Church History
OUR HISTORY
Airport Baptist Church Sunday School was organized on March 30, 1952, with 31 present. The church was organized and sponsored by Roper Mountain and Laurel Baptist Churches.
Sunday, May 6, 1952, Rev. O.K. Webb, Superintendent of Baptist Missions for Greenville County, preached the first sermon. A series of revival services were held beginning on Sunday, May 11, with a different speaker for each service. Bob Wamsley, Jesse Hill, Ken Joner, Judson Kimbrell, Sandy Allen, Jack Green, Herbert Elrod, and W.J. Bolt preached the sermons. Two were received for Baptism and one came for rededication.
Sunday School was changed to 10:00 AM on June 15, 1952, with Bro. James Vanderford preaching. The following Sunday was preached by Bro. Bob Wamsley. This continued until September, when Bro. Wamsley left the city and Laurel Baptist Church, who had assumed responsibiltiy of financing the mission, appointed Bro. Vanderford.
An eight-day revival was held on November 16, 1952, with Bro. G.E. Jones from Jacksonville, Florida. He was 90 years old and had been preaching the gospel for 65 years.
On Sunday, December 7, 1952, a groundbreaking ceremony was held. Taking part were Rev. O.K. Webb, Superintendent of Missions for Greenville County; Rev. W. C. Richey, former pastor of Laurel Baptist Church; and Rev. Jesse Hill, present pastor of Laurel Baptist.
The last week of January 1953, surveying was done for the building; and on March 8, 1953, the construction was started. The first service was held in the new building May 10, 1953, which was Mother's Day. On Sunday, January 31, 1954, Airport Baptist Missions was constituted as Airport Baptist Church.
In 1974, additional land was purchased to expand our facilities. In 1975, construction began for additional Sunday School rooms and a new sanctuary. Construction was completed in 1976.
In January of 1994, money was secured to build a new multipurpose building. Demolition was begun on the old fellowship building and the original Airport Baptist Church, which was a cement block structure behind the sanctuary. This multipurpose building was completed in March 1995.
In August 1997, a committee began to earnestly seek property on which to relocate the church. We had reached our capacity at our present location. In May 1999, the church voted to buy five acres of land on Batesville Road in Greer, South Carolina. Groundbreaking was held on March 11. 2001 for the new church. (picture above)
In February 2009, Airport Baptist Church broke ground for our new Multipupose Family Life Center. This building was completed in December 2009 and occupied in January 2010.
