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Our History

On Monday, October 17, 1966 seventeen people met in the home of Stuart and Lila St. John to establish Immanuel Baptist Church. The following Sunday, the newly formed church held its first public service at 210 N. Academy St. in what had been the Railroad Women’s Club building. At that service, the church called James Campbell to be their pastor. In May 1967, the church purchased a two-acre farmhouse at 2923 W. Court St. The church had its first meeting in this new location on May 28, 1967. As a result of its move to this new location on the west side of Janesville, the church decided to change its name to Westside Baptist Church.

The church grew under the leadership of Pastor Campbell until he resigned and completed his ministry at Westside on February 23, 1969. In March 1969, George Cable, then the director of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches, began serving as interim pastor. He served in this capacity until Ron Hodges was called as pastor in June 1970 upon his graduation from Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Pastor Hodges resigned two months later (August 5, 1970) to return to the maintenance staff of Maranatha. Dick Matthews preached for a couple of months. On September 20, 1970, the church called Merritt Rector from Denver, Colorado to pastor Westside. A year later, Pastor Rector resigned to take a church in Florida. He left in October 1971. After a few months, the church called Max Day to pastor Westside. Pastor Day came from Faith Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN where he had been an assistant pastor. He began his ministry on January 17, 1972.
 

With an average attendance that had grown to about 70 people, Pastor Day led the church to sell its farmhouse property. The sale was completed on August 31, 1974. The church moved its meetings to a temporary location in the basement of the former Pember Nuzum Clinic building at 5 N. Academy St. In the fall of 1974, the church purchased an 8-acre site on W. County Rd. A from the Janesville Riverview Clinic. After a groundbreaking ceremony on December 22, 1974, the church began construction of a 36 by 60-foot colonial style building the next week. The church had its first meeting in its new colonial style building on May 18, 1975. The church held a formal dedication service for its new building with a 175-seat auditorium on September 14, 1975. Pastor Day completed his ministry as pastor on March 7, 1977. Recent Maranatha Baptist Bible College graduate (May 1976), Robert M. Logan began preaching at Westside in March 1977 as the church looked for a pastor. Eventually, Pastor Logan was asked to become the interim pastor. After a time of prayerful consideration of God’s will, Logan became the full-time senior pastor.

​Pastor Logan completed his long and fruitful ministry at Westside on December 31, 2017. The church asked Dr. Larry Oats to serve as interim pastor. He served in that capacity from January 2018 through February 2019. On February 3, 2019, Westside voted to call Andrew Hudson to pastor the church. He began part-time on March 1, 2019. After completing teaching duties at Maranatha Baptist Seminary, he began full-time on June 1, 2019.

Continued growth led the church to pursue a building expansion project in 1993. The church added a 50 by 60-foot addition to the original building. The church constructed a 275-seat auditorium and a large fellowship hall. The original building was converted to an entry area, nursery, restrooms, and office space. One of the members of the church, Tom Stratton, served as general contractor. A dedication service for this newly completed construction was held on December 4, 1994.

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