Glisan Street Baptist Church

    Glisan Street Baptist Church was organized on May 3, 1953.  A few years later the membership grew to 76 and the Sunday School average attendance reached 90.  The church is located at 10401 NE Glisan Street in Portland, Oregon.
    In 1951, the Columbia Conference went on record at the annual meeting to start a new church in Portland.  Linn Loshbough, a student of Western Seminary and member of Temple Baptist Church, was engaged by the Conference to expedite the church planting.  He really had to start from scratch, as far as we know there was not a single person committed to become a member when Linn started.  The Conference bought a tiny house at 10401 NE Glisan for $7,350, which served as both parsonage and church.  
    Glisan was a deviation from the "how to" pattern in getting a church built for a home mission project.
    1. Loans totaling $8,000 were secured from The Oregon Retirement Home.
    2. Men from Temple Baptist, without being entreated, twice a week, volunteered to build it.  Carpenters, cement finishers, plasterers, electricians, contractors, a dentist or two, the pastor from Temple, with such help as they could get from the Conference.  Warren Baptist Church, and the community, made it possible to finish the church for $12,000.
    During Lloyd Button's ministry, additional land was bought for proposed building expansion.  While Ezra Gerig served as interim pastor, 15 were baptized.
    The above account was taken from "Seventy - Five Years" by Gordon Carlson.

        Glisan Street Baptist Church in Portland dedicated a complete worship center, classrooms, offices and library November 15, 1975.  The former sanctuary was converted into a fellowship hall and club area for children.  This was a major and much needed undertaking.  The congregation had gotten along with a very modest facility and used lumber from the demolition.  David Donnelly was pastor during the new building construction.
    In 1964, the church had 82 members and 104 in Sunday School.  The congregation was just 11 years old,  Bob Karn, Glisan's fourth  pastor, was in his third year of his ministry.   Bob and Dolores and their four sons were housed in the very small house adjacent to the church building.. Dolores worked full-time for the telephone company to supplement her husband's meager salary.  They served faithfully at Glisan Street for 10 full years.  An addition to the building enlarged the sanctuary and provided a nursery,  In September 1971, Bob resigned and went into construction work for nine years.  He was called to the pastorate of Warren Baptist Church in 1980.  
    Fifteen months after dedication an arsonist broke in through a basement window, found his way upstairs to the pastor's study and set a destructive fire.  All of Dave's books and notes were lost and the building suffered $50,000 damage.  Fire doors prevented serious damage to the sanctuary so there was no interruption in the worship schedule.
    Dave Donnelly was honored when he earned a PhD in theology from California Graduate School of Theology on June7, 1976.  Dave took a special interest in prison ministries and visited several prisons around Portland.  After ten years of ministry at Glisan Street Church, Dave moved to Ohio to be chaplain at Chillicothe Correctional Institute.  He and Rosa have continued fellowship with the Conference at Middle East Baptist Conference events.
    For five years Glisan Street Church had two consecutive interim pastors, Robert Anderson and Bert Downs.  Both interim pastors shared their time serving on staff at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary  The membership continued to grow and reached 114 by the end of 1987.  Bert was ordained by Glisan Street in February in 1988, after the new pastor had arrived.
    David,  Dorothy Lake and Jason bean serving in the Glisan Street Church pastorate October 1, 1987.  
    Members of longest standing, are Bill and Shirley Eggiman and their daughter Mary Lee (Mrs. Don Nissen).  They came to the church the third Sunday the founding pastor, Linn Loshbough was there.  Many times they and the pastor were the only ones present during the Sunday service.  They are still among the most faithful members and supporters of the church and the Conference.  They are the kind of members that make new churches succeed.  Their total dedication to Christ is very evident in their churchmanship and life-style.  
    Throughout Glisan's history, several other hero's of the faith have emerged.  The church has been completely supportive of all Conference ministries.
    The above account was taken from "Fourth Quarter" by John H. Bergeson

Glisan Street Baptist Church
Sunday Worship 9:45 a.m., expository preaching from God’s Word and a blend of praise songs and hymns. Sunday School 11:15 a.m. AWANA Sunday 6:45 p.m. (September through April), age 3 through 8th grade. They also offer Care Groups / Bible studies throughout the week, High School Youth meetings (Wednesday) and Youth Adult meetings (Friday). Affiliated with Baptist General Conference.
    This account of Glisan's schedule was downloaded from the Columbia Conference web site.

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