Our History
CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH
July 1947-------September 1964
By Lois Fitzpatrick
The Calvary Baptist Church located at 24th Street and Virginia Avenue, Connersville, Indiana, was organized July 20, 1947, as an Independent Baptist Church, on the front porch of the home of Tom and Dora Brumback, RR 3, East Connersville.
The church resulted from a revival tent meeting that was located on Grand Avenue. After the closing of the meeting, services were continued at the Brumbach’s with twenty year old Richard Herbert Fitzpatrick, Jr., as the pastor. There were fourteen charter members including the pastor. They were: Tom and Dora Brumback, Mark and Grace Bowling, Alec and Rhoda Moore, Dr. C. L. and Frances Entner, Vernon and Myrtle Parsley, John and Mary Blaase, and their unmarried daughter, Mary. John and Mary Jr. joined pending baptism.
Herb Fitzpatrick was a recent graduate of Bible Baptist Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly before his graduation, he learned that Charlie Hunter, pastor of First Baptist Church, Metamora, Indiana, had contacted the Seminary, inquiring about graduates who might be interested in starting a church in nearby Connersville. Herb and four other men responded to an announcement made in Chapel concerning the pastoral opportunity. We don’t know the stories of the other four respondents, but Herb’s interview was not initially promising.
Brother Fitzpatrick, are you married? asked Dr. Dearmore, dean of the school.
No sir, I’m not.
Well, I don’t usually recommend a single man to be a pastor. I don’t think it is wise.
I understand, Dr. Dearmore, but the girl I love was taken by someone else and I can’t marry just anyone so I can be a pastor. I know God wants me to be a pastor and I am interested in going to Connersville to build a Baptist Church.
After some hesitation, Dr. Dearmore replied,
You are right. You can’t get married just to pastor. You should have the same opportunity as others, so here is Pastor Hunter’s address. Write and tell him why you are interested. God bless you.
Herb took the address and wrote pastor Hunter a letter. Of the five men who wrote, Hunter was most impressed with Herb’s letter. Somehow, he felt that he was the man for the job. He contacted him and told him about a revival tent meeting he was holding in Connersville in June. He asked Herb to come for the tent meeting and he would have him preach one night and see how God led. He began making plans to go to Indiana.
Herb and his good friend, Bill Wilson, were graduating in May. Neither was ordained to the ministry, so Bill contacted his pastor, Dr. Dallas Billington, in Akron, Ohio, explaining their situation and desire to be ordained. The following Sunday morning both were ordained to the Christian ministry at the Akron Baptist Temple.
From there, Wilson and his wife went to Dayton, Ohio, to build a church, and Herb boarded a Greyhound bus to Connersville, Indiana. As the bus was en-route to the downtown station in Connersville, Herb saw a tent on Grand Avenue and asked the driver to stop the bus. He picked up his worn suitcase with all his worldly belongings and stepped into an unknown world.
It was mid-afternoon, and supposing this was the only tent meeting in town, he sat down on his suitcase, under the tent, and waited for the evening service to begin. Prayerfully, he contemplated his future in Connersville. Somehow he felt at home already, knowing God was leading in his life.
Charlie Hunter was one of the first to arrive for the evening service. He was a tall man who towered over Herb. As he looked down at Herb standing 5’ 8’ weighing 125 pounds and un-experienced in being a pastor, he wondered if he had made a mistake, but once he heard Herb preach, he knew God had directed his choice.
Charlie and his wife, Myrtle, took Herb to their home until he could find a place to live and get the church established in Connersville. It didn’t take long to get things rolling. After a couple of weeks he moved into a rooming house on Eastern Avenue in Connersville. He immediately began looking for a building in which his new church could meet, but nothing was to be found either to purchase or rent. The situation looked bleak.
Herb was reared in Roanoke, Virginia, and had a warm southern accent and preached with authority. He was friendly and made a point of remembering names. He called people by their first name, which was music to their ears, and was a giant step in building a congregation.
Tom Brumback was a realtor in Connersville, He and his wife, Dora, lived in a large house on Vine Street. They were interested in an Independent Baptist Church being built in Connersville, so Tom told Herb that the group could meet in their home until another place could be found.
The Sunday after the tent meeting ended, Tom’s wife, Dora, lay ill in their home. Tom suggested that the 35 people who came for the first service meet on his large front porch. During the week Dora was diagnosed with a terminal illness, so the group continued meeting on the porch during the summer months, using the large lawn trees as shade for Sunday school classes.
Herb worked long hours laying the foundation for starting a church. He got better acquainted with those who were interested in becoming members, weighing their natural abilities and spiritual gifts seeing where they would fit into the local body. On Sunday morning, July 20, 1947, Herb preached and gave an invitation to unbelievers to receive Christ, and for those who were already saved and wanted to become charter members to take a front seat. The thirteen people named in an earlier paragraph came forward at his request.
Dr. B, H Hillard, pastor of Lockland Baptist Church in the Cincinnati area, was invited to help organize Calvary Baptist, a name Herb had chosen. Hillard came that afternoon and when he saw that there were only fourteen people and no building, he said, there is nothing to organize, so he went home.
Disappointed but determined, Herb, himself, set about to do it. Although this aspect of church building was totally new to him, he studied and learned what to do. He knew he was where God wanted him and nothing would deter him. He always told his friends that God wanted him to build a large Baptist church.
Praying aloud was important to Herb, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing it in a rooming house, so he made a habit of going to the nearby banks of the Whitewater River to pray.
One Saturday morning, he went to pray and saw a young man fishing nearby. Herb introduced himself to Noel Brewer and invited him to church on Sunday. Noel, in turn, invited Herb to eat lunch with him at his parents home that day. Herb was thrilled to get a home cooked meal so together they trudged up Third Street Hill to a humble abode and a surprised mother.
The Brewer family welcomed him and agreed to walk to church with him the next day since none of them had a car. Over a period of time, the entire Brewer family came to know Christ.
When the weather turned cool in the fall, the group left their beloved porch in east Connersville and began meeting inside the home of John and Mary Blaase on Eastern Avenue, north.
Two lots on Virginia Avenue became available for $1,300.00. The members gave extra money and purchased them. Herb had saved a hundred dollars for a car, so he gave that toward the lots and waited a little longer for a car.
On September 14, 1947, an agreement was made to purchase a 16’ x 48’ government barracks building. It wasn’t much to look at, but it would suffice until a permanent building could be built. A postman, who was not a member of the congregation, loaned Herb $1,000.00 to purchase the building, and then Herb and Dr. Entner helped to erect it on the back of the lots. The building was filled almost immediately and the debt was paid.
On December 14, 1947, the Church Constitution was written by Herb and members of the congregation, but it wasn’t adopted and enacted until February 22, 1948. The church was growing so fast, that those who were willing to work were given jobs. Herb needed help and he had confidence that people could do whatever needed to be done. He taught them the Bible and encouraged them along the way. Jack Gilland, a new Christian, was elected as Sunday School Superintendent and Elton Carlisle as his assistant.
Connersville was a thriving factory town largely inhabited by blue-collar workers. Herb built the church by becoming friends with people, then inviting them to come hear him preach. He preached with power and compassion and encouraged members of his congregation to bring their unsaved friends and relatives to church to hear him preach. He gave an invitation at the close of each sermon to give his listeners an opportunity to act on what they had heard. Lifting his arms, he compassionately pled with people to heed the call of God on their lives.
During the day, he made himself known to local businesses and townspeople by walking wherever he could and introducing himself. He considered every person a prospect for Christ. He visited hospitals and nursing homes praying for the sick and infirm. He prayed aloud for all patients in the same room, not just the one he was visiting and many people became believers as a result of his kindness and care. At night he visited in the homes of families who worked the day shift. He wanted to reach families for Christ and he worked hard to win husbands and fathers first, believing their wives and children would follow.
Fourteen were baptized at the first baptismal service held in the river near Metamora, Indiana, on November 9, 1947. Herb said he thought he would surely freeze to death that day and has never forgotten it.
The church grew quickly once they had the barracks building in which to meet. On August 4, 1948, it was agreed at a business meeting, to build a building with a basement and cover the basement so it could to be used as a meeting place until the edifice above it was completed.
Sometimes on Sunday mornings, Herb would arise at four o’clock and go to the church building to get things ready for the services. When it rained he had to mop water out of the basement and fire a portable heater to dry and warm it before people came for church. At the beginning, he served as custodian, pianist, and pastor.
It didn’t take long for the church building to be built and on May 9, 1951, the mortgage was burned at a special service where Pastor Charlie Hunter preached. A true dedication of the building was made unto the Lord. By July 1951 a new addition was started on the north side of the existing building. During the 17 years that Herb served Calvary, two additions were added to the main building and several lots and nearby houses were purchased for continued growth.
Eula Carlisle was the Church Secretary for a number of years. She kept a record of the church growth during which time Herb was serving Calvary. People were added to the membership as they confessed faith in Jesus Christ and followed Him in believer’s baptism or came by letter from a church of like faith and order. From the inception of the church in July 1947 to October 1964, the membership grew from 14 to 2396. The largest single attendance during that time was 2103 on Easter Sunday, 1963.
On a personal note, Herb and I were married at Calvary Baptist August 9, 1951. Over one thousand guests attended the wedding and the women of the church provided a buffet dinner for 700 guests who attended the reception. I felt totally accepted and loved by the members in the congregation. Later on, our two children, James and Jeri, were born in Connersville.
Up until 1951, Herb did not have a paid staff to help him, not even a secretary, even though the Sunday school attendance was 500. The first paid staff member was a music director and once that hurdle was jumped, other staff was added as the need arose. The Lord gave him wonderful staff through the years who excelled in their field of ministry whether it was music, education, youth, secretarial, or custodial.
A live weekly radio program was started and aired on Saturday mornings. People from surrounding communities drove long distances to attend church. Many of them came to know the Lord and joined the church because they liked what they received at Calvary and wanted to be a part of it.
Herb was unselfish with his pulpit even though he carefully chose who shared it. He wanted his congregation to hear the best preachers and Christian musicians possible. He invited special guests to come for special occasions. These were important actions on his part because it kept the church services fresh and interesting and generated excitement among parishioners. They often brought their unsaved friends and relatives with them and many of those guests received Christ.
One Sunday morning after Dr. Joe Henry Hankins preached with power and compassion, 125 people walked the aisle to receive Christ. Men like B. R. Lakin, Fred Brown, Jimmie Johnson, Hyman Appleman, and many others held revival meetings. Special music groups and soloists came to share Christ in song. The church grew to be the largest Sunday school in the state of Indiana at the time.
During the early sixties some of the factories began closing and the city was not growing. Herb had visited almost every home in Connersville at some point and many of them numerous times. He began to lose his challenge and became restless. God was preparing him for a new venture.
In the spring of 1964, one of Herb’s former classmates dropped by to visit. During the course of conversation, he mentioned a church in Riverdale, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., who needed a pastor.
Why don’t you give them my name? Herb asked. Shocked, his friend said, You would never leave this great church. It’s your baby.
Well you never know how God may be leading, Herb replied.
By the end of September 1964, Herb had become the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Riverdale, Maryland, ending 17 years of wonderful ministry at the great Calvary Baptist Church.
Those last few weeks in Connersville were truly bittersweet. Our whole family loved the people of Calvary Baptist Church and the thought of leaving our extended family of friends filled us with sadness. But the excitement of a new challenge also inspired us. After many tearful goodbyes, we embarked upon our journey to a new state and congregation.
Over the years, the people of Connersville and Calvary Baptist have never left our hearts and we continue to hold them all in our thoughts and prayers.