Baptist Resource Network History

The first Southern Baptist churches were established in Pennsylvania as a result of the local mission efforts along the Maryland border. The first of these churches was started in 1922 in Hungerford, Pennsylvania, a short distance south of Shrewsbury on the road from Baltimore to York as a mission of Gunpowder Baptist Church of Maryland led by Pastor C. E. Henderson.

It was constituted as Turnpike Baptist Church on December 2, 1923. The Turnpike Church is still active at its original location, which has been absorbed by Shrewsbury, but it is no longer an SBC church.

Joseph Waltz was the logical choice among the pastors and leaders of Southern Baptists in the Pennsylvania/South Jersey Baptist Fellowship (PSJBF) to be the first executive secretary of the convention. One suspects that the personnel committee at first expected to choose someone from outside the region, but found that they could find no better person for the office than Joseph Waltz. Among the ordained ministers of the region, he had the greatest seniority. He had been working in Pennsylvania almost from the beginning of the work. He had two successful pastorates in pioneer territory, at Fairborn, Ohio, and then at Pittsburgh.

As superintendent of missions of Greater Pittsburgh Baptist Association from its beginning, he had demonstrated his ability as an administrator. In this position and earlier as president of the Ohio Convention, he had been much involved in denominational work. He had been active in the development of the new state convention from the days of the Northeastern Baptist Regional Fellowship.

Joseph Waltz and his family moved from Pittsburgh to Hershey in July 1970, and on August 1, he took up his work as executive secretary of the PSJBF. According to the position description under which he was appointed, he served not only as the executive officer of the convention, but also served as secretary of evangelism and editor of a state Baptists paper that was to be published to inform the people about the work. He was also responsible for seeing that the records of the convention were kept and would serve as treasurer when the BCPSJ became fully operational on January 1, 1971.

After the death of Joseph Waltz on December 13, 1971, Ed Price served as acting Executive Director-Treasurer for eight months.

In the remaining months of 1970, Joseph Waltz began working on his responsibility to establish a state Baptist paper. He contacted three publishing companies for information. The Maryland Baptist offered the proposal that was ultimately accepted. The Maryland state paper was published every Thursday. The editor, R.G. Puckett, suggested that the Pennsylvania/South Jersey paper be issued on the third Thursday of every month. The Maryland Baptist normally was eight pages long. The Pennsylvania/South Jersey paper would have its own news on the front and back pages of an eight-page paper. The remaining pages would be identical for the Pennsylvania/South Jersey paper and the Maryland Baptist that week and would contain SBC news of interest to readers in both areas. Joseph Waltz presented this plan to the Executive Board at their next meeting on January 9, 1971. There would be an initial cost of five hundred dollars and a cost of $240 per month. The board voted that the paper be called Penn-Jersey Baptist, that it be published by the Maryland Baptist, and that it be mailed to each family in the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey. It was calculated that three thousand copies per month would be needed.

The Penn-Jersey Baptist was published for the first time on February 18, 1971.

G. W. Bullard takes office as Executive Director-Treasurer and served from 1972-1978.

He had shown his administrative ability as superintendent of missions in Delaware Valley Baptist Association since 1965. He had earlier served as associate state Sunday School secretary (1945-1946) and state superintendent of associational missions (1946-1950) of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. He had served as pastor of Temple Baptist Church of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Gregory Memorial Baptist Church of Baltimore , Maryland. He had also been active in the development of the BCPSJ from the days of the fellowship.

On Nov. 7, 1986, the BCPSJ was able to dedicate the Baptist building free of debt at the annual meeting, thanks to a capital fund drive that turned out to be a great success. The assistance of Florida Baptist in the capital fund drive was one of many blessings that came to the BCPSJ as the result of a long-standing partnership between Florida Baptists and the BCPSJ that began under the leadership of Ellis Bush in 1981.

In spite of the light rain and falling temperatures, a large crowd stood outdoors to dedicate the building debt-free.

In May of 1998, the purchase of the guest house, the house next door to the state office building, was approved. During the summer, many volunteers worked to renovate the house and to remove excessive shrubbery. Howard and Jean Girard served as coordinators for this effort. The house was first designated as the Mission House. In addition to providing additional conference space and overnight accommodations for visiting workers, its primary purpose was to provide housing for Missionaries in Residence.