Walnut Community Bible Church was formed by a small group of born-again believers to whom The LORD had given the desire for a Bible-preaching church to be planted in Walnut. Originally a small group Bible study, WCBC was officially established as a church on May 16, 1982. The first service was held in the basement meeting room of the local bank. Howard Hoffman, Associate Pastor of the Princeton Bible Church, served as our Pastor that day and continued to do so for about five years. Many thanks to PBC for “loaning” Pastor Howard to our church in those early years.
In April 1984, we moved to the building that had been the bowling alley, which had been recently purchased by Jody Davis for his Auto Clinic. Using just the front third of the building, this facility met our needs for about 3-1/2 years until growth caused us to look for a larger place to meet. The LORD led us to the former Steele and Haurberg Construction office building on the edge of Walnut, which had recently been purchased by a fertilizer company that had no need to use the front part of the building. This facility offered ample space for Sunday School rooms and large worship area. God continued to bless WCBC and we began to feel the need for more room.
In the spring of 1991, just as we began to make plans to accommodate the growth, a storm blew the roof off our meeting place. It was necessary for us to meet at the Walnut Grade School cafeteria for several weeks while we once again began looking for a place to worship together. In this search, the LORD led us to our current facility, the former Homeway office building, then owned by Tony and Josey Zueger. The location is excellent, near the center of town, and this building provided more room than we could imagine using. God’s blessing was evident and we immediately began the work needed to make this facility fit our needs. Our first service held here was on April 28, 1991. We were able, by God’s grace and because of His generous supply, to purchase the building DEBT FREE in the spring of 1996. Since then, again because of God’s grace and supply, we have made significant improvements, including the roof and much of the siding, and numerous interior alterations, including adding a kitchen and office space, without incurring any debt.
God’s blessing has been poured out abundantly in the past few years. He has continued to grow this ministry in various ways. Praises be to Jesus Christ, our LORD and Savior!! And, a special “Thank you!” to those few who faithfully followed His leading back in 1982!