History

HISTORY OF ANTIOCH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH

Rev. and Mrs. Waymon Waldon organized the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Pomona, California on December 12, 1971.  They saw a need to build a church on the north side of Pomona, where there was a rapidly growing Black community and no Black Baptist Church.  The Waldon’s, and ten other Christian soldiers met in the home of Mother Pearlene Reed and Mother Roberta Grant.  Other charter members were Nesbil Lawson, Nettie Arterberry, Althea White, David White, Odie Dodd, Julia Dodd, Bessie Carter, and Etta Harris.  To sanction this effort, the Rev. Earl Crawford, Director of Missions of Calvary Arrowhead Association of Riverside, California was present.  This Christian band committed themselves to a program of prayer, worship, and planning.  The Church worshipped at the home of Mothers Reed and Grant for two and one-half years before moving to the Women’s Club on Monterey Ave. in south Pomona.  This facility provided their sanctuary needs for yet another two and one-half years at a cost of $15.00 per Sunday.  Other church related meetings were held in the home of these faithful soldiers of Christ. Major strides were made by our founders when the church purchased two and one-half acres of land located on the very spot where we worship today, 2343 N. San Antonio Avenue in the city of Pomona.  Along with new members, the seeds for our future were planted.

In the fall of 1975, just short of four years with the efforts well under way to build a Church to glorify the Lord, Antioch was faced with the first of many trials yet to come.  Rev. & Mrs. Waldon had a calling to relocate to Goldsborough, North Carolina.  Needless to say, the church was saddened and in doubt as to what the future held for Antioch.  Based on a recommendation from Rev. Waldon, Pastor David D. Hurst and his wife Gloria were introduced, and they became Pastor and First Lady of the Antioch family on the first Sunday in November 1975.

Under the leadership of Pastor Hurst, Antioch moved to a storefront facility on Arrow Hwy, just a few brisk steps from where we are today.  The church remained at the storefront for approximately three years, the length of time it took to accomplish our building goals with the help of members and friends who were impressed by the Church’s Christian commitment.  Their determination and faith in God took hold.  God gave the increase; new and committed members made the difference in the rapid growth of the Antioch flock, and put the Church in the position to acquire a loan from the Home Mission Board in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ground breaking to begin construction of a new church took place on the fourth Sunday in January 1979.  Six months later, the Antioch congregation entered its new church on the last Sunday in July 1979.  Antioch grew and remained faithful to the Christian endeavor and to the ideals of our founders under the leadership of Pastor David Hurst until November 1991.  During this period, Antioch was blessed to have all the makings of a church on the move for Christ – a Sunday School, choir, usher board, mission group, various other auxiliaries that contributed to the fulfillment of our Christian calling, and a membership that was dedicated and committed.

After the departure of Pastor Hurst, the church was left without deacons or a Pastor.  Antioch remained focused and was lead to elect Deacons and Trustees.  The Board of Deacons led the church with pulpit support from ministers Rev. Robert Flagg and Rev. David Moore during the interim period.  Rev Xavier Joshua and Mrs. Zina Joshua were called to lead God’s people as Pastor and First Lady from September 1992 to August 1993.  After this departure, Antioch found herself again without a permanent leader.  The membership became stagnant and declined, but still left behind were strong willed, true believers and Christian warriors, for it was our belief that we had come this far by FAITH, leaning and trusting in the Lord.  Truly, He did not allow us to come this far to fail.  In June 1994, Rev. Darryl Handy and Mrs. Sandra Handy were called to be Pastor and First Lady.  Rev. Handy’s tenure was short lived, for in August 1995, Rev. Handy resigned as the Pastor of Antioch.  This was a period of faith testing and great spiritual growth for we had to learn to wait on the Lord and be mindful of the scripture, “Lean not unto your own understanding.  In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.”  Antioch remained steadfast in the belief that God would deliver to His people a shepherd with a vision, who would have the interest of God’s Holy Word and the Antioch family as his primary focus. In March 1996, God did just that.  He sent to us His own, Rev. William E. Tyler, and his helpmate, Mrs. Monee Tyler.  Pastor Tyler came to Antioch with a vision.  A vision to help Antioch become the Church that God had sanctioned her to be as a positive force in the community to provide outreach ministries in the community, to teach us to love ourselves and all of God’s children, and most of all to be doers and deliverers of His word.  Under the leadership of Pastor Tyler, Antioch has grown spiritually, physically, and financially.  God has truly blessed His flock.

In September 1996 the church was blessed to acquire a modular building that came equipped with seven rooms that provided much needed classroom and office space.  During this same period we were able to acquire a $150,000.00 loan from the Southern Baptist Credit union.  With these funds we established a CD account for future use as well as buying new church furnishings.  God was truly smiling on Antioch. During the period from 1998 to 2000, because of the rapid growth of our church, we went to two services on Sunday mornings, as well as increased our office staff by two positions.  A church secretary was hired to assist our Administrative Assistant, and the need for a full time caretaker arose.  Because of the rapid acceleration of persons joining our flock and the many concerns associated with them, God blessed our Pastor to be able to hire a part-time Minister of Education; Minister of Evangelism & Discipleship; Minister of youth and a Minister of counseling.  Antioch felt as though she was moving in the direction of serving God along side her other big sisters.  An Architect was secured to begin the process of drawing up architectural drawings for building expansion.  And the long process of securing the necessary resources for building was commenced.

In the year of 2001, our Pastor being led by the Holy Spirit challenged the people of God, for each working adult to give the Lord an offering of $675.00 apiece over and above their regular tithes and offerings.  This challenge started in March of that year was entitled “The Challenge To Sacrifice.”  Then again being led by God’s Spirit in February of 2002 the church was asked for another $700.00   per working adult.  Because the people believed that God was leading the Pastor, they responded in kind to the tune of over $135,000.00 in 14 months.  Because of this, on May 29, 2002 we paid off the Southern Baptist Credit union; was completely out of debt, and had a balance of $82, 101.00 in the bank.  God rewarded our good efforts on June 25, 2002; Antioch acquired the sum of $1,350,000.00 to fund her project of expansion.  On Sunday morning July 21^st during the Sunday School hour a Ground Breaking Ceremony was held symbolizing the start of construction, and on Monday morning July 28^th the wrecking ball took to tearing down our present sanctuary to make room for the new one. Our estimated date of completion was March 2003, but an unexpected snag was hit with regards to a grading permit and we lost approximately 90 days of construction time. But because of God’s goodness and Antioch’s resiliency we persevered and construction was restarted in November.

Construction of the new sanctuary proceeded without any further delays and on September 7, 2003 Antioch moved into her new place of worship.  In July 2004 The C.U.S.H. Foundation was established, and C.U.S.H. is the acronym for “Committed to Unite and Strengthen Humanity. This foundation will be housed in Antioch’s Family Life Center for the benefit of outreach and social services to the surrounding communities.  As the church continued to experience growth it became necessary for Antioch to have an outreach tool to communicate more effectively with her membership.  So being led by the Spirit of God Pastor Tyler reached out to MS. Cynthia Rucker to help establish a quarterly newsletter, and the first copy of the “Antiochian” rolled off the presses and into the homes at the end of the first quarter 2005.  Still further growth which causes commuting issues gave birth to a Website which launched its debut in April 2006.  In July 2006 the church entered into an architectural contract to prepare drawings to build a 26,000 square foot Family Life Center which will consist of three buildings including a gymnasium/fellowship hall as it is the church’s desire to socially reach the surrounding communities for God.   Within God’s vision Pastor Tyler’s desire is that Antioch will forever be that church on the go, reaching and teaching, caring and sharing for the Lord. Our Pastor believes that this can be accomplished through the development of a strong youth, marriage, single, prison, children’s, and adult as well as senior adult ministries. It is his desire that God would be able to reach and meet the needs of the surrounding community through the efforts of Antioch. God’s vision is calling for the creation of a community center, a teen center as well as an after school-learning center. Within this learning center we will be able to help people to become not only computer literate but also provide all types of vocational training opportunities. Pastor Tyler also desires to see us acquire accreditation as a State of California licensed Christian day and evening care facility for the working parental members of our congregation and city. Furthermore, as God grants resources and opportunity, he foresees a drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry where those who have fallen prey to these dreaded nemeses of humankind could find forgiveness and a road to wholeness. Within this vision there are men and women’s shelters as well as one that caters to the needs of the family unit where temporary housing can be provided for those who have fallen on hard times. There needs to be a co-operate for our senior adult members that have retired from the work-force as well as those that are in need of convalescent services. We also need a Christian counseling center. At some point in time the church should be about the business of establishing its own Christian financial services center i.e. banking and credit union service and a Christian bookstore. In 2008 in conjunction with the CUSH Foundation Antioch started sponsoring a “Feeding Our Friends Ministry by monthly and a tutorial program was also undertaken to help the families and school children of our community. Antioch also initiated her first annual Mother-Daughter Conference and in 2009 it grew to approximately 60 mothers and daughters in attendance. Whatever else God wants to give to us as we strive to stay in step with Him is a-o-k. This history provides merely a snapshot of how we got over.  Faith in God, dedication and determination has played a major role in who and what Antioch is today, and we give God all the praise and the glory, for it is He from whom all blessings flow.