We Recommend:
Almost 50 Years of Reaching Out to Redmond for Christ
At the north end of beautiful Lake Sammamish, east of Seattle, was a sleepy little town that began to grow in the late 1950s. A few Regular Baptist families moved to the rapidly developing area of Redmond, Wa. Among them were the Glenn Millikan family from Bethany Baptist Church in Seattle and the Wayne Sheridan family. With timely vision, the Northwest Baptist Home Mission contacted Pastor Clifford Roach, a veteran home missionary under the Fellowship of Baptists for Home Missions, to come to the area. Under his leadership seventeen charter members were organized in 1957 and the First Baptist Church of Redmond was born.
In 1958 the present property at 166th Avenue NE & NE 95th Street was purchased and the original unit was built with a gift of two thousand dollars ($2000) received from the Baptist Builders Club and general financing from the Northwest Baptist Home Mission. In 1960 Pastor Randy Sensabaugh undertook the challenge of this new work. Under his leadership the Annex building was begun as well as the parsonage. A gift of a residential home in downtown Redmond was given to the church and served as the parsonage for the Sensabaugh family. It was later sold and the lovely four bedroom, two level parsonage at the east of the church was built with the monies from that transaction.
In February, 1965 Dr. William F. Shea accepted the call of the church as pastor. Within a year negotiations were made to purchase the Trippett property to the north of the original property, making possible avenues for further expansion. The parsonage was completed and the lower level of this structure was names Willhite Hall and dedicated in 1968 on Mother's Day in honor of Mrs. William Willhite who had made this double function building possible through her gift of the downtown Redmond residence property. Willhite Hall has been used continually for youth, adult, and children's activities since.
Ground was broken May 19, 1970 for the octagonal building which houses Sunday School and Awana facilities on the lower level and the main auditorium and offices on the upper level. With this unique arrangement the pulpit is located near the center of the octagon and the 350 seating spaces are within close distance of the pulpit. The builder was Albert Owen of the First Baptist Church of Bellevue. Under his direction, faithful laymen built the beautiful, functional facility with volunteer labor, including George Morse, Jack Eaton, Sr., Phil Shepherd, Henry Anacker, and many, many others. The building was dedicated May 7, 1972 to the Glory of God. Dr. Fred Brock, President of Western Baptist College, was guest speaker of the day.
The annual meeting of the Northwest Regular Baptist Fellowship was hosted by the church April 16-18, 1974.
In June of 1978 Pastor and Mrs. Shea moved to Moscow, Idaho to pastor Grace Baptist Church.
In February 1979 Pastor John Neese began ministry here and continued to January of 1986.
The church extended a call to Pastor Ron Lawler to assume the pastorate in July 1987 and they continued with us through January 1990.
On September 1, 1990, Pastor David Anderson began his pastoral leadership in our midst and served to July of 1993.
In December 1993 Pastor Melvin Frank came to minister and lead.
In November 1998 we extended a call to Ryan Frank (Pastor Melvin Frank's nephew) to be our Associate Pastor with special emphasis on Youth Outreach.
In June of 1999 Pastor Mel accepted a call to Puyallup Community Baptist Church.
In July of 2000 Pastor Doug Johnston began ministry at First Baptist Church, moving here from Madera Baptist Church in Madera, California.
Founding Pastor Cliff Roach returned to FBCoR along with his wife Clara to help us celebrate our church's 50th Anniversary.