The First Baptist Church of Preston Minnesota was officially established in January of 1948. The church was started as a result of God working in the heart of George Cutler. He was listening to the radio one day and heard a preacher that seemed to have a personal relationship with God and have answers to the questions of the heart. George learned that the preacher was holding meetings at the Baptist church in Chatfield and attended each night of the crusade. As a result of Rev. John Kastelein’s preaching 3 from the Cutler family would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. They then desired to hold a tent meeting in Preston to share the Word of God and sought the help of the locally established churches in town. Having found no support from the churches God provided the needed funds to purchase a tent and hold the meetings in Preston during July of 1947. This led to home bible studies and prayer groups that eventually formed the charter group of the First Baptist church in Preston. The group officially chartered the church in January of 1948 and a seminary student from Northwestern College came to serve as interim Pastor. That man was called to be the pastor of the church and upon graduation from Northwestern Harold Dean Courts became the first Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Preston. The church then purchased the property at the top of the hill in Preston where the church building now stands. Our main building was originally an old Welsh Presbyterian Church built in 1874 that was located in Bristol Center. The building was dissatisfied from its original location and moved to where it now stands and serves as our main auditorium. While the church has gone through some renovations and updates over the years to the building the charm and elegance of a small country church is still maintained to this day and the message of the gospel so proudly proclaimed at “the chapel on the hill” has remained true to Gods word to this day. The core belief of the First Baptist Church of Preston is that Gods word is the ultimate authority. If it’s not in the bible it is not preached, proclaimed, or taught in our church. We are as complicatedly simple as it gets in that we believe the bible has the answers to all of Life’s most difficult questions and although we might not always find those answers so easy to accept we are none the less faithful to the word of God.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We are an independent fundamental Baptist church which means that everything we do is founded in the scriptures as we believe that the bible is the full and inerrant word of God. We are Conservative rather than New Evangelical in our theology believing that the doctrines of Scripture are fundamental to one’s faith. Furthermore we are Dispensational in our approach to the translation and interpretation of the scriptures believing in the pretribulational rapture of the church. Furthermore we believe in the separation of the church from worldly influences and ecumenical counsels or polity. This means that as an independent church we are ruled and controlled by the members of our church alone answering to no larger church counsel or governing body outside the local assembly as this was the model for the church first laid down by the early church in the book of Acts. For further inquiries of our beliefs and a copy of the church’s statement of faith please contact the church on the contacts page or join us for one of our services.
WHY WE EXIST
First Baptist Church of Preston exists to exult and glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We accomplish this through the expositional preaching and teaching of the Word of God as preserved in the bible. Our goal is to see lives changed and soles saved through a personal faith in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ both here in Preston and abroad through global missions outreach.
