Church to Mark a Century of Faith

On April 8, 1900, a dozen people--the complete congregation of Oxnard First Baptist Church--dedicated a train car that had been converted into a chapel. Thus began what is now one of the oldest churches in Ventura County.

The church’s 400-member congregation will celebrate “100 Years of Faith” during its 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship service. Pastor Michael Mahoney will read from the church’s original charter and ring a large bell that hung in the church after 1902.

Earle Glenn, 77, has attended the church his entire life, and his family represents four generations of membership. His parents joined in 1918. Now his son, Michael David Glenn, 41, brings his

wife, Karen, and their sons, Christopher, 10, and Trevor, 7, to Oxnard First Baptist Church.

“What’s kept our church going is the young families who come in as the old people die off,” said Glenn, one of the church’s oldest active members.

Families at the church stick together and help each other through the good and bad times, he said.

Donya McLaren, 31, another lifelong First Baptist member, and her husband, Roger, 35, recently found out firsthand how the church provides assistance in times of need. They are the parents of Jacob, 4, and 5-week-old twins, Sarah and Kaleb.

“After the twins were born, church members brought in awesome meals for us,” McLaren said. “They are like our extended family.”

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The casseroles, pot roast and lasagna were appreciated. But it was the love and support represented by the homemade meals that she most treasures, McLaren said.

Dell Boll, 76, has a ministry for seniors and for years has enjoyed the church’s support in his efforts to provide the elderly with wheelchair ramps, food and housing when needed.

The church is in partnership with other organizations, including Catholic Charities in Oxnard, to assist those in need, he said.

“This church has always helped others,” Boll said. “And that’s as it should be.”

Glenn can verify the church’s history of service. He remembers in the 1950s pitching in to buy roofing material and going over and helping to replace the roof on a house whose owner was sick with colon cancer. Over the years there have been many such opportunities to help, he said.

He also remembers simple things that made an impression on him, like a preacher who always wore striped pants and a swallow-tailed coat back. That was in the 1930s when few men dressed like that.

“It was an oddity. That’s why I remember it,” Glenn recalled. “He was the preacher who baptized me.”

Glenn tells the story of how the church’s first janitor worked for 25 cents a week, but finally quit because the pay was too low. So the church had to pay his replacement 50 cents a week.

With the help of Glenn and other veteran members, the church has crafted a written history of its past century from that chapel train car to its next site in rented quarters in the 500 block of South A Street.

Materials were donated by the community, church members gave money and by 1902 a 2,500-square-foot building a block away was completed at a cost of $2,500. It held 200 people.

Two years later that building

was moved to the southeast corner of 4th and C streets adjacent to the Carnegie Library. That is when First Baptist began holding Sunday services in El Rio and purchased plots of land and buildings for African American and Latino residents. First Baptist helped those residents organize separate churches during a time when people of different ethnic backgrounds rarely worshiped under the same roof.

(Nearly a century later, the current pastor is bilingual and people of all ethnic backgrounds serve in leadership positions at First Baptist.)

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In 1926, the church building was again moved to the La Colonia section of the city and served as the facility for the Spanish-speaking Baptist congregation. The steeple was removed at that time and was never replaced. This church structure, since renamed the Abundant Life Center, is still standing at the corner of 2nd and Hayes streets.

The First Baptist congregation was again in rented space until it completed its next building in 1928, which was 18,000 square feet and cost $37,750 to complete. Though debt free, the church struggled financially during the Depression. By 1938, the church’s fortunes improved as the city of Oxnard began to grow--military facilities were developed in what is now Port Hueneme, a Navy base was created at Point Mugu and an Air Force base was built at the Camarillo Airport.

By the late 1950s, the church again outgrew its facilities and needed to expand. But it took more than a decade, lots of prayer and a land-swap deal with a farmer to allow the church to move into its present location on 5th Street on Dec. 13, 1970.

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In the mid-1970s the church sponsored a teen musical group called “The Kids Next Door,” which performed around the world and was featured at the 1976 Republican National Convention. The group filmed 12 half-hour shows that aired on local TV.

In 1974, the church opened its nursery school, which is now open to children throughout the community. The church also supports an American Baptist Women group, which does charity work, and local Boy Scout and Girl Scout chapters.

Today’s parishioners meet in the church’s octagon-shaped sanctuary that can hold 685 people, which leaves First Baptist with room to grow. In the future, the church hopes to do more building at its present location and eventually establish a Christian elementary school, Mahoney said.

“Oxnard First Baptist Church exists to passionately and enthusiastically affect our world with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said. The church plans a “family reunion” of its church members, with picnics and special services to further commemorate its centennial, June 3 and 4.

More information about the church can be found at www.oxnardfirstbaptist.com.