Our History
The church began as Immanuel Bible Church. It was started when Pastor Peter Wall and his wife moved to Santa Monica in 1940 to work with a ministry at UCLA. They noticed that Santa Monica was a booming town because of the Douglas Aircraft factory. There were many families but few churches. God worked in amazing ways and within a year there was a new congregation and church building on 20th St.
A new addition was added to the church building in 1947, with classrooms, a kitchen, a fellowship room, and a back patio. In 1950, the name Immanuel Bible Church was changed to Bible Baptist Church, and the next year the church joined the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. In 1957, a baptistry was added.
Through its history, God has called the following men to pastor the church: Peter Wall (1940-1954), Douglas Beason (1954-1959), Carl Hills (1959-1963), William Koltovich (1963-1967), Don Opfer (1967-1975), Carl Sweazy (1975-1976), Bill Brown (1976-1984), David Einer (1985-1990), Rex Wright (1990-1994), Ross Hosdson (1995-2000), and Russ Boone (1995-present).
The church as seen many ups and downs over the years, but God has been faithful to keep us as a light to the Santa Monica community.