Our history

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 church 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.

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, and 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, Beloit Road Baptist Church became affiliated with the Great Lakes Baptist Conference, which is now known as Converge Great Lakes.