The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Church looks forward as it celebrates 60 years
Looking to the future is how Senior Pastor Joel Potter and the congregation of Kirtland Bethel Bible Church is celebrating the church’s 60th anniversary.
“We are really all about discipleship and evangelism,” Potter said. “It’s something that is important to our church. We are not concerned about looking back, it’s the looking forward.”
The church has come a long way from its humble beginnings.
When the church originally was founded by John Ashbrook in February 1957 as a church plant from Bible Community Church on Lake Shore Boulevard in Mentor, there was no designated house of worship. The congregation of about 15 to 20 people started out with Bible studies in multiple facilities around town, Potter said. As the group grew, it added Sunday morning services.
The church has gone through several name changes during its history.
It started out as Kirtland Bible Church in 1957 when members were meeting in City Hall, a little storefront and the community center. The name changed to Kirtland Bible Baptist Church in the 1960s after the purchase of a house on the property where the church is currently located.
The church became known by its current name in 1992 when Kirtland Bible Baptist Church merged with Bethel Bible Church of Wickliffe. Pastor Douglas Browning of Bethel Bible Church had an 85-member congregation but no place to worship, while Kirtland Bible Baptist Church had a building but a congregation of only about 10 members. Browning became senior pastor of the newly formed church.
Of the 13 pastors who have led the church, Browning served the longest with a tenure of 19 years, until 2012, when he was succeeded by Potter.
In addition to multiple names changes over the years ,the congregation has met in a variety of places before moving into its current building at 10172 Chillicothe Road.
In 1957, meetings were held on Sunday afternoons at Kirtland Town Hall. Five years later, the congregation moved to Gildersleeve School on Route 306. In December 1967, the house at 10172 Chillicothe Road, which sat on 8 acres of land, was purchased and remodeled.
The congregation moved into the remodeled house in February 1968. In 1977, the congregation moved into the newly built church.
Potter said that there wasn’t a whole lot to celebrate as far as the length of time for the church.
“We celebrate the fact that God has been faithful to us in this community, when our doors could have closed many times in those 60 years, and yet, by God’s grace, we are still standing,” Potter said.
When the church has its smallest congregation of about 11 members, they were still able to pay off the mortgage for the building. Potter believes this is one of the many blessings that God has bestowed upon the church.
The church has seen a decline in members, with its current membership of about 50 to 55, Potter said. That compares to an estimated membership of 100 back in the early 1980s to late 1990s.
The church marked the 60th anniversary with a special service on Feb. 19, when members such as Ike Weaver of Mentor testified about how the church has played an important role in their lives.
Weaver and his family have been attending Kirtland Bethel Bible Church for 56 years.
The church holds fond memories for him and his daughter Amanda Yoh, as they each had their weddings there. Weaver said his wife was saved there and they have raised their family within the church.
Although he has moved from Kirtland to Mentor, he returns every Sunday to Kirtland for church services.
“The church is greatly important in my life and that’s why I’m still involved there. It means a lot to me.” Weaver said. “I have met a lot of people over the years, many have come and gone, some deceased, but it’s been a real blessing.”
Weaver, who is aware that the church could have closed several times, feels that God has plans for the small church.
“God has proven that he has been there and his hands have been in the church,” Weaver said. “When attendance has been down or pastors have left, it could have closed,” Weaver said. “The only thing you can attribute it to is his grace.”
The church, according to Potter, will continue to celebrate throughout out the rest of the year through various events of outreach and messages on its church sign.