When First Baptist Church of Big Rock celebrated its 175th anniversary this past Sunday, there was not a lot of flash associated with the event.
There certainly could have been. After all, that’s an impressive milestone, especially at a time when so many mainline churches are struggling, merging and even closing doors.
Yes, a festive backdrop of gold, black and white balloons, directly behind the pulpit, was a reminder this was indeed a day to rejoice and be glad. And there was, as the Rev. Steve Schroeder noted, “copious amounts of food” to enjoy after the service, which was held in the same building erected by Welsh farmers in 1899 and, at one time, had a stable next to it where “they could keep the horses” that got those hard-working immigrant families to church on time.
The anniversary service, held in the sanctuary that’s seen little change over these many generations, did not feature any glitz and glam, either. Rather than a praise band with electric guitars crooning a few Top 40 Christian hits, the songs, performed first by a group of preschoolers, then youth and an adult choir, were old-school hymns like “Amazing Grace” and “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”
This Baptist church, which actually formed in 1849 on the West Side of Aurora and moved to Big Rock in 1870, according to its records, is simple, traditional, conservative and comforting. Yet it has left an outsized footprint not just in this far western Kane County community but all across the world.
The church, which currently has about 100 parishioners, has been a notable and longtime supporter of national and international faith-based organizations, such as Converge, which for 170 years has been planting churches on every continent except Antarctica.
Individual missionaries with close ties to this church include Michael and Keila Dawson, who could not be present for this celebration but sent a letter of congratulations from the Amazon jungles where they have spent 30 years reaching out to tribes who had never before been contacted by the outside world.
International professional trumpet player Don Shire, who took part in Saturday’s weekend activities, came to Big Rock three decades ago to run the church’s still-thriving Crossroads Christian Youth Center, and now is involved with global projects that range from Haitian orphanages to Ukrainian rescue efforts to aid to widows in India who have been cast out of their homes.
Also recognized was 30-year pastor Gene Frost who died in 2018 at age 99, as well as his son-in-law Joe Richie, a self-made millionaire and humanitarian from Big Rock who before his death in 2022 used his faith and business acumen to change how governments – in Europe, Africa and the Middle East – respond to their most vulnerable citizens.
Then there’s international concert pianist Huntley Brown, who has been front and center on some of the biggest stages in the world, including Carnegie Hall, but was once the pianist and a deacon at Big Rock and still returns to this tiny church a few times a year to preach and perform his music that is both inspiring and electrifying.
The Rev. Brown, who now has his own foundation “to help the less fortunate around the world,” did so again at Sunday’s anniversary celebration. Also among the special guests was the Rev. Howard Robbins, president of On the Edge Ministries, who preaches occasionally at this church, has worked with the Billy Graham Association and traveled across the country with Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom when her film, “The Hiding Place,” was released.
And finally, Jerry Rose, who, while running the Emmy Award winning Christian station Total Living Network and TV 38, spent seven years as associate pastor at Big Rock First Baptist.
In fact, as Rose noted during his speech, it was the sermons he gave behind the pulpit of this small church that “became my ‘Journey’ series” still running on television, not just in Chicago but worldwide.
“So the ministry kept on going and going,” said Rose, who retired last year and now lives in Arizona.
Looking into “a television lens five days a week” and talking to “people I rarely get the opportunity to meet,” is wonderful, he noted. “But standing behind the pulpit and connecting with people was a whole different experience.”
Indeed, it’s that strong local connection that continues to bolster this historic congregation.
Unlike many other churches, Pastor Schroeder told me later, the Big Rock congregation grew when COVID-19 hit and included a critical influx of young families. Which is also likely contributing to the continued vibrancy of its Crossroads Christian Youth Center, which has been around for decades.
Under current Director Doug Pierson, the center not only offers a thriving sports program that includes basketball, volleyball and football, its Wednesday meetings attract between 50 and 80 kids on a weekly basis, noted Schroeder.
The pastor, who has been at Big Rock for nine years, does not diminish the importance of the oldest folks in the congregation, by the way, whose prayers for those in far-flung trenches continue to be “a huge aspect of the continuation of the church.”
Among Schroeder’s hopes for the future of Big Rock First Baptist, he insisted, is to “encourage all small churches to keep going and not give up” as “there is value” in what they do and who they serve.
That message was echoed by Rose, whose own attitude about big vs. small changed after attending a national gathering where only pastors with congregations of over 1,000 members, or leaders in Christian media, were invited.
After two years, he stopped going, Rose told his Big Rock audience, because he realized the assumption that those attending were the only people “with influence” or who “had something worth saying” was simply “a wrongheaded idea.”
“We are living in an era of a lot of megachurches nationally and around the world,” continued Rose. While “I thank God for every church, we should never underestimate the power of the local church in the local community. And sometimes I think we do.”
The “corporate pastor concept,” Rose went on to say, is “radically different” from the rural concept, where relationships are built from personal connections, one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner, one home visit at a time.
“There will always be a place for the rural smaller churches,” he concluded. “God bless you for 175 years.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com