History of Bookcliff Baptist Church
A BRIEF HISTORY OF BOOKCLIFF
1950 - 2010
Bookcliff Baptist Church was organized on November 8, 1950 as First Southern Baptist Church of Grand Junction with 56 charter members. The first permanent place of worship was built at 17th and Elm in 1953. Until that time the congregation met at various locations. In 1968 the church moved to 12th and Patterson and changed the name to Bookcliff Baptist Church. The Family Ministries building was completed in 1983.
Mission work has always been important to Bookcliff Baptist. The church has been involved in starting or sponsoring at least 18 congregations in Colorado. Most of these missions have been constituted into churches.
As an extension of our ministry, Rainbow Children’s Center was started in February, 1983 to provide Christian day care and pre-school. It opened under the direction of Audie Loehr with an enrollment of 7 children and 2 teachers. A morning kindergarten was added in 1984. In 2009, the decision was made to move from a daycare ministry to a Preschool ministry. This move has been embraced by staff and parents alike.
In 1988 the education ministry of our church continued with the opening of Bookcliff Christian School under the leadership of Gary Reichard with an enrollment of 10 children and 2 teachers. BCS continues to provide a Christian education for children from kindergarten through 8th grade.
Over the years Bookcliff has been blessed with many wonderful pastors. In order of their service the senior pastors have been: Ernest Willoughby, Paul Jolly, Autry Brown, W.V. Prindle, George E. Ray, Jr., Otis Testerman and John Robbins. Our current senior pastor, Dr. Kenny Long, was called in 2003.
We will celebrate our 60th anniversary at the end of 2010. We are grateful to God for the ministry that He has led Bookcliff to have and for the ministry opportunities of the future.
