Church History
75 years ago, a small group of concerned Christians in the Lebanon Valley were praying and seeking to establish a good spiritual church for them and their children. A convention was held in the Gospel Tabernacle in Mt. Aetna. At the close of the convention on March 19, 1949, Rev. George Straub met with the congregation and our local church was born.
In the fall of 1951, the small congregation purchased ground on Hill Street in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. They began building the church, digging the basement by hand, with the help of a farm tractor and a front end loader. They had to work hard to get in to their new church and the people gave sacrificially of their time and money. By the beginning of April 1952, they moved into the new building. God blessed in a wonderful way!
Sis. Mildred Rhoads was the first pastor of the church and served until 1956. Other pastors of the church were Rev. Dean Confer 1956-1958, Rev. Marlin Crock 1958-1963, Rev. Truman Wise 1963-1971, Rev. Melvin Evans 1971-1977, Rev. Barry Arnold 1977-2012, Rev. Alan Walter 2012-2024, and Rev. Curtis Going 2024 to present.
Our church has many outreach ministries. Our Radio Ministry began in April, 1978; Dial-A-Story for children was started in 1979; the Bus Ministry began in 1985; the Spanish ministry began in 1991; and the Prison Ministry began in 2003. Because of the COVID-19 crisis our prison services have been discontinued.
Ground was broken on March 11, 1990 for the present sanctuary. A two-phase building project was started in 2001 which included an education wing and an all-purpose building named “The Family Life Center.” In 2017 we built a 6-bay bus garage.
Across these seventy-five years of operation, God has opened many doors for us to reach beyond the original Pennsylvania Dutch people. It is our desire, by God’s grace, to continue sharing the wonderful message of Salvation until our Lord returns.