History of our Church

On August 17, 1980, at 2:30 in the afternoon, over 50 individuals signed the charter of Calvary Baptist Church of Barron, an autonomous, independent, separatistic, Baptist church. Our first pastor was H. Bert Lessard, and the congregation was made up of a good assortment of senior citizens, young families, and children.

The church was established as a fundamental and separatist church. This means that the church would not participate with churches that did not share our fundamentalist beliefs such as the Bible’s inspiration, Christ’s deity, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection and second coming. It is our belief that separation from unbelief is commanded by Christ and was practiced in the early church. It is the only way to ensure the preservation of the faith to be handed down to the next generation free from contamination from the world.

Pastor Lessard resigned from Calvary Baptist Church, and a call was issued to our current pastor, John Terpstra, who had just graduated from Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis. He accepted the call in June of 1981 and has pastored here for 26 years.

Calvary Baptist began meeting in the Barron Senior Citizen’s Center where it congregated for approximately two years. Its current building site was purchased in the fall of 1980, and plans were drawn for a new building. Construction started on the building in October of 1981, and the congregation began holding services in the building in May of 1982. Two years later, our current sanctuary was completed. Construction of a 4,200 square feet multipurpose room, two additional classrooms and bathrooms began last fall and will be completed this May.