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History of Temple Baptist Church
Titusville, Florida |
In February of 1964, in the
living room of James and
Alma King, the first service
of Westwood Baptist Church,
a mission of the Dixon
Boulevard Baptist Church in
Cocoa was held. By 1967 the
little church had seen some
good times spiritually as
well as some bad times, and
was in need of a new pastor,
as well as desperately
needing new finances to meet
the bankrupt situation. It
was then that the Lord led
Wendell Correll and his
family to leave the Temple
Baptist Church in Orlando,
where he had been serving
for three years with Pastor
Jewell Smith, to come and
take the remaining
congregation.
On the first Sunday in July,
1967 with 16 people and an
offering of $20.31, the
Westwood Church became
Temple Baptist Church, and a
new pastor, with a vision of
souls to be won started his
ministry in Titusville. By
November it was evident that
the little 30' by 60'
building was not sufficient,
so plans were made, bonds
sold, and a new building
seating 300 was built and
dedicated on Mother's Day
1968. In 1971, the
facilities were again too
small, and there was not
enough acreage to enlarge so
the pastor was led to 1400
N.U.S.1 location and 14
acres was purchased from Mr.
& Mrs. C.B. Kingman. The
church moved into the new
brick Sanctuary/Sunday
School building in December
of 1972. After nine years,
the blessings of the Lord
made an expansion necessary
and, as planned the choir
platform was rolled back and
the auditorium was
renovated. In April of 1980
the need for a new
Educational/Sunday School
building became evident and
the building of the new
multi-purpose building just
back of the Sanctuary
building began and on
September 28th our
children's Sunday School
moved into the new building.
March 9, 1983 arsonist
burned the church building
to the ground. By May 1st, a
100' x 70' concrete slab was
poured and Sunday, May 15th,
the church was holding
services in the new
temporary building. Finally,
after all the hard work by
all the people, a new
sanctuary was finished and
we were ready to dedicate
the new facility on Sunday,
June 17, 1984. By September
1985, the temporary building
used as the sanctuary was
converted into a
kitchen/fellowship hall and
we used our new commercial
kitchen facility for the
first time for our Workers
Banquet on October 7th,
1985.
In a business meeting of the
church on Wednesday night,
June 15, 1994 TBC approved a
recommendation from a group
of parents and concerned
members, the board of
deacons, and the pastor that
we, the Temple Baptist
Church, make available a
place and maintain
administrative leadership
for the next school year,
for a Christian school,
using the Accelerated
Christian Education
curriculum. Thus was the
beginning of Temple
Christian School.
On June 12th, 1996, the
church voted overwhelmingly
to purchase from Mr. Jess
Childre, 20.45 acres of
property, which is totally
contiguous with our present
acreage, with a connecting
water easement to the city
sewer and water departments,
as well as affording an
entrance to our church
properties from Old Dixie
Highway.
February 23, 1997, Rev.
LeRoy Eldridge and his wife
Shirley moved from Bristol,
Connecticut and came on
staff as Co-pastor. On July
5, 1998 Pastor Wendell and Mary Anne Correll passed the torch of
Temple Baptist Church to
Pastor LeRoy and Shirley
Eldridge. With the
foundation that Wendell
Correll has laid and the
vision of Pastor Eldridge,
the work at Temple Baptist
Church continues. |
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