The History of Hametown Baptist Church
Hametown Baptist Church began as Barberton Baptist Temple in the AMHA Office Building of the Norton Project Homes. The date was Sunday, November 14th, 1981. At that time Rev. Ron Earle, an evangelist, was holding meetings in the area and had several families interested in establishing a local, New Testament church. He contacted me, Rev. Tim Roeser, to see if I was interested in beginning a church in that area. My family and I, along with Bro. Jim Riley and family, began seriously considering the proposal. After much prayer, the Lord led us to take the challenge, and we obtained the blessing of our pastor, Rev. Michael Thomas of Falls Baptist Temple. And so it was that we, by God's sovereign grace, chartered Barberton Baptist Temple with twenty-two people on that first Sunday in November of 1982.
The church grew in that little AMHA office space for ten months paying $400 per month until the Decker Elementary School Building, next to the Projects, opened up for rent in September of 1983. Decker, a closed down public school, was a 22,000 sq. ft. building with 14 large classrooms, gymnasium, and cafeteria.We rattled around in that large building for months with a congregation of about only fifty people still paying only $400 per month even though the building was ten times the size of our original starting location. We were puzzled why the Lord had given us such a large building until He began laying it on our hearts to start a Christian school in January, 1984. By September of the same year, we had raised $5,000 to begin Barberton Christian Academy.
The school opened with only eighteen children using the Accelerated Christian Education Curriculum. It grew rapidly along with the church seeing many souls saved and discipled for the Lord. The church services were moved into the gymnasium, when we reached about seventy-five people. We performed several plays on the stage such as “The Christmas Carol” and “The Pilgrims’ Landing”. In addition to the plays, we utilized other means of outreach such as the “Precept Upon Precept” radio program, summer camp, and Neighborhood Bible Time. By 1990, the church had grown to approximately 200 people and the school had grown to 65 students. Throughout this time, we had maintained and beautified the facilities so well that the local school board decided to take it back and begin a Head Start & Adult Education program. But since we had done such a wonderful job of maintaining the building, they offered to rent to us another school building across town on the southwest side of Barberton. This building, the Arnold Elementary School, was exactly the mirror image of the Decker facility - only it needed an enormous amount of repair. Again, they only charged us $400 per month to rent the Arnold building.
The area was a wealthy area - much nicer than the Norton Projects, our previous location. The Arnold building also had a gymnasium with a large stage, and the church and school put on a major production, the play, "Once To Die". Ten people were saved and many others were edified. By the beginning of 1993, the church had grown to approximately 250 and the school to 94 students. That year, we began to receive threats of violence and break-ins. Two arson attempts were made on the building and we installed a security system. The alarm system was compromised more than ten times. On October 19th, 1993, the arsonist finally succeeded in starting a major fire in my office. More than $125,000 worth of damage was done to the property. Thankfully, the Lord gave us grace to continue on, and He rallied the brethren together to begin restoring the soot-blackened building the very next day. By the following week, we had restored most of the church and school to the point that we were able to resume operations. The incident was on television and many friends sent money to help the cause. Rev. Charles Billington, Senior Pastor of Akron Baptist Temple, personally delivered a check for $500 and said he knew how we felt since they had just suffered a major fire themselves. Our building insurance gave us $50,000 for the content damage, and we used it to improve and beautify the facility with carpeting. After six months all the damage was repaired and the place looked gorgeous. We give all the glory to God for His miraculous grace!
Soon after this, we faced another major trial. The local school board was so impressed with the building that they voted to take it back. They wanted to use it for another Head Start & Adult Training Program. We were frustrated, but knew the Lord was in control. After a public meeting with the school board, they decided to give us $50,000 to reimburse us for the investment we had made in the building. At this point, we did not know which way the Lord was taking the church, so we looked for potential locations in the area. We made an offer of $300,000 on the United Methodist Church building in Barberton on Lake Anne, but they decided not to sell. We made another offer of $450,000 on the Jacoby Elementary School Building in Copley, but they pulled out at the last minute leaving our church without a building to meet in. Time was running out! After much searching, we found a privately owned closed down public school, which had a flea market and weight lifting gym in it. It was the old Sherman Elementary School on Hametown Road. The owners offered to rent us the new wing of the facility for $1,200 per month. We agreed to put the school in the wing, but the church still needed a place to go. During this time, Pastor Dave Burden, a missionary we sent to Germany, had returned to the states and established a church in his father's old church building in the inner city of Akron. He invited us to share the facilities with their young church. A white church joining a black church was an unusual sight in that day, but the Lord was clearly directing our steps. Some within our congregation did not agree and therefore, left the church. We moved in together in May of 1994.
For four and a half years we had wonderful fellowship under the name of Lighthouse Baptist Church. Because of the closeness of our congregations, we made the front page of the religious section in the Akron Beacon Journal. It was a great testimony to the Lord of the sweet fellowship all believers have in Christ. Throughout our stay, we helped Lighthouse restore and beautify their facilities. Eventually, the private owners of the Sherman Elementary School Building offered to sell their facility to us for $110,000. Think of it, 4.2 acres of land, 22,000 sq. ft. of building, and a $100,000 pond in the back, all for only $110,000! The Lord was definitely in control. We used the $50,000 we had received from the school board to make a down payment and moved the church into the old wing as soon as we had finished remodeling it. Remember, there was a flea market and weight-lifting gym in the old portion of the facility. It took us nine months to get it ready, but when it was done – we had a beautiful auditorium, fellowship hall, Sunday school rooms, and nursery. The church officially moved in on March 1st, 1998. Three buildings later, we finally had a place to call our own. The Lord had carried us through all those years and brought us through some challenging times, and we can now faithfully testify that His grace is sufficient for all our needs!
In 2005, the brethren decided to change the church's name from Barberton Baptist Temple to Hametown Baptist Church because we were now in Norton. We continue to do our best to remain faithful to His calling, and He has continued to show his unreserved power in our lives. Recently, we raised $65,000 to put on a new roof over the educational wing. Praise be to God for all of the marvelous works that He has done! Our Father has truly shown Himself to be faithful to his children through every trial and heartache! What a wonderful God we serve!
