Having been a part of The Bay Church for 30 years has given me some little historical tidbits of information that you might find interesting.

  • So many people over the years have said “Why doesn’t this church have an elevator?” And they’re right! We should have one. There was one planned when the original plans were drawn for this building. In front of the East downstairs boys bathroom, there is a little square “entrance” room – that was supposed to be where the elevator was installed.  Why did we never build it? That leads to thing two you may or may not know about The Bay Church:

 

  • Part of the reason we never built the elevator is because we had a little “financial surprise” given to us when we were building this church. Highway 4 had recently been designated as a “scenic highway” and so we were asked to dig enough dirt off the spot that we now sit on to make sure that our church couldn’t be seen from the freeway. As you can guess, this cost a LOT of money. So we had to take a few “bells and whistles” off the building to make the budget work. It was a bit discouraging because we obviously wanted to be seen from the freeway.

 

  • Soon after the church was constructed, work on Highway 4 began and they happened to RAISE the freeway – So we can now be seen by everyone driving by. God works in mysterious ways!

 

  • The worship center floor is covered with scriptures written by our church family. When we remodeled and put in the new carpet, the floor was down to bare wood so we all wrote scriptures for our families and signed our names.  The Reynolds are to the right of the sound booth as you enter through the center doors. ☺

 

  • There used to be a big heated baptismal tank the size of a jacuzzi and giant lighted stained glass window in the back of the platform. The baptistry is now removed, but the stained glass is still there and it still lights up. That area is used for storage now.

 

So many interesting things and changes have happened at The Bay Church over the years.  Ministry changes, music changes, building changes.  I’m so grateful to be a part of a church that is built on two things that will never change; the promises of God and a firm commitment to Loving God and Loving People. Whatever the future brings, these two things will remain the same.  What a good foundation.  Isn’t that what we’re most interested in?