OUR STORY

The Year Our Church Was Organized

The First Baptist Church of Twentynine Palms was organized in 1954 under the leadership of Harry H. Gromer. He had a great concern for establishing ministry in this area due to the Marine Corp Base. During the early 50's he enlisted the support of the Southern California Baptist Convention, Los Angeles, to organize a church in Twentynine Palms.

What led People To Establish the Church

Interest in establishing an American Baptist Church in Twentynine Palms came from several directions.

• First, as stated, Rev. Harry H. Gromer and a number of local citizens had a great desire to establish a church of Baptist background because there were no Baptist churches in this area.
• Second, there was a great concern to do a domestic missionary work among the Marine personnel.

When the church was officially established, there were 25 charter members. These members worshiped in a small building adjacent to Lucky Park. The rental fee for usage was $10 a month (those were the good ole days).

PASTORS WHO SERVED FBC 29

57 Years of Pastors

Rev. Harry H. Gromer 1953	Rev. Frank L. Harris 1953-1954	Rev. William Brewer 1954-1957
Rev. C.R. Matthews 1957-1958	Rev. Jack Hurse 1958-1960	Rev. Richard Ashley 1960-1967
Rev. H. Wilbur Skeels 1968-1974	Rev. David Russo 1975-1979	Rev. Max Wiant 1980-1989
Rev. Richard Reed 1989-1996	Rev. Raymond Butcher 1998-2008	Rev. Alex Chisolm 2008-2010
Pastor Daryl G. Whitehouse 2010-2011