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Salem Baptist Church of New Brighton, Minnesota collection, 1963-2020

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-Chu-MN-7

Scope and Contents

The Salem Baptist Church collection covers three boxes of materials, dating from DATE.

The Annual Reports date from 1969 to 2009, with a few missing issues. The topics covered in the reports include committee reports, financial summaries, and budgets.

There are two folders of Constitution and By-laws. They contain both finalized versions, drafts, and proposed ammendments. The earliest dates to 1963, and the most recent to 2001.

The Anniversaries folder holds bulletins, flyers, and histories from the 25th, 35th, and 50th anniversaries in 1988, 1998, and 2012, respectively. There is also a DVD titled "We've Come This Far By Faith" from the 50th church anniversary. A digital copy of the file can be found internally on the Archivist drive.

The Music folder holds information about the choir, hymns, concerts, the job description for the minister of worship, and information of the dedication of the pipe organ in 1988.

The Directories series contains loose directory booklets dating between 1981 and 2015, as well as a folder holding directories from 1965, 1966, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1999, and 2004.

The Bulletins series dates between 1969 and 1995, with some missing services. One folder is located in the oversize box.

Newsline was a periodical church newsletter beginning in 1974. The series dates between 1974 and 1994.

Journeys was a later church newsletter. The folder holds issues from 2002 to 2007.

The Committees folder contains information from various committees and groups, including the Property Management Committee, the Staff Study Committee, the Pulpit Committee, the Recognition Council, and the Hospitality Committee.

The Church Board folder includes the Constitution article concerning the group, agendas, and meeting minutes.

The Church Council folder includes meeting minutes, agendas, and correspondence.

The Edlers folder holds meeting minutes, hadwritten notes, and correspondence.

The Long-Range Planning folder includes committee minutes, strategy documents, planning surveys, and correspondence.

The Evaluations folder holds church goals, surveys, attendance studies, and population projections.

The Business Meetings folder includes primarily meeting minutes from annual and quarterly business meetings.

The Financial folder holds budgets, financial reports, fundraising information, parsonage information, and background information for a bond sale program.

There are two Building folders, in which are exhibits of materials related to a church building program, construction plans, loan applications, information on the "That Others May See" building fund program, the sanctuary addition proposal from 1971, the church dedication documents from 1972, and reports from the building committee.

The Pastors folder holds information from pastoral search committees, pastoral job descriptions, pastor profiles, pastoral evaluations, and information from the Home Mission Board regarding salary support. Pastors mentioned in the folder include Richard Turnwall, Lindon Karo, Robert Brunko, David Reno, Kevin Johnson, and Dan Young. Pastor Michael Halcomb materials are located in a separate folder, and include correspondence, interview information, a sermon transcript, a self-study of pastoral responsibilities, and information regarding his resignation.

The Correspondence are mostly written from church leaders to the congregation, reporting decisions, events, or fundraising opportunities.

The Outreach folder holds brochures and pamphlets advertising the church or church lessons.

The Ministries and Missions folder contains information on the Men's Ministry, church planting, visitation, discipleship, the Share the Wealth Seminar, and missionary support.

Christian Education is spread across two folders, which include details about the nursery, children's church, Sunday school, the education building, and the Christian Education Board.

The Women's Ministry folder holds pamphlets from between 1988 and 2002 describing ministry opportunities for that coming year.

The Agape Groups were designed to encourage community in small groups. The folder contains questionnaires about the groups from 1981.

The Church in the Community folder includes information about the affiliated committee and the hosted Share the Wealth Seminar.

The Call to Commitment folder includes information about the challenge of church giving of finances, time, and personal discipleship.

The Newspaper Clippings folder includes articles about Salem, members, or general religion.

Six CDs cover a sermon series on the Ten Commandments titled "Laying Down the Law", which was given in the Summer 2004. Digital copies can be found internally on the Archivist drive.

A flash drive holds Council Meeting minutes and Business Meeting minutes from April 2018 to April 2020. Digital copies can be found internally on the Archivist drive. It was donated to the History Center in May 2021 by Carol Hendrickson.

Dates

  • 1963 - 2020

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for researcher use.

Historical note

Under the guidance of Rev. John Bergeson, Elim Baptist Church of Minneapolis planted a new mission in New Brighton in 1961. Philip and Ardis Carlson held the first prayer meeting at their home, and the first church service was held in January 1962. By March, they moved into Sunnyside School. On January 24, 1963, Salem Baptist Church was incorporated with 23 charter members, and they called Bengt Anderson as pastor. In 1964, Richard Turnwall became pastor. In 1968, the church began using Pike Lake School for meetings. Church members Floyd and Betty Dudrey had donated their land for use of the church on Rice Creek and Silver Lake Roads in 1961, where the church was built and dedicated in 1973. In 1971, Lindon Karo became pastor, but died in 1973. Lee Eliason stepped in as interim pastor until Michael Halcomb came in 1973. After Halcomb's resignation in 1979, Arthur Lewis served as interim pastor until Robert Brunko arrived in 1981. The building was remodeled following a 1986 arson. Two daughter churches came from Salem: Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park in 1987, and Horizons in Blaine in 1992. In 1993, Paul Widen began as senior pastor. In 1999, an addition to the building was completed. Kevin Thomas became senior pastor in 2000, Dan Young in 2007, and Jared Carlson in 2011. In 2008, the congregation changed it's name to GracePoint Church.

Extent

4 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

The collection's original and donated order has been lost. Most of the documents are arranged chronologically inside folders.

Custodial History

It is unclear when this collection was donated to the History Center. It is likely Norris Magnuson and Diana Magnuson, both Salem members and Bethel archivists, brought materials to the History Center from the church over time. The flash drive holding the Council minutes and Business Meeting Minutes between 2018 and 2020 was donated in May 2021 by Carol Hendrickson.

Related Materials

Adventure in Dying by Nancy Karo, 1976

Title
Salem Baptist Church of New Brighton, Minnesota collection, 1963-2020
Author
Rebekah Bain, archivist
Date
November 2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the The History Center: Archives of Bethel University and Converge Repository

Contact:
3900 Bethel Drive
Arden Hills MINNESOTA 55112 United States