Pasfield Southern Baptist Church History

A lot of what we know of Pasfield’s history comes from notes that were written in a book form. Olive Henderson kept notes on the church for more than forty years and when her health began to decline, she entrusted the book over to Marple “Pop” Draper who then took over those duties. It is because of these two fines ladies that we are able to present much of what is presented today.

September 1949 Pasfield Southern Baptist Church began as a mission in Highland Recreation Building at the corner of Holmes Avenue and Highland Avenue. The Mission had been a dream of Rev. Adolf Chrissman of the South Grand Baptist Church of Springfield (now known as First Baptist Church).

Pasfield Southern Baptist Church was officially established Easter Sunday, April 9th 1950. The church consisted of 12 members and Rev. Paul Spencer who served a pastor. In 1951, the church purchased two and a half lots on the corner of Pasfield and Lenox. Construction of the church building quickly began until construction was halted due to lack of funds. Rev. Spencer served as pastor until 1953.

In May of 1953, Preston Denton became the new pastor. Under his leadership, the church sponsored a new church Faith Southern Baptist Mission in the Northwest part of Springfield. This later became West Side Baptist Church.

Construction of the church building resumed on the spring of 1954. The needed money to continue came as the church had grown to 198 members and there was an average of 98 in Sunday School. The Building was largely done with volunteer labor, with members of the congregation hauling the needed supplies with the women and children and carrying supplies to the scaffolding. By November of that year, the two story brick & concrete building was completed at the cost of $37,000. They say they finished the roof at three o’clock and the rains began to fall at four.

Pastor Denton served as pastor until July of 1956.

Rev. Roy Baxter was called to lead here as pastor in November 1956. He served until February 1958 when he accepted a job as a Chaplain in the US Navy.

W.C. “Carl” Whittington was called to pastor for just four short months in the later part of 1958 and he was soon replaced by Rev. Lee Rule who came to lead in January of 1959. Pastor Rule served as pastor for seventeen years and it was here that Pasfield recorded its’ highest attendance. During his tenure, the church paid off all of its loans and began an ongoing building fund. Plans were considered to build a new sanctuary on the lawn of the existing building. In the early 1970’s the church was remodeled adding paneling on the walls, carpet and new furniture. Pastor Rule resigned in August of 1976.

October 1976 William Graves came to pastor but resigned in May of 1977 to accept a position as a chaplain in the US Air Force.

June 1977, Russell Price was called to lead, and many were added during his leadership. New windows were added at the time and Pastor Price stayed until 1982 due to his declining health.

In August of 1983, Tim Lampley was called as Pastor and stayed until June of 1985 where he went on to attend seminary. Pasfield experienced remarkable growth and vision during Pastor Lampley’s leadership.

In May of 1986, Milton Bost took over as pastor. During his tenure, the building fund had grown to fifty-five thousand dollars and with help from the members Pastor Bost saw to the building completion of the new sanctuary which was dedicated Easter Sunday morning April 7, 1996. The overall cost for the building was estimated to be two hundred thousand dollars. Pastor Bost continued to lead until October 2000 when he resigned to take a position at the Capital City Baptist Association.

In February 2002, Paul Hardway was called to lead, and he stayed until he resigned in February 2007 due to health reasons. During Pastor Hardway’s tenure, we purchased the former Dodds’ school building which is being used as Sunday school classrooms as well as other ministry outreach.

In January 2008, Roger Tyler was called to act as the interim pastor for Pasfield, which led to his calling as pastor in May 2008. Pastor Tyler & his wife Rachel have four daughters. Tess, Faith, Lydia & Vanessa have grown up at this church and we are blessed to have them in the Pasfield family. During Pastor Tyler’s tenure, we saw an increase in the number of missionaries and mission sponsored projects.

In October 2021, John Swinford was called to serve as the pastor of the church. Under his leadership, Pasfield Baptist Church focused on reaching those who don't know Christ, and on ministering to the needs of the families in the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, one of the most obvious and most urgent needs was the need to Rescue Children from Failing Public Schools. In 2022, this failure was admitted by the State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Carmen I. Ayala in saying, "Illinois Public Schools are NOT headed in the right direction... They are failing our children."  In an effort to provide parents with an affordable Christian alternative to the admitted failure of Public Schools, Pasfield Christian Academy was created in partnership with Illinois Family Institute and their Public School Exit Program.