The Baptist Church at Andover began with 31 people who met in homes every Sunday evening where they would gather for prayer and Bible Study. It has been a southern Baptist Church from its inception.
1992
The first worship service was held at Shoney's Inn, followed by the Lexington Ice Center for 2 years.
1993
On July 18, 1993, The Baptist Church at Andover was officially constituted, with 92 charter members. The first pastor was called by the congregation, Mike Osborne. The Church went from the ice center to one more site on Palumbo drive.
1996
September 6, 1996, The Baptist Church at Andover held its first worship service in its current facility off Todds Road. At this time the church embraced a "seeker-friendly" church model for outreach. The carpet was a basketball gym outlined for sports.
1999-2000
The church was facing severe financial and attendance woes. God led BCA into a partnership with Porter Memorial Baptist Church. Pastor Bill Henard, who was pastor at Porter Memorial, would commute to BCA following the services at Porter to preach at BCA. Though Pastor Henard never assumed the Senior Pastor role at BCA he did fill the role of preaching and shepherding during this difficult season. He also led the church away from its "seeker-friendly" church model. Pastor Mike stepped away from his role as Senior Pastor prior to Pastor Bill arriving.
2002
Under the leadership of Pastor Bill Henard, he encouraged the church to call Adam Greenway to become the second Pastor at BCA. Though the church did not have official bylaws during Adam's tenure he did implement a deacon ministry. Also, the church was involved with upward basketball during this time. The church auditorium continued to be a "multi-purpose" room that was used for worship, meals, sports, etc. Josh Landrum served as the Youth Minster during this time.
2007
Pastor Adam resigned his role as Senior Pastor to assume a leadership position at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
2008
David Stokes was called to be the third Pastor at BCA.
2010
The church began the "Christmas at Andover" project. On the church property, the city of Bethlehem was reenacted, including live animals, train rides, Christmas lights, and the gospel message was given each night. Christmas at Andover occurred through 2012.
2013
Pastor Stokes resigned as Senior Pastor to become the Association Director for Central Kentucky Network of Baptists (previously Elkhorn Baptist Association).
2014
Eddie Schwarberg was called to be the fourth pastor (current) of The Baptist Church at Andover. Pastor Eddie is from Florence KY.
2016
Bradley Sinclair was hired to lead our growing children's ministry.
2018
Corey and Amber Brown began leading the youth ministry.
2019
The motto of the church was changed to "Knowing Jesus Christ, growing in grace, enjoying God and one another."
A renovation team was established to modify the look of the auditorium.
2020
By the grace of God we endured the Coronavirus with no lives in the congregation lost.
Harrison Hornsby began leading the Music ministry.
Members of the church began auditorium renovations, including constructing and building a new stage. The concept was to modify the auditorium from looking less like a gymnasium and more like a place of worship. Thanks to hard-working church members, the results were phenomenal. Lord willing, new carpet will be laid in the summer of 2021.
2021
The church was severely impacted by the February ice storm that did significant damage to the walls around the facility.
The church became debt free for first time in the history of the church!
New Carpet was laid in the auditorium, removing the basketball court outline.
Bradley Sinclair left to take a position as an associate pastor in another county.
2022
The old stage was enclosed and the facility was painted with the color called "amazing grey." All drywall repairs were completed.
Corey and Amber moved back to their home state of Michigan, Jonn and Kimberly Eidem began leading the youth ministry.
Harrison Hornsby took a High School music/choir position in Alabama, Nathan Stansbury began leading the music ministry.
The church continues to be added to monthly with new members, experiencing both spiritual and numerical growth. It is an exciting time to be involved at The Baptist Church at Andover. Our future is as bright as the promises of God.