Temple Baptist celebrates 30th anniversary

Bro. Jim Tollison has been pastor of Temple Baptist Church for 30 years. The church is celebrating its 30th anniversary this Sunday, July 2 with all-day services featuring worship, music and special speakers.

Dr. Tom Wallace, former moderator of Southwide Baptist Fellowship and pastor of the Franklin Road Baptist Church, now on the staff of Sword of the Lord, will be preaching. Brother Ron Sexton, widely known evangelist and gifted musician, will be speaking and singing at 2:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to any and all of the services.

The church has had a long history in the community, having held services in a number of locations over the years.

?The church began as a tent revival over on Beersheba Street,? recalled church pastor Jim Tollison. ?Then we organized services in 1976 over in the old Blue Building, and then we went from there to the Magness Memorial, because there were some windows out in the auditorium in the Blue Building.?

The church held meetings in the upstairs area of the Magness now used for music, book signings, movies and other programs.

?We were there for the winter of 1976,? Tollison said. Then the church purchased property at 648 N. Spring Street in the fall of 1976, but since another local church was holding services there until they got their new church built, Temple didn?t actually move services from the library until July of 1977.

?We moved there and went through two building programs,? Tollison said, ?and we just outgrew the place.?

The church eventually purchased the property on Oak Tree Drive in 2000, and after quickly selling the property on Spring Street, began working on a building plan. Tollison said the new church was a cooperative effort, with a number of the congregation participating.

Along with the Tollisons, another pair of the church?s founding families are still involved.

?There are two families that are still here that started with us,? Tollison said. ?The Nichols family and the Gilstorf family.?

Bro. Tollison and his wife Mary will be married 49 years on July 5 and have three daughters, who attend church with their own families now.

Temple Baptist Church is an independent, fundamentalist church which believes in ?The Book, the Blood, and the Blessed Hope.? The church is missionary minded, supporting missionaries in every area of the world, including the LeFevre family in Bulgaria and the James Womack family, from McMinnville, which ministers to servicemen at Fort Knox, Ky.