Our Story

HISTORY OF CHRIST’S CHURCH

We are an unaffiliated Baptist church that began in 1963 under the name West Side Baptist Church. They began meeting in a store front at 514 4th Street West under the direction of Ron Storz, who served as the Pastor until 1966. In July, 1964, the fledgling congregation purchased a house at 2331 Lewis Avenue previously used by a Lutheran Congregation. On July 4, 1971, the growing Baptist congregation held a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a new church building on that same property. With an investment of over 4,000 volunteer hours, the new church building on the corner of Lewis Ave. and 24th St. W was dedicated for regular use, by Pastor Ed Anderson on Christmas Day, 1971.

In December of 1977, 20 acres of farm property at Monad Rd. and 32nd St. W were purchased and construction of the present church facilities began. At the time of the construction’s completion, in September of 1979, the church was located on a gravel road in the middle of vast open farm ground. Over the years, the church congregation has voted to sell portions of unneeded acreage to residential developers. The sale of the land, combined with the growth of Billings, resulted in the building being ideally situated at a busy intersection, surrounded apartments and subdivisions.

This construction project was carried out under the direction of Pastor Lynn Howe, who was called to be the Senior Pastor in December of 1973. Pastor Lynn’s 42 years of faithful ministry to the congregation makes him the longest serving Pastor in the church’s history. In the fall of 2015, Lynn and Peggy Howe moved to Laramie, Wyoming to assume new ministry responsibilities.

Jonathan Mauger began his ministry with the congregation as an Associate Pastor in April of 2011. Lynn and Jonathan labored together as co-Pastors for a few years, until Lynn completed his pastoral ministry with the congregation.

In 2021 Bob Marlow became the new Senior Pastor of Christ’s Church of Billings. Pastor Bob has been with the church for over 10 years and is faithfully serving our Lord and Savior.