THE HISTORY OF RIDGECREST BAPTIST CHURCH Mr. & Mrs. George A. Feltz hosted the first Sunday School Service in their home on September 25, 1955 with 57 people in attendance. The following Wednesday, arrangements were made between the First Baptist Church of St. Johns and the fledgling mission group, to start a church that would later become Ridgecrest Baptist Church. At that time, First Baptist Church of St. Charles was the only other Baptist church in St. Charles. Meetings continued to be held in the home until November 6, 1955. Through the efforts of the St. Louis Baptist Mission Board, the First Baptist Church of St. Johns, and the Executive Board of the Missouri Baptist General Association, property was purchased at Highway #94 and Highway 70 for $26,500. The property had an 8 room house, a two-car garage and a barn on 5.3 acres of land atop the highest point in St. Charles County. The men of the church, with help from the men of First Baptist Church St. Johns, transformed the barn into a place of worship. The house was used for class rooms, and on November 6, 1955, 80 people enrolled for Sunday School and 66 met for Training Union. The following January, Rev. Guy Etter assumed full time duties as pastor. He was serving as interim pastor until he was called by the church, and approved by the First Baptist Church of St. Johns and the St. Louis Baptist Mission Board. On September 30, 1956, the Fraternal Methods Committee met with the pastor and church members for the purpose of constituting the mission into a church. The rapid growth of the congregation necessitated expansion. The first building was dedicated on October 19, 1958, and was financed through a bond issue for $57,000. Rev. Cook began his call as pastor in September of 1958, replacing Rev. Etter who wanted to further his education. As the church grew, plans for an educational building were made and another bond program started. The barn, garage, block building and house were removed to make room for construction of a second building which was finished in November 1961, and dedicated in January of 1962. In October 1962, Rev. Cook resigned as pastor and, with a group from our church, formed what is now known as Highland View Baptist Church. Rev. Crutchfield served as interim pastor until the church called Dr. Cleveland Horne, who began his pastorate the first Sunday of February, 1963. Dr. Horne led the church successfully through difficult financial times until called by the Christian Civic Foundation to become its Executive Director, in 1965. The next pastor was Rev. Chester Irvin. During his ministry, the Orchard Farm Baptist Church was established as a mission church of Ridgecrest in June 1968, and became an autonomous church on January 23, 1972. Ridgecrest also helped to establish Cave Springs Baptist Church. In 1973, Rev. Irvin left Ridgecrest to be the Pastor of the McKinley Avenue Baptist Church of Harrisburg, Illinois.
Our current pastor, Dr. Pat Campbell, began his ministry here on August 4, 1973. During his tenure, the church built a long awaited dream. On October 23, 1977, the church had a ground breaking ceremony to build a new auditorium, fellowship hall, office space, and to renovate the old auditorium into a library, children's chapel, choir room, nursery, and conference room. $600,000 was borrowed from the 1st National Bank of St. Charles and over $200,000 was raised from the people in a building program called Together We Build. The total cost for the new auditorium and renovation was about a million dollars. The new auditorium was completed April 8, 1979 and the congregation dedicated the new construction in October of 1979. During Easter of 1981, the church began the evangelistic ministry of the "Passion Play" continued annually through 2003. Hundreds of church members were involved each year in the production in some way, and thousands attended the Passion Play during those years. In July 1986, Ridgecrest purchased a site for a new mission, called Bethesda. Rev. Russ Stigall was named as pastor, and Bethesda became an autonomous church body in June, 1991. In 1987, the education wing and south building of Ridgecrest was renovated. The cost of the renovation was $725,000. In the summer of 1997, the sanctuary was renovated with new pews and carpeting. In October 1997, the Sunday School established a tradition that lasted 10 years of an annual church-wide picnic. Members gathered to play games, visit, enjoy good food (a Baptist tradition) and have a time of praise and devotion at Wapelhorst Park. In 2001 the event was renamed Praise on the Property when the location of the event was moved to the property that was purchased in 1999 on Zumbehl Road. The last church picnic was held on June 10, 2007 when the church celebrated the official ground breaking ceremony for the current church facility on Zumbehl Road. In 1998, other fun church-wide events were added. At that time there were two Ridgecrest men s softball teams that squared off for an annual grudge match. The night the teams play each other is a fun-filled time where almost 100 members come to cheer for their favorite team. Some other activities that began around this time include a men s spring retreat at Windermere, the women s fall retreat, the women s spring Banquet, and many other fellowship activities. In 1999, an Ad-hoc committee was formed by the church to explore the future needs of Ridgecrest Baptist Church. The committee cited several factors such as, our present facilities limited parking, a lack of space for future expansion, and the Missouri Department of Transportation s plan to change the Highway 94/I70 interchange that will eliminate easy access to the church, as some of the reasons we should seek to relocate. On September 19, 1999, through an extraordinary chain of events, it was clear to our membership that God was leading us to purchase a 10 acre plot of land (which is more than twice the land Ridgecrest currently has) at the corner of Zumbehl Road and Greystone, only a mile from our current location. On December 30, 1999, the property was purchased for $1,200,000. Upon the competition of the Ad-hoc committee s work a Building committee was formed and in May of 2002 the following letter form Bro Pat was sent to the membership:
Mark your calendars for May 19, 2002. This will be an exciting evening in the life of our church. On that Sunday at 5:30 pm the Building Committee will bring three recommendations to the church involving the following; Recommendation to approve an overall Master Plan for the new property on Zumbehl Road. Recommendation to approve Phase I of the Master Plan. When the time comes, we agree to build Phase I first. Recommendation to list our present church facility for sale. After all the recommendations have been explained there will be a time of discussion followed by a vote on each recommendation. As you know, these are very important decisions in the life of Ridgecrest Baptist Church. Our church family has been earnestly praying for the Lord s direction in this endeavor. We believe the Lord led us to purchase the land on Zumbehl Road almost 2 1/2 years ago. We are now at the point where the Building Committee unanimously agrees that the three recommendations to be presented on May 19 th are the next steps in the process of moving our church to a new location. We would like as many church members as possible to be present to hear and confirm the direction we believe God is now leading us. Please make plans to join us on May 19 th and be a part of this exciting time in the life of our church. Your participation in this process is important and we look forward to seeing you there on May 19 th to cast your votes! The Building Committee Bob Fagan Winn Horn Kevin Noble Julie Bruns Patty Ferguson Linda Haberstroh Ron Hill Eric Cantley Hal Herweck Bro Chris Ramsey Bro Trey Herweck Dr Pat Campbell Bro Dave Iannacone Plan to attend Sunday evening May 19 th at 5:30 pm FAQs What is a Master Plan? It is the ultimate best use and development of a site. This is a broad brush design for the future that includes a comprehensive, long range, multi-phased plan for the church s property. It is determined by a thorough study of facts, needs, wants and beliefs of our church. It is not only a complete picture of the site and buildings(s) but also a working tool useful in helping determine how the site will be completed in a logical and sensible manner. It is a flexible tool to allow for changes in phasing as needs change. It is not a detailed description
of construction materials, interior finish such as carpeting, color schemes, etc or other detail that will be determined at a later date. What is Phase I? The master plan is a multi-phase plan meaning it will not all be constructed at one time. The master plan is divided into pieces and the church decides which pieces should be constructed first, second, third and so on until the whole site has been developed. Phase I would be the first piece of the master plan to be constructed. Is it necessary to list our present church facility for sale now? We should list our present facility for sale to give ourselves as much time possible to find the best buyer. The net proceeds from the sale of the property can be used to reduce the amount of debt it takes to move to the new location. Why are we moving? In the summer of 1999 Ridgecrest Baptist Church commissioned an Ad- Hoc Committee consisting of (8) church members. Their task was to identify and evaluate possible options and, recommend the one that provides the best opportunity for the future growth and stability of our church, while being the best use of church resources. On August 22, 1999 the church approved a recommendation to authorize the Ad-Hoc Committee to negotiate the purchase of 10.25 acres of land on Zumbehl Road for $1,200,000. On December 29, 1999 papers were signed and the transfer of the deed of the Zumbehl Road property to Ridgecrest Baptist Church was completed. What are some of the reasons for going in this direction? Limited parking..a plan to increase parking by 49 spaces including other improvements (lighting, traffic flow, acquiring adjacent properties, etc) would cost nearly a million dollars. Our present facility needs costly major repairs just to maintain existing service levels.roof, mechanical/electrical and other items could cost several thousands of dollars. Size of our land site.over the years the highway department has taken land from Ridgecrest for highway projects. We now have approx. 3.6 acres - at one time we had 5.7 acres. Even if we spent close to $1,000,000 in improvements, we would still be landlocked with only 3.6 acres. Accessibility..sometime in 2003 the highway department will demolish and rebuild the intersections at Interstate 70 & Highway 94 overpass in a 3 year project. At a bare minimum, we know accessibility to the church will be impaired during and after construction. In May of 2002, a master plan for the construction of our new facility on Zumbehl Road was presented by the Building Committee and Aedis, Inc., the architects hired to develop the plan. Phase I of construction was also revealed and approved at a projected cost of over $4,000,000. In October of 2002, the facility on 1 st Capitol Drive was put up for sale. Along with the completed overall master plan, the church approved a phasing plan which
recommended the scope of phase I of the project. The architectural drawings were completed and on March 26, 2007, and approval of the plans was granted by the City of St. Charles to proceed with construction. A was stated above, the official ground breaking ceremony was conducted on June 10, 2007. Wachter Inc., was hired to be our general contractor, and actual construction began in September of 2007. The end of September of 2008 construction was complete at a cost just over $5,300,000. On October 26, 2008 the church dedicated their new facilities in and have been conducting ministry at the Zumbehl facility ever since. In October of 2006, the church leadership scheduled a Global Focus conference. Over 70 people who were mostly Deacons, Sunday School teachers and other leadership of the church were challenged to begin to take an active role in the implementation of Act 1:8 and the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. As a result, a formal organizing of the church s mission focus was centralized under the Faith Missions umbrella. The church formally created a position of Missions Minister, and reassigned Bro David Iannacone from Minister of Education to serve in the Missions Minister position. The purpose of Faith Missions ministries at Ridgecrest is to lead the church family in The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 to go into all the world and make disciples. FM ministries facilitate the involvement of our members in ministering to and reaching people for Christ in St Charles (our Jerusalem), in Missouri and North America (our Judea/Samaria) and to the world (Ends of the Earth) Acts 1:8. Faith Missions exists to instill an understanding in the hearts of our people, that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be on mission and to personally engage in the work of missions. Since 2007, the church has had regular mission conferences to bring emphasis to Missionaries and missions all around the world. Ridgecrest always had a strong mission focus throughout its history with vital WMU and Brotherhood mission organizations. But the adoption of the Global Focus ministry intensified the church s activity, investment and direct involvement in the Great Commission. Since 2007, Ridgecrest has directly engaged in (through financial support or direct participation), the sending of church members to the African continent, Eastern Europe, North America and has started or supported several mission organizations that minister to people in the Saint Charles community. In 2012, Dr. Pat Campbell completed his 39 th year as Pastor. Also serving on staff is Rev. Chris Ramsey, Minister of Music, who has served at Ridgecrest since February, 1995, Rev. David Iannacone, Minister of Education and Administration, who joined October of 1997. Dan Borth has served as our Minister to Students since October of 2011 and Kindra York has served in the official capacity as Minister to Children since January of 2013 but served as a layman in that capacity several years before then. In December of 2012 our 1 st Capitol Drive facility was sold to Passion for Truth Fellowship for $1.35 million. However it is not a cash sale and the church holds a 5 year note with PFT for the remaining balance.