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Forming a vision for almost 30 years, the First Baptist Church of Thompson Falls plans to see the result of a facility remodel by fall 2020. Ground has been broken, blueprints are complete, builders are scheduled and "God has opened up the windows and poured out a blessing," stated Pastor Jeffrey Phillips.

The new facility, which will extend into the current parking area, will seat approximately 200, a generous expansion in comparison to the current sanctuary seating capacity of 75. Phillips recalled this last summer as challenging when some children had to sit on the floor during services due to lack of available seats. Attendance has been increasing at the church, and so must the space to accommodate this growth.

Phillips is looking forward to providing a handicap accessible community center in addition to an improved sanctuary. Plans call for doubling the size of the current facility, and includes a podium and stage area for services, plays and other entertainment that will be made available to the community for various purposes.

Next April, weather permitting, Phillips plans to begin construction of the new walls. He has reserved the help of the North Carolina Baptist Convention, who expressed interest in coming to Thompson Falls to help with construction. Through their coordination efforts, members of Baptist churches throughout the U.S. will arrive on June 1, 2020 to help build the addition.

"There will be teams of eight to 20," said Phillips. "They will stay in the Fellowship Hall and change out periodically until the job is done."

Recently, members of the church came together to go through record books and piece together the history of the church. In 1985, Charles "Kerry" Smith and his wife, Karen, came to the Thompson Falls area from the southeast to fulfill their work as "Church Starters." They founded the Baptist movement in Thompson Falls and originated a bible study out of a rented private residence on the hill.

The Smith's spent their time recruiting members for their bible studies. As membership grew, they eventually extended beyond what the rental could hold. At this time, they decided to find a larger facility. They ended up renting a room in the building where the current church is located. At that time, in 1986, the U.S. Forest Service and a real estate company controlled the building, according to church member Neal Kemper. Kemper also owned Neal's Exxon, an exhaust shop and gas station which was located where construction has begun within the last few weeks.

In 1987, the bible study congregation supported purchasing the building and the Southern Baptist Convention acquired ownership. Kemper recalls he retained ownership of his Exxon station until 1991 when the company required him to make a $150,000 upgrade to his gas tanks. "I had to close," he said, "I never sold that much gas in a lifetime!"

After a few ownership exchanges, the station's existence ended when it caught fire. This portion of the property was acquired by First Baptist Church in 2001 and served as a parking area for members. Soon, it will provide the foundation of the church's sanctuary and community center.

Just as the church has gone through transformations, so has the Pastors who have served the congregation. Although the Smith's were originators of First Baptist Church, the first serving Pastor when the church was constituted was Milton Lynn Perry, serving from August 9, 1987 to January 1991. From June 1991 to August 1995 Pastor Joe Boney served. Patrick McCloy was the third Pastor to take the podium from December 1996 until December 2005. Dean Carmicheal served for just short of 10 years from June 2006 to May 2016.

With the death of his brother and suffering a stroke himself, Phillips took on many substantial challenges when he and his wife Debbie arrived at First Baptist Church in 2016. "Around the first day I was scheduled to preach, my brother passed away," Phillips said, which was March 2016. Then on June 25, he was scheduled to take on pastoral duties fulltime, and he was dealt another roadblock...he suffered a stroke that day. With gratitude, Debbie comedically commented that even though the start was a rough one, the congregation loved them so much they stuck with the Phillips' and chose to keep them at the church.

Phillips is now going on his third year serving the First Baptist Church congregation of Thompson Falls. According to church members, the average length of time a Southern Baptist Pastor remains at a church is just over three years. Phillips predicts himself being in Thompson Falls longer than that. After all, he will have a new church to christen.