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Parkway Baptist Church |
"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine." (Ephesians 4:13). Thus begins the Constitution of Parkway Baptist Church. Forty-four years ago a small group of Christians had a vision and was ready to accept a challenge of God. Parkway Baptist Church is the result of that vision and challenge.
The vision became a reality on September 23, 1954, at the Hanley Road Baptist Church when the Church appointed a committee on missions and directed it to the Creve Coeur area.
On October 24, 1954, the first meeting took place at the home of Claude and Betty Baker. Their home was located on Oak Haven Lane; thus the first name became the Oak Haven Mission of Hanley Road Baptist Church. On the first Sunday, there were seventeen people present in Sunday School. After this meeting, the mission found temporary quarters at 9851 Old Olive Street.
In November of 1954, the first pastor, Ellery Young, was called. In December of 1954, loans were obtained to purchase property for a permanent site. Regardless of the temporary places of worship, the faith, dreams, and hopes of those first faithful few never diminished because the Lord was ever present, leading and guiding them.
In August 1955, the Loyd Baker family invited the mission to have Vacation Bible School in their basement. The Spirit's leadership was revealed as the mission purchased this property from the Baker's, along with two and one-half acres. This is the present site of Parkway. The former Baker home continued to be the meeting place of the now Parkway Baptist Mission.
M. Dale Allen became pastor of this mission on March 1, 1956 and on August 2, 1957, the mission became an autonomous church to be known as the Parkway Baptist Church of Saint Louis County, affiliated with the St. Louis Baptist Association and the Southern Baptist Convention. The name was chosen because of being located in the Parkway School District. There were 83 charter members.
Since this time the church has had three building programs, adding the auditorium, the North Educational Wing, and the East Educational Wing. After 23 years of service, Dr. Allen resigned as pastor in 1979. Ron Wells served as pastor from July 1980 to January 1982. Stoney Shaw, formally associate pastor of the church, was called as pastor in March 1982 and served until February of 1993.
During the second half of Reverend Shaw's ministry, the church undertook and, by God's help, completed a master plan for doubling the size of the first facility. This was done through a capital stewardship program above and beyond the budget of the church. The four million-dollar project included the new sanctuary, recreation center, fellowship hall, office suite, music suite, and additional classrooms. The first service held in the new sanctuary was in June of 1990, with dedication of the building in September of that year.
Our present pastor, Dr. Dwight Blankenship, came to us in January of 1995, from a strong pastorate in Paris, Texas. Parkway Baptist Church, under his leadership, seeks to continue the original vision of this fellowship, which is to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ in our community, city, state, nation, and around the world. God has blessed Parkway with a rich heritage in the deep things of God. We praise Him for what He has done and pray that He will be honored and glorified in the years ahead as the committed people called Parkway Baptist Church "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness."