About Us

the history

St. John Baptist Church was birthed November 1948 by Reverend Amos W. Willis. He began with ten members of the same like-mindness... seeking a closer relationship with God and His fellowmen. The first members were Sisters: Ruby Ray Brown, Loretta Carson, Eva Davis, Mattie R. Fredrick, Allie F. Harris, Romie McIntyre, Julia Jefferson, Pflecia Jones, Ruby Simmons, and Sarah Willis. The First Pastor and organizer was Reverend Amos W. Willis.

Rev. Willis’ struggle was to find a proper place for worship. The first building was a small house at Second Street and Thornton Street. Repairs were made to make it suitable for a while, until they were able to secure a larger and better building. Years later, St John found themselves to be suffering from “growing pains”. which caused Rev. S.M. Metter to purchase the second building. When they moved in they found that it was still not large enough. As time past by, St. John Baptist Church moved to 1215 Gila Street in 1974, where we currently reside and have worship services.

From the beginning to now, St. John Baptist Church has had ten Pastors of whom served the flock diligently. The Pastors who have served were Rev. Willis, Rev. Williams, Rev. Metters, Rev. Horton, Rev. Brown, Rev. Cleaver, Rev. Miller, Rev. Parramore, Rev. Williams (second time around), Rev. Callahan, and our current Pastor, Rev. Creamer . The membership was small, but they followed the Pastoral Leadership and made their contributions to the ministry.

Under each Pastor, the church had their high and low moments. Yet by “Faith in God” and the Pastoral leadership, there was always the upward trend that gave assurance and balance in moving in the right direction. There will always be a “special gratitude” to those who were in the trenches during the early years. Many who finished their laboring are now departed. Some are still on the battlefield, Thank God!