Our History & Background
Wasatch Front Baptist Church began her formal history on Sunday, July 4th, 2021. However, that is not exactly when the Lord brought this group of people together. On Sunday, August 16th, 2020, Pastor Nolan Ruby (having been called from his home church of Empire Baptist Temple, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), was unanimously voted in by the leading of the Holy Spirit to be the Senior Pastor of what was known at that time to be a local Baptist Church, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, it became clear that there were some significant questions concerning the founding of the Church, so upon the leading of the Holy Spirit, and by the grace of God, the group of people meeting together as a Baptist Church, became convicted that they stood in need of a true biblical founding. As a result of that conviction, the process began of Pastor Nolan Ruby seeking God’s will and leadership, as well as the guidance of many other sound Men of God, concerning how to move forward. The group of people in Salt Lake City, began a season of earnest prayer seeking nothing more and nothing less than the exact will of God concerning the matter at hand. Because of the singular desire of the people to seek the will of God, and because of the grace of God, we believe that the Lord answered our prayer in providing a sound and Biblical authority from with which we could be properly and biblically founded upon. Thus, on Sunday, July 4th, 2021, the organizational service of the Wasatch Front Baptist Church was held at 140 W 2100 S Suite 230, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84115. The Wasatch Front Baptist Church of Salt Lake City, Utah, having been led by the Holy Spirit of God, was organized as an autonomous and independent work out of Empire Baptist Temple, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (the home church and sending authority of Pastor Nolan Ruby). The first order of business for the Wasatch Front Baptist Church was the voting in of Nolan Ruby as the Pastor of the Church.
“That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them…these stones shall be for a memorial…”
Joshua 4:6-7
History
The Wasatch Front Baptist Church, in Salt Lake City, Utah (Nolan Ruby, Pastor), was founded as of July 4th, 2021, and has her authority out of Empire Baptist Temple, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Dr. Erich McCandless – current Pastor as of 2006, & Dr. Ronald Tottingham – Founding & 33-year Pastor).
The Empire Baptist Temple, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Wasatch Front Baptist Church’s “Mother Church”), was founded as of April 1974, and has her authority out of the Bible Baptist Church, Grand Forks, North Dakota (Mike Custer – current Pastor & Dr. Gordan Silcox – former Pastor serving from 1966 to 1990).
The Bible Baptist Church, Grand Forks, North Dakota, was founded in 1966, and has her authority out of the Bible Baptist Church of Anchorage, Alaska.
The Bible Baptist Church of Anchorage, Alaska was organized in January of 1956, and has her authority out of the Grace Baptist Church of Middletown, Ohio.
The Grace Baptist Church of Middletown, Ohio was founded in 1945, and has her authority out of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio.
The Emmanuel Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio (formerly known as the Haynes Street Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio), was founded in 1912, and has her authority out of The Lindon Avenue Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio.
The Lindon Avenue Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio was founded September 20th, 1872, and has her authority out of the First Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio.
The First Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio was founded on May 24th, 1824, and has as her sending authority the First Baptist Church of Lebanon, Ohio.
The First Baptist Church of Lebanon, Ohio (formerly Turtle Creek Baptist Church at Turtle Creek) was founded in 1798, and later organized into an independent church on the date of December 11th, 1802 and has her authority out of the Columbia Baptist Church.
The Columbia Baptist Church of the Old Northwest Territory (which is now the state of Ohio), was founded in 1790, and has her authority out of The First Regular Baptist Church of New York City, New York.
The First Regular Baptist Church of New York City, New York was founded June 19th, 1762 (with pastor John Gano serving as the Pastor until 1776, at which point he became a chaplain in General Washington’s American Army), and she has as her sending authority The Scotch Plains Baptist Church of Essex County, New Jersey.
The Scotch Plains Baptist Church of Essex County, New Jersey was founded August 5th, 1747, and has as her sending authority the Piscataway Baptist Church of Shelton, Middlesex County, New Jersey.
The Piscataway Baptist Church of Shelton, Middlesex County, New Jersey was founded in 1689 as a mission work out of the Lower Dublin Baptist Church (also known as the Pennepack Church of Pennepack, Pennsylvania). The Piscataway Baptist Church has a difficult history to trace due to the fact that her records are documented to have been destroyed during the Revolutionary War.
The Lower Dublin Baptist Church (also known as the Pennepack Church), was founded in 1688, and her sending authority was The First Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island, which was the first Baptist Church organized on American soil. Dr. John Clarke (a native of Bedford, England), served as the Pastor. Dr. Clarke came from Massachusetts in March of 1638, after having come from the London England Baptist Church where Pastor John Spillsbury baptized him, and on the 24th of March of that same year, he obtained a deed from the Indians, and shortly after gathered the church and became the Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island.