MBC History

Meridian Baptist Church sprang from a Bible study that began in a local home on January 10, 1964 and officially organized several weeks later on January 26. With the help of Rev. Hal Mason of Wichita, the group grew, met in several rented facilities and eventually saw the need to purchase land and build a building. Originally, the plan was to build on Meridian Road adopting the name, “Meridian Road Baptist Church”, but the group ended up purchasing land at the present location on West Broadway. They chose to drop “Road” from their name maintaining “Meridian” because of the significance of it’s meaning (highest point).

The current facility includes two major additions to the original building finished in 1968. A larger sanctuary was built in 1978 and the family center addition was completed in 1994.

The congregation has had four pastors since it took up residence on Broadway. The first pastor was Rev. Loren Anderson and the second was Rev. Richard Hess. The third pastor, Rev. Jerroll Martens ministered for 32 years before retiring in 2008, and continues as Pastor Emeritus. During his tenure, Rev. Brian McDonald and Rev. Scott Kliewer served as youth pastors. Rev. Kliewer became the senior pastor in April of 2008 after the retirement of Pastor Martens. T.J. Moore joined the staff as youth pastor and served from 2010-2012.