The decision of the Home Mission Board in the spring of 1958 not to continue its support, led to a new alignment with the Associated Gospel Churches (A.G.C.). For one year, MORRISON BAILEY served as pastor. His resignation in May of 1959 terminated the involvement of the A.G.C.

A nucleus of families invited missionary-elect JIM GREEN of Napanee to labour with them, and after him, IAN STEWART.

It was during the winter of 1960 that renewed contact was made with the Fellowship through its Secretary, DR. MORLEY HALL. This led to the summer services of PAUL KERR in 1960. Mr. Kerr was a student at Central Baptist Seminary. His pleasing and intelligent leadership greatly encouraged the group before his return to the Seminary in September.

A month later, a pastoral call was extended to NELSON TRAFFORD, who was joined by his wife, FAITH and their three children. On August 18 of that same year, FLOYD SHILLINGTON prepared the way for a program of expansion by signing the deeds which transferred the ownership of the parsonage and church site over to the LASALLE PARK BAPTIST CHURCH.

Less than a month later, on September 6, 1961, the Township of Kingston donated the building permit which launched the first construction program at the corner of Henderson Boulevard and McEwen Drive. The contract to build was awarded to F. McConnell and Son, of Napanee at the total cost of $41,000.

The first services in the new facility were held on February 11, 1962. The formal dedication took place on March 5 with REV. DELOSS SCOTT bringing the dedication sermon. PASTOR NELSON TRAFFORD concluded his ministry in September of 1962. By the close of the year, his successor was on the field as the church welcomed CLAIRE HOFSTETTER as their new pastor.

During the next several years, the church flourished under the able leadership of PASTOR HOFSTETTER. His ministry was characterized by a strong emphasis on missions with 10% of revenues going toward home and overseas causes. By the close of 1968, the membership had increased to sixty. The Lord added many families with teaching and administrative gifts. But then without prior indication, in July of 1971, PASTOR HOFSTETTER resigned with the conviction that Lord was leading him to pioneer another church.

Through the years of his ministry, LaSalle Park had become well established in the community. PASTOR HOFSTETTER'S emphasis on sound teaching; his genuine friendliness and his consistent personal commitment to Christ led LaSalle Park to become a healthy, growing fellowship in the Lord.

During the interim months which followed, DR. JOHN THIESSEN became God's man for LaSalle Park. The mature ministry of this gifted servant had a profound influence on the church in preparation for the momentous years which were to follow.

A little more than six months after the resignation of PASTOR HOFSTETTER, the church received ALBERT and RUTH LUESINK as their new pastoral team. Their ministry began on February 6, 1972.

By November, JOHN and VIVIAN KERSHAW were installed to provide leadership in a part-time ministry to young people, while John studied at Queen's University. Because of increasing space limitations in a high-growth community, the church appointed a Planning and Steering Committee in the same year that PASTOR LUESINK was installed. The Committee was to determine how the future building needs of the church should be met. The work of the Committee spanned into 1973 and 1974. In April of 1973, PASTOR LUESINK was ordained to the Gospel ministry. It was in this year of 1973 that the Church established a policy to which it has adhered. A continuing increase in outreach prompted the church to plan to increase its giving to missions by 4% for each of the next five years. Having set this goal, God allowed the church to increase the contribution to missions by 60% over the 1972 budget, which came to more than 15% of the year's budget.

Some years later, possibly in the early eighties and before PASTOR LUESINK tendered his resignation, the church established a policy of increasing the missions budget by 15% each year until such a time as it would equal the budget for staff. In accordance with this policy the missions budget is about one-third of the church budget. The following year of 1974 was very significant in the life of the church for several reasons. The first touches the experiences of three young people from non-church families who had come to know the Lord through church club ministries. They were JIM REYNOLDS, ANDY WILDSMITH and JANET DAVID.

In June of 1974, JIM REYNOLDS became the Church's first missionary under S.W.I.F.T. (Summer Workers in Fellowship Training). Jim went on to Bible College and is now pastor of a Fellowship Baptist Church in Montreal.

In that year ANDY WILDSMITH chose to follow in PASTOR CLAIR HOFSTETTER'S footsteps and went to Gordon College for an undergraduate degree. He then began working on masters' degrees at Winnipeg Bible College (now Providence Bible College) in Otterburne, Manitoba.

Janet also worked at extending her education. She graduated from Queen's with a B.A. degree and then went to the University of Western Ontario and graduated with an M.A. in education on June 20, 1984.

With time, the Planning and Steering Committee saw a narrowing of the alternatives for expansion. Hearing of the intentions of the church, the Township of Kingston directed the congregation to a promising parcel of land at the corner of Progress Avenue and Taylor-Kidd Boulevard. The vote of the Township Council in August of 1974, offered the church a six-month option to purchase approximately fifteen acres at $4000 per acres. One condition was attached - that the church agree to erect either a Senior Citizens'

Complex or a Daycare Centre or both. The congregation voted unanimously to accept the option to purchase. In an historicmove, the church established the LASALLE BAPTIST FOUNDATION which would oversee a Daycare operation. This was in February 1975.

By September of that year, the church approved in principle the proposed floor plan for a Church/Daycare facility. The following month, during another historic meeting, the church voted to purchase the land optioned to it by the Township and to build a facility at a cost of half a million dollars. The full financial impact of this decision was seen in the proposed 1976 financial plan which totalled $100,000, including a building allocation of approximately $52,000. With the appointment of BOB CASTLE as Project Manager, the building pace accelerated.

The year 1976 saw the sale of the LaSalle Park church building and parsonage to the Kingston Gospel Temple. The church also chose a new name. By mailed ballot on May 9, the LASALLE BAPTIST CHURCH became the BAY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH.

Temporary quarters were found by September of that year - a rented warehouse. Family Night was continued at the J.R. Henderson School on Wednesday evenings. The official sod-turning ceremonies were held on October 24, 1976.

In January 1977, PASTOR JOHN KERSHAW was named the Administrator of the Daycare. By March of that year, the financing for the new Church/Daycare facility had received congregational approval. A $400,000 loan which involved the signing of covenants by several families was fully arranged with the Royal Bank of Canada. Everyone in the congregation had a mind to work and the new building took shape. On October 9, 1977, the cornerstone was laid under a rain-soaked sky. The first church dinner in the new building was held on Saturday, October 26.

On Sunday, October 27, PASTOR CLAIR HOFSTETTER returned to address the congregation at its first service in the new auditorium. The official opening was held at 3 p.m. that afternoon with REV. TIMOTHY STARR of the Home Mission Board. A reception and open house followed.

In the same month of October, a new community outreach was born - Ladies Coffee Hour. MARILYN FORREST served as coordinator. JENNIE WESTON led the Bible Study.

In June of 1978, the first baptismal service was held in the new building. That fall, PASTOR JOHN KERSHAW was ordained to the Gospel ministry. In March of the following year, REV. KERSHAW resigned to take up a new assignment in Ottawa, Ontario.

Almost one year later, the church extended a call to DAVID CAIRNS to serve as Assistant Pastor. DAVID, with his wife JOYCE, began their ministry in April of 1980.

We can trace the hand of God upon Bay Park in the selection of two young men fresh from the Seminary, whose dedication as church planters over a period of more than eighteen years, made possible the major relocation to Bayridge. PASTOR CLAIR HOFSTETTER laid the foundation. PASTOR AL LUESINK built upon that foundation with a visionary nucleus of people, planned well, and committed time and treasure to bring into existence one of the finest church facilities in all of the Township or City of Kingston.

Having laboured faithfully through the major building phase of our history, PASTOR LUESINK offered the church his letter of resignation in January of 1982. Al and Ruth then served with the Northside Fellowship Baptist Church of Regina.

A full year later, a call was extended to GORDON PHILLIPS to serve as Senior Pastor. He began his ministry on Sunday, August 25, 1983.

The starting of a daughter work was a growing possibility by the first days of 1983 when a Home Bible Study was begun in Amherstview. By October of that year, the first services of the HERITAGE BAPTIST CHURCH were held in the Amherstview Public School under the leadership of DR. IVAN STEWART. The following June 1984, REV. GEORGE MC KNIGHT began his ministry as full-time pastor of the daughter work.

The year 1983 also brought the church to the commissioning of its first missionary. A product of Bay Park, ANDREW WILDSMITH sensed God's call upon his life and received an adequate preparation at Winnipeg Bible College and Gordon-Conwell Seminary. He now serves on the faculty of the Samuel Bill Theological College in Abak, Nigeria. On July 22, 1984, Andy was married to JANET DAVID, and a few weeks later, they embarked upon their first term of missionary service together.

In the Fall of 1991, on the advice of his staff counsellors at Winnipeg Bible College, Andy entered upon a course leading to a doctorate at the University of Edinburgh. In 1993 Andy, Janet and their two children went back to Samuel Bill Bible College. Andy has a very heavy teaching load and continues research on the on-gong effect of beliefs in evil spirits and of ancestor worship in the lives of Qua Iboe people, often long after they have professed to accept the Lord as Saviour.

In the spring of 1987 DAVID CAIRNS concluded his ministry in Bay Park Baptist Church and the Day Care Centre. David had come to the decision that the Lord had equipped him to teach. Accordingly he took a year of teacher-training at Queen's Faculty of Education. Upon graduation he accepted a position with the Peel County Board of Education.

BOB THORNE was called from an Alliance Church in Vancouver in June of 1988 to work among Bay Park youth. He and his wife Karin had a fruitful and building ministry among our young people. In April of 1990 he accepted a call as youth pastor at Bayfair Fellowship Baptist Church in Pickering. Bob was a strong proponent of and a teacher of many in the Son Life program.

GORDON PHILLIPS completed his service as senior pastor at Bay Park in November of 1990. He had accepted a call to become senior pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Oakville. This church had come through a demoralizing experience and was officially designated as a church in crisis. To assist Gordon and Eulalia and the church in this move, Bay Park continued to pay Gordon's salary from November 30 through June 30, 1991. The church also designated the interest received from its capital account through two quarters in order to assist Faith Baptist in a year of rebuilding financial support.

GREGG MILLER of Parkdale Baptist Church in Belleville was appointed to the position of interim pastor in February of 1991. In August of 1991 Bay Park with a 92% vote, invited Gregg to accept the position of senior pastor. On Saturday, March 27, 1993 an ordination council unanimously recommended to Bay Park that it ordain Gregg to ministry in the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada. The service of ordination took place on Sunday morning the 28th of March.

In May of 1992, Bay Park Baptist Church, with a 92% vote extended a call to DAN DAVIS to come from Dallas Theological Seminary to become youth pastor. DAN AND CATHY DAVIS entered upon their ministry among us on June 15, 1992.

Many highlights are left out of this "concise" history which have not been forgotten or overlooked. They are available to us in other written and pictorial documents which have accumulated through the years. We treasure our history. It is a reflection of God's grace in giving to us a very special church family. God be praised for every accomplishment by those who have gone before us.

But Bay Park has not yet fully realized all that this location, facilities and resources through the exercise of the spiritual gifts of its people, may yet accomplish in Christ's name. Let us look to the future, striving in faith and in prayer for what the Holy Spirit may accomplish through the people of God who make up Bay Park Baptist Church.