remodeling of the
church kitchen took place. In 2004 the church purchased six old store
fronts and demolished them to make room for much needed parking.
During 1999 and 2000 the church increased the staff by the hiring of a
secretary and a youth pastor. In order to accommodate more worshipers
with varying styles of worship, in the spring of 2004, the church went
to two services on Sunday morning. In Febuary of 2008 the church called its present pastor Seth Alexander. Seth had served the church as a full time associate pastor starting in July 2003. Currently the church employs 5 individuls to lead the ministry areas of youth and children. A long term goal of the church is to once again call a full time associate pastor to oversee these ministries. The church is currently seeking out God's vision for the future. To help with this project Pastor Seth has been participating in a program call the Center for Excelence in Congregational Leadership (CECL). CECL is an intensive program designed to help the pastor, staff and lay leadership transform the congregation into the church God wants it to be.
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