Hillsboro
Oregon
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Brookwood Baptist Church
Mission
The Mission of Brookwood Baptist is the principle that must guide all that we do. God has revealed that we must follow the commands that He has set forth in the "Great Commandment" and the "Great Commission."
History
Brookwood Baptist started as a vision of faithful servants in April of 1959 as two men, E.B. Holloway (Pastor, First Baptist Church, Beaverton) and Ben Inscore (Deacon), drove through Hillsboro and were burdened with the need for a Baptist church in such a fast growing community. That vision started to become a reality in August of 1963 as the First Baptist Church of Beaverton chose to sponsor a mission in Hillsboro to be known as the Brookwood Mission, named after the local housing community where the first meetings were being held. Brookwood purchased the land on 3440 East Main Street in August of 1964. Not long after that the number of attendance had grown to around 30, so meetings were moved to the Hillsboro Grange Hall in March of 1965. Brookwood’s first pastor, Charles Purvis, served from October of 1965 until September of 1970.
Continuing to grow, on April 3rd of 1966 Brookwood Baptist Church was constituted as a church with 54 members and 83 in Sunday School. The new church immediately proceeded to the next step of obtaining building plans and securing a loan from the Home Mission Board of $40,000 and that included $10,000 for the land. An old barn on the property was used for VBS with 60 enrolled. Later that September construction began. This first structure was occupied in June 1967, with the dedication of the structure October1,1967.
In August of 1971 Jimmy Floyd became pastor of Brookwood Baptist and served until May of 1975. May 1973 saw another bold step forward as the dirt was turned for the erection of the 8,000 square foot Educational Building, and 1,000 square foot addition to the auditorium. Built mostly as a labor of love for God, the men, women and children of the congregation did most of the construction. It was also during this time that the “tongues movement” took its toll on the church as those involved were asked to seek membership in churches that believed as they did. Brookwood lost about 50 members.
Brookwood’s mission was still clear in 1972 when she began two missions, one at Cornelius and the other at Timber. The fellowship also began two nursing home ministries as an integral part of the out reach of the church. The church at Cornelius was constituted in April 1973 and still continues today. In 1976 Brookwood also started the Liberty Baptist Chapel in Aloha which now continues as Valley Life Community Church. Since then Brookwood has continued to sponsor new work and is currently sponsoring a Korean and a Spanish mission meeting in our buildings.
Jesse Hawkins became pastor in October of 1975 and served Brookwood until June of 1982. In 1976 Brookwood celebrated its 10th anniversary and in October of 1977 the “Young at Heart” group began with a pot luck dinner for senior adults.
In 1981 an arson fire destroyed two-thirds of the building that housed the sanctuary, offices, and classrooms. The fire-insurance had been providentially updated just six days before the fire and this allowed the rebuilding and updating of this structure. An addition of a second floor of classrooms and upgrading the efficiency and furnishings of the building was accomplished. Again the strength of the fellowship was revealed as over 7,000 hours were volunteered toward this new building project. The present rebuilt building was dedicated on April 4, 1982.
Dub Chambers became Brookwood’s fourth pastor in December of 1982 and served until January 1988. In 1986 $100,000 Series Church Notes were sold to pay off the balloon payment on the Higgins property (now our new office building) and construct additional parking on the east side of the building. In August of that same year Mike Vaughn became the first additional staff member serving as Music and Education Director and served until Sept of 1993.
July 1988 was the first month of Sam Newell’s pastorate which lasted until July 1994. In September of 1989 “Brookwood Baptist Preschool” was begun with Cheryl Vaughn as its first director after the “Happy Hearts” preschool moved to another location. Brookwood celebrated its 25th anniversary with three former pastors in attendance. Linda Bradley became music director and Amy Putnam was hired as our pianist.
Albert Harris began as pastor in June of 1995 and is the current pastor. A bus ministry was begun in 1996 and an 8:30 service was added to our Sunday morning schedule. Troy Pound began as Music/Youth Pastor in November 1996 and Bryan Waddell served as half time Education Pastor, and left in 1999. To provide more room the church offices were moved to the former parsonage in 1999 after extensive remodeling and multiple services were added
Groundbreaking for a new addition was held on April 1st 2001 and with volunteer groups helping the first phase of the building was ready for occupancy in October of 2002. The total square footage of the building is 22,400 sq. ft. Included in this building is a 500 seat expandable sanctuary, a 250-300 seat expandable fellowship/recreation hall and a variety of new educational and accessory rooms. With the Phase One completion we returned to a single worship service for Sunday mornings.
Troy Pound left Brookwood in 2002 to begin a new work “The Crossing” in Cornelius. Keith Harris became interim Minister of Youth and Worship August 18, 2002, and was elected full time September 21, 2003. Robin Butler (Executive Director of Interstate Baptist Association) was elected as interim Minister of Education in January 2002 and left to pastor a church in Texas September of 2003.
In January of 2004 the church finalized a new team structure strategy of organization to allow for continued growth. We also approved a refocusing of spiritual purpose called 40 days of Purpose which resulted in increased attendance and spirit.
In February of 2004 a water pipe broke in the Library flooding and damaging much of the new and old existing rooms of the main floor, destroying most of the Library. Several other events encouraged us to pray and anticipate good results from “40 Days” our new emphasis. We were able to complete four classrooms in September and the preschool was able to move into them shortly after school began. We ended 2004 with Pastor Keith being ordained on December 26.
In the summer of 2005 we had the opportunity to present "Heaven's Gates Hell's flames", an evangelistic drama that clearly presented the gospel to our community. There were many decisions of those 30 were first time decisions.
The future of Brookwood Baptist Church promises to be one of challenge and blessing. We are poised to see God’s answers as we have never seen. This will be a year that we will write much about in future accounts of our history.
The Mission of Brookwood Baptist is the principle that must guide all that we do. God has revealed that we must follow the commands that He has set forth in the "Great Commandment" and the "Great Commission."
History
Brookwood Baptist started as a vision of faithful servants in April of 1959 as two men, E.B. Holloway (Pastor, First Baptist Church, Beaverton) and Ben Inscore (Deacon), drove through Hillsboro and were burdened with the need for a Baptist church in such a fast growing community. That vision started to become a reality in August of 1963 as the First Baptist Church of Beaverton chose to sponsor a mission in Hillsboro to be known as the Brookwood Mission, named after the local housing community where the first meetings were being held. Brookwood purchased the land on 3440 East Main Street in August of 1964. Not long after that the number of attendance had grown to around 30, so meetings were moved to the Hillsboro Grange Hall in March of 1965. Brookwood’s first pastor, Charles Purvis, served from October of 1965 until September of 1970.
Continuing to grow, on April 3rd of 1966 Brookwood Baptist Church was constituted as a church with 54 members and 83 in Sunday School. The new church immediately proceeded to the next step of obtaining building plans and securing a loan from the Home Mission Board of $40,000 and that included $10,000 for the land. An old barn on the property was used for VBS with 60 enrolled. Later that September construction began. This first structure was occupied in June 1967, with the dedication of the structure October1,1967.
In August of 1971 Jimmy Floyd became pastor of Brookwood Baptist and served until May of 1975. May 1973 saw another bold step forward as the dirt was turned for the erection of the 8,000 square foot Educational Building, and 1,000 square foot addition to the auditorium. Built mostly as a labor of love for God, the men, women and children of the congregation did most of the construction. It was also during this time that the “tongues movement” took its toll on the church as those involved were asked to seek membership in churches that believed as they did. Brookwood lost about 50 members.
Brookwood’s mission was still clear in 1972 when she began two missions, one at Cornelius and the other at Timber. The fellowship also began two nursing home ministries as an integral part of the out reach of the church. The church at Cornelius was constituted in April 1973 and still continues today. In 1976 Brookwood also started the Liberty Baptist Chapel in Aloha which now continues as Valley Life Community Church. Since then Brookwood has continued to sponsor new work and is currently sponsoring a Korean and a Spanish mission meeting in our buildings.
Jesse Hawkins became pastor in October of 1975 and served Brookwood until June of 1982. In 1976 Brookwood celebrated its 10th anniversary and in October of 1977 the “Young at Heart” group began with a pot luck dinner for senior adults.
In 1981 an arson fire destroyed two-thirds of the building that housed the sanctuary, offices, and classrooms. The fire-insurance had been providentially updated just six days before the fire and this allowed the rebuilding and updating of this structure. An addition of a second floor of classrooms and upgrading the efficiency and furnishings of the building was accomplished. Again the strength of the fellowship was revealed as over 7,000 hours were volunteered toward this new building project. The present rebuilt building was dedicated on April 4, 1982.
Dub Chambers became Brookwood’s fourth pastor in December of 1982 and served until January 1988. In 1986 $100,000 Series Church Notes were sold to pay off the balloon payment on the Higgins property (now our new office building) and construct additional parking on the east side of the building. In August of that same year Mike Vaughn became the first additional staff member serving as Music and Education Director and served until Sept of 1993.
July 1988 was the first month of Sam Newell’s pastorate which lasted until July 1994. In September of 1989 “Brookwood Baptist Preschool” was begun with Cheryl Vaughn as its first director after the “Happy Hearts” preschool moved to another location. Brookwood celebrated its 25th anniversary with three former pastors in attendance. Linda Bradley became music director and Amy Putnam was hired as our pianist.
Albert Harris began as pastor in June of 1995 and is the current pastor. A bus ministry was begun in 1996 and an 8:30 service was added to our Sunday morning schedule. Troy Pound began as Music/Youth Pastor in November 1996 and Bryan Waddell served as half time Education Pastor, and left in 1999. To provide more room the church offices were moved to the former parsonage in 1999 after extensive remodeling and multiple services were added
Groundbreaking for a new addition was held on April 1st 2001 and with volunteer groups helping the first phase of the building was ready for occupancy in October of 2002. The total square footage of the building is 22,400 sq. ft. Included in this building is a 500 seat expandable sanctuary, a 250-300 seat expandable fellowship/recreation hall and a variety of new educational and accessory rooms. With the Phase One completion we returned to a single worship service for Sunday mornings.
Troy Pound left Brookwood in 2002 to begin a new work “The Crossing” in Cornelius. Keith Harris became interim Minister of Youth and Worship August 18, 2002, and was elected full time September 21, 2003. Robin Butler (Executive Director of Interstate Baptist Association) was elected as interim Minister of Education in January 2002 and left to pastor a church in Texas September of 2003.
In January of 2004 the church finalized a new team structure strategy of organization to allow for continued growth. We also approved a refocusing of spiritual purpose called 40 days of Purpose which resulted in increased attendance and spirit.
In February of 2004 a water pipe broke in the Library flooding and damaging much of the new and old existing rooms of the main floor, destroying most of the Library. Several other events encouraged us to pray and anticipate good results from “40 Days” our new emphasis. We were able to complete four classrooms in September and the preschool was able to move into them shortly after school began. We ended 2004 with Pastor Keith being ordained on December 26.
In the summer of 2005 we had the opportunity to present "Heaven's Gates Hell's flames", an evangelistic drama that clearly presented the gospel to our community. There were many decisions of those 30 were first time decisions.
The future of Brookwood Baptist Church promises to be one of challenge and blessing. We are poised to see God’s answers as we have never seen. This will be a year that we will write much about in future accounts of our history.