The Story of Bible Pres

Our story begins back in the 1930's when our founding pastor, Arthur Perkins, began meeting with a small group of families from First Presbyterian Church in Merrill.  Pastor Perkins was a visionary graduate of Moody Bible Institute who had planted a number of biblically-based, confessionally grounded churches in central and northern Wisconsin and spear-headed the launch of Crescent Lake Bible Camp.  In July 1936 the first worship service of Bible Presbyterian Church was held at the American Legion Hall near the TB Scott Library.  They would meet at the Legion Hall for more than ten years, faithfully declaring the gospel to many, including through a weekly radio program.  

In 1950 a new church was built on First Street near Dave's County Market.  The 1940's-70's saw eight pastors shepherd our congregation, and in 1978 Bob Smallman began his ministry at BPC which lasted 36 years.  During Bob's pastorate, the church gradually grew, eventually relocating to our present location in 1983, with a substantial addition to the facility in 2001.  Kesh Pillai began his ministry as our part-time youth director in 1994, and Andy Perry joined the church in a staff role in 2014 before becoming our pastor in 2015.  The year 2017 saw a complete renovation of our sanctuary with updated technology and seating for increased ministry effectiveness.  Global missions has also played a big part in our history.  We currently support missionaries in Egypt, Mexico, and Wisconsin.  Additionally, we partner with International Theological Education Ministries (ITEM) and Indigenous Outreach International (IOI) to serve God's people in Ethiopia through the training of pastors, teaching of women, and the TrueLight Childcare Project (TLC).  Over the years the ministry of Bible Presbyterian Church has touched thousands of lives.