Humble Beginnings
The work of God that as known as Beloit Road Baptist Church began in December of 1940, when Mr. Horace Woodward and his wife gathered children from the surrounding neighborhood together in his home on Sundays for Sunday School. Attendance increased steadily until there were over 100 children enrolled by the Fall of 1941. Realizing that the Woodward home could not continue to accommodate the growing group, the vision to acquire property and build a meeting house emerged.
The first offering for a building fund was taken on October 12, 1941, totaling a mere fourteen cents. From this humble little offering, the group progressed in doing the work needed, and they organized as “Fellowship Gospel Mission” on March the 31st of 1942. The articles of organization were signed by Horace Woodward, William Risch, Leslie Peterson, Mary Goettings, and Helen Haisington. The church met in a tent until the dedication of their first building.
Building plans were completed by April 22, 1942, and the budding church purchased a plot of land to build upon on May 5th of the same year. Construction began in June and was done by the members of the church, including women and even children. The Sunday School moved onto the premises that Fall - roughly one year since that initial offering was taken. This first building was dedicated on January 10, 1943. The first pastor was the Rev. Robert Main and his wife (both accomplished gospel musicians and graduates of the St. Paul Bible Institute in Minnesota) who served from December of 1942 until September of 1944 when they left to return to school.
From Then to Now
In August of 1943, the church board recommended the development of a missions program, and on November the 15th of the following year, the church was renamed as “Fellowship Gospel Church”, and a membership was created for the church which became affiliated with the Independent Fundamental Churches of America (IFCA) on April 10, 1944.
In October of 1944, the Rev. S.A. Meier began serving as interim pastor, and Don Heringer came on as an Asst. Pastor in 1945. Rev. Meier resigned in April of 1946. The Rev. Ezra Kile took over the pulpit as pastor in September of that same year, but only served until May of 1947. Rev. Charles Paulsey was called to pastor the church on July 27, 1947.
On October 30, 1949, the church voted to become affiliated with the Baptist General Conference of Illinois (which was originally named the Swedish Baptist Mission). On November 11, 1949, the church gained membership in the BGC. The Pastor (Rev. Charles Paulsey) was given a generous salary of $200.00 a month ($150 Church/$50 BGC).
On November 11, 1949 the church changed its name for the second time from “Fellowship Gospel Church” to the name that is still in place today: Beloit Road Baptist Church. In 1998, the Baptist General Conference was reorganized, and Beloit Road Baptist Church became affiliated with its subentity: Great Lakes Baptist Conference. In 2008, the Baptist General Conference changed its name to Converge Worldwide; accordingly, Great Lakes Baptist Conference was renamed as Converge Great Lakes.
Pastors
1. Rev. Robert Main (12/27/1942 - 9/1944) Died of the Flu
2. Rev. S.A. Meier (10/1944 - 4/29/1946 )
3. Rev. Don Heringer (1945 - ?) Left to serve as F/T Missionaries to Indians Cass Lake, Mn.
4. Rev. Pasley
5. Rev. Ezra Kile Interim (9/1946 - 5/31/1947)
6. Rev. Charles Paulsey (7/27/1947 - 3/1950)
7. Rev. Alastair Walker (6/7/1950 - 6/1951)
8. Rev. Vernie Stoneberg (8/1/1951 - Resigned 6/28/1959 left on 8/21/59)
9. Rev. Malcolm VanAntwerp (9/1/1960 - 6/18/1962)
10. Rev. John W. Steinhauser (5/1962 -3/1963 - 8/19/1966)
11. Rev. Vern Slater (12/1966 - ?)
12. Rev. Gunderfelt Interim
13. Rev. Conrad Lundberg
14. Rev. Albert R. Siebert
15. Dan Gonzalez (1983 - 1990)
16. Dwain Patrick (1990 - 1993)
17. Pastor Bill Johnson (1993 - 2017)
18. Dave Tietjen Interim (2017 - 2019)
19. Daniel Francis (2019 - Present)
We are part of the Converge denomination, originally called Swedish Baptist Mission. Though we do not approve of all of our denomination's decisions, we are proud of our shared heritage. The Swedish Baptist Mission was a doctrinally-pure, missionary-minded, church-planting organization. It originally sought to plant churches in the Midwest for Swedish immigrants, but God used it to become an international missionary movement.
The denomination changed its name to "Converge," omitting the word "Baptist" out of our name. This is not because we have compromised on our beliefs as Baptists. We still believe that it is necessary for each of us to be born again and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe that baptism should be for those who have had this experience and have a credible profession of faith. We do believe that every local church is self-autonomous, answerable to the members of each local congregation. We are proud to be associated with the great Baptists of Church History, like Charles Spurgeon and William Carey. Instead, we dropped "Baptist" out of the name to help our missionaries gain access to closed countries more effectively.
