Our History
The Early Years
The beginnings of First Baptist Church are hard to pinpoint exactly, but some facts basic to its establishment tell us that sometime in 1904, Levi Johnson moved to Craig, and in February 1905, his wife and children joined him. They homesteaded at Illinois Park, at the foot of Black Mountain near Craig. Rev W.C. Lindsey, a Baptist minister from Missouri, moved to Northwest Colorado in 1909. He filed on a homestead near Cedar Mountain. Ernest Kline became his neighbor in 1910, when he established his homestead also near Cedar Mountain. Ernest Kline and Amy Johnson were both from Methodist backgrounds, but since there was no Methodist church, they decided to work with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Lindsey to organize a Baptist church. Northern Baptist Missionary, Bertha Smith, was sent to help organize the church.
The small group of believers met on April 9, 1911 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Brother Lindsey was asked to act as Pastor till other arrangements could be made, and he kindly accepted, without salary. It was then voted that the regular time for church meeting be on the first Sunday of each month. A committee was appointed to arrange the meeting place. Soon after, a building was rented for one dollar a meeting.
In the next few years, the church met in several different places.
700 School Street
The church building at 700 School Street was the meeting place for the church from 1925 to 1975. It underwent 2 additions, the first in the 1940’s while pastor Roy Walker was here. The second was made in 1953 when Aubrey Nelson was serving his first term as Pastor. Plans were drawn up for a third addition, but the membership felt that as the town was beginning to grow, land should be found and a new building constructed. The last service at 700 School was a Watch Night Service on Dec 31, 1974.
1150 West 9th Street
In 1973, a 5-acre parcel was purchased between 9th and 10th Streets on the West side of town. At the time of the purchase there were no other buildings around, but within a very few years, the Colorado Ute Power Plant began construction and the building boom was on. The little town of Craig grew in all directions, and by 1980, houses were built on all sides of the church property and a beautiful new High School was built a little more than a block away. In the spring of 1974 ground was broken for a new building, which was completed shortly before the end of the year. On the first Sunday of 1975, First Baptist Church moved into the new building at 1150 West 9th Street.
By late 2007, it was obvious that we were experiencing rapid growth, and that our facility was getting very crowded. We started praying about a solution, and implemented a second worship service. Rental of community facilities became more frequent as we looked for ways to accommodate our growing body. After many months of prayer and planning, we voted to go forward with a building program. Partnering with Building God’s Way and Mischler Construction, ground was broken in June of 2009. During the year of Ministry of Construction, God made his presence known over and over, as meals were provided for construction workers and staff, huge amounts of materials and labor were donated, and the building rose up in a matter of months.
The First Celebration Service was held in the new Sanctuary on February 14th, 2010, and in May, the new Sanctuary was dedicated to the Lord. The Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the doors and there was an open house to welcome the community. In 2011, we celebrated our 100 year anniversary as a church!
A more in-depth account of our early officers, members, remembrances, and short stories meaningful to the history of our church can be found in the links below.