Our History
On the last Sunday in October October 1992, Bible Baptist called Its second pastor, Brother Roy Blair. They would celebrate the church’s anniversary along with the calling of our second pastor on the first Sunday of November. At that time there were nine members: three couples and a family with a high school child, eight of whom were active church members and called the Roy Blair to be their Pastor. After outgrowing the current building, The church moved to 301 East Ridge Rd. It was perfect for the humble beginnings, there was a large room in the front that we used for the auditorium and three rooms on the side that we use for the Sunday schools and office space. We did a lot of work on that building to make it look presentable.
Growth was very slow the first year and we knocked thousands of doors and saw only two visitors as a result of our efforts one of them was a member of another church that just came to check us out the other was genuinely seeking the Lord. We saw only one salvation that first year yet we believe that this was where God wanted us. Pastor Blair was able to lead the husband of that one perspective family to the Lord in their home and overtime at least four more people resulted from that one lady who decided to visit as a result of a track left on her door.
God blessed and we were soon outgrowing this building also the room and we began to pray and look for another building or piece of property to build on. Brother Roy Blair began looking for property and realized very quickly it was going to take more than he’d ever imagined in order to purchase a piece of property especially in a prime location. A realtor called the pastor and said that they had a piece of property that they had forgotten about. It was a very rough piece of property just over four a half acres, briers so thick that you could not see through.
The property was located on Highway 377 and the asking price was $150,000. It was an amazing price because everything I looked at on 377 at that time was at least $100,000 an acre. Our problem was that we didn’t have anywhere near that kind of money. Another pastor suggested that I offer them half the asking price and a letter of contribution for the other half. I didn’t think that it would happen but it was worth a try. The owner lived in Arkansas and happened to be a Baptist and took the offer and God provided the funds. Praise God!
In April 1995 we poured the foundation on the original building. Once again God provided in miraculous ways including gifts from churches all over Texas, the men of the church and men from other local churches helped with that first building. Brent Anderson who was the pastor Central Baptist Denton, Texas did a tremendous amount of work along with the men of Bible Baptist Church who did most of the work especially David Harris who is now the pastor of Solid Rock Baptist Church in Rusk, Texas.
We were not able to complete the auditorium so we met in the Fellowship Hall for the first couple of years. We had to borrow $20,000 to do this but our payments were only $50.00 more a month and we were paying rent, with three times the space. We moved into the new building on Easter Sunday 1997.
Soon we saw the need to build again and the church voted to accept the plans to build a second building in 2002. It was in 2004 that we were actually able to build. When we built the first building we were not in the city limits and thus had very little requirements but the city later annexed that part of Granbury and we had many more hoops to jump through on the second building.
The church was very blessed to have Brother Billy Freezen as a member who was the general contractor and he not only saved us thousands of dollars but worked with the city to make sure everything was up to code. Words cannot express the value and blessing of all that he did. There was also a family in the church who gave a large offering to make most of this possible I mentioned a few names throughout my recollections but there are so many more that I could mention.
God blessed Brother Blair with the privilege of being able to Pastor Bible Baptist Church for 15 years. In December 2006, Brother Blair resigned as pastor and was called to a ministry work in Mississippi.
Our third pastor was Brother James Cytacki. He came to the church with an extensive military background and was able to guide the church through a tough transition time. He pastored Bible Baptist Church for four years. Under his leadership, he helped bring the finances down to a manageable level and cut the expenses to a level that the church could maintain.
On December 7, 2011, the church called its current and fourth pastor, Bryce Vandiver. The church had 27 people the night he was voted in as Pastor. God has grown Bible Baptist Church both numerically and most important spiritually under Pastor Bryce’s leadership. We continue to do the first works of preaching the Word of God, soul winning, and Christian discipleship all to the glory of God. We remain a Fundamental Independent Bible-believing Baptist Church.