Our History
In the fall of 1950, Pastor Ray Richardson of Calvary Baptist Church had the State Secretary of the American Baptist Convention come to answer questions regarding liberal teaching in their Sunday School literature, the schools, the leadership and the missions’s policies. Pastor Richardson’s ordination was being planned, but the convention required a loyalty statement and, should he leave the convention, he must surrender his ordination papers. (The church was affiliated with the Northern Baptist Convention, but that convention later became part of the American Baptist Convention).
Unable to accept these policies, in January 1951 about three - fourths of the congregation of Calvary Baptist left the church. Thirteen people (officers at Calvary) met January 7, 1951. A special meeting was held January 11, 1951 in the John Terpstra home, at which time, Temple Baptist Church was organized as an Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church
On February 2, 1951, Rev. Ray M. Richardson was installed as the first pastor.
Sunday services were held in various places (John Terpstra home, Franklin School, Albert Oines home, Knights of Pathias Hall, and Trinity Lutheran Church) until a permanent building was ready.
The present property at North Salem Road and Loomis /street was purchased January 20, 1951. The property had an older house on it and had been owned by a Mr. Bright. Thus the congregation called it the "Bright Mansion" during the years it served as the parsonage until the present parsonage was erected in 1968.
In June of 1953, construction began on the first unit of the church. The building was completed that fall and the Dedication Service held on November 25, 1953. This part of the church is now known as Fellowship Hall.
Work on the main auditorium (the second unit) was undertaken with ground-breaking ceremonies held May 18 and excavation started June 9, 1958. The new Temple Baptist Church was dedicated in May of 1959.
The people of Temple believed that it is the New Testament principle for on local church to start another local church. Therefore, Temple was instrumental in the instigation, mothering and establishment of Berean Baptist Church of Galesville, Wisconsin, formally organized December 12, 1965.
Temple Baptist during the ministry of Pastor Mark Shore was also instrumental in the founding of the West Salem Baptist Church whose first pastor, Rodney Anderson, was also the assistant pastor of Temple Baptist Church. The church met in church members homes and at a bank in West Salem before finally purchasing a modular building which was remodeled to be the West Salem Baptist Church and was put on the land that is still the present location of the church.
A third building project at Temple was the addition of a new boiler room, men's and women's bathrooms, a counseling room, a nursery room, a cleaning closet, and an elevator.
Vintage video of Construction and Dedication of Main Auditorium