On
Friday, November 9, 1962, in
Cleveland,
Ohio, Pastor Bob Ross of Calvary
Baptist
Church
in
Ashland, Kentucky,
held a meeting. He read a letter from Calvary Baptist church, authorizing him
to Baptize a group of believers into the church.
Nine members were added that evening. Another letter was then presented by
Pastor Bob, authorizing the release of those 9 baptized to form a separate
and independent assembly. The members of the new assembly voted, that evening,
to name this new assembly The New Testament Baptist Church. Paul A. Tiber was
elected moderator.
Membership grew. These early meetings were held in the
homes of the members until space was rented on
Lee Road
in
Cleveland
in early 1963.
On
July 18th, 1964, Ordained Baptist minister, Paul A. Tiber, was called to serve as pastor of The
New Testament Baptist Church. He faithfully served this assembly until
retirement in May of 2004.
As time passed, folks were wonderfully converted by God's
Sovereign Grace and membership grew. Many members were moving their
residences east of Cleveland
into
Geauga
County. In 1974, we purchased a residence on Route 6 in Kirtland,
Ohio
to build an addition for a meeting room and add a parking lot. During
construction, the assembly rented The Grange in Willoughby Hills on River Road
for Sunday morning services. Evening services were held in the house in
Kirtland. In 1977, the first meeting was held in the addition at the house in
Kirtland. (Kirtland being a central location to accommodate members in
Cleveland
and members in
Geauga County) The church remained in Kirtland, enlarging the addition in 1985 to accommodate
the growing membership, until March of 2001, when the building was sold. The
church then purchased several acres of land in
Claridon
Township
(Burton,
Ohio) for our building site.
Fowler's Mills Reception Hall in Munson was rented while
the new building was built in Claridon. The members committed themselves to build this church every Saturday over the
next 18 months. The first meeting was held at the current location on
Wednesday evening, October 9, 2002
.
The church called ordained Baptist minister Steve LeCrone
to serve as pastor. His ministry with this assembly began in May of 2004.
