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| There’s still lots of learning to be had at the old school |
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LODI, Ind. — On Highway 234 in the small town of Lodi, near the Eric Canal and the Wabash River in northwestern Parke County, Ind., is an old township school building that still has many teachers and a lot of learning going on.
Waterman Baptist Church was organized in 1937 when a group of people from that community felt the need for an independent, fundamental Baptist church. It was named in respect to Sam Waterman, a descendent of the Waterman family, one of the first to settle in the area.
For eight years they leased the two-room township school building in Lodi for their meetings. When the school was discontinued, the congregation purchased the building, built in the late 1800s, from Liberty township trustees for $1,000, changed the two school rooms into one large room for the auditorium and partitioned part of the basement for Sunday School rooms.
During the Depression, while the building was still a school, the WPA dug out a basement and made outside stairways to access the basement, one next to the front entrance and the other at the back of the school building.
In the mid-1960s an addition to the church gave more auditorium area, a small nursery, indoor restrooms, an inside stairway to the basement and increased the size of the fellowship room in the basement.
A pastor’s study and an additional classroom over the study were added in 1971. In 1992 a baptistery was added with the auditorium renovation.
In 2002 was the dedication of the 42-by-88-foot addition, which included a large fellowship room, kitchen, nursery, mechanical/storage room, additional restrooms and also provided heating and air conditioning in the original building. The architect designed the new building to have the same entry designs that the original school building had.
Throughout the 73-year history of the church, there has been a strong emphasis on evangelism, missions and Christian service. More than a dozen young people have gone on to serve the Lord in full-time Christian ministries around the world. The church has stayed true to the preaching and teaching of the Bible and is known for its traditional services and traditional music.
In addition to the preaching and teaching of the Word in the weekly Sunday morning and evening services, there is still much teaching going on in this building through the teachers in Sunday School, Jr. Church, Children’s Church and in the Wednesday night children, teens and adult groups.
That teaching also continues annually through Vacation Bible School, missionary conference and evangelistic meetings. Pastor Bill Lehman has been pastor of the church since 1978. |
| 3/31/2010 |
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