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THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS 1956-2006 [ Music Ministry ] [ Legacies and Contributions ] The Twinbrook Baptist Church was conceived in the hearts and minds of several members of the Bethesda First Baptist who lived in the Twinbrook area of Rockville, Maryland. In the latter months of 1955, they expressed their concerns that there was no Baptist church in this rapidly growing suburban community. When this concern was conveyed to the Rev. John Palmer Gates, minister of the Bethesda Church, he immediately pursued the matter in preliminary discussions with those members and with Dr. M. Chandler Stith and Dr. William J. Crowder of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. After initial conversations with Rev. Gates and the Bethesda Church Minister of Education, Rev, John W. Laney, Richard and Phyllis Crouse invited a small group of interested friends to meet at their home on Calvin Lane on January 25, 1956, to discuss the beginning of a new congregation. Seven lay persons attended: Richard and Phyllis Crouse, Dr. Clarence E. Bardsley, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Carper, Nettie Lawrey, and James Parris. Meeting with them were Dr. Crowder, Rev. Gates and Rev. Laney. The group decided to seek the sponsorship of the Bethesda First Baptist Church in the beginning of this new work and requested that Rev. Laney be allowed to serve as their minister on a part-time basis, preaching on Sunday and devoting an additional day each week to developing the new congregation Favorable action was taken by the Bethesda Church during February, and the first service of Twinbrook Baptist Chapel was held on March 4, 1956 with thirty-six persons present (including the nursery). The service was conducted in the Lone Oak Elementary School, and was preceded by the first session of the Sunday Church School, which was attended by approximately the same number of persons. Services were held in the Lone Oak School until October 1957, when they were moved to the Broome Junior High School (now an adult education center) located near the Chapel's building site.
For the first two years, Rev. Laney continued to serve the Bethesda First Baptist Church. On Sunday mornings, he assisted in an 8:30 a.m. worship service there before rushing to Rockville to conduct the Twinbrook service. On June 1, 1958, the Twinbrook congregation assumed the support of a full-time pastor, and the Laneys moved to a rented house on Farragut Avenue.
For three years the Twinbrook congregation functioned as an extension of its parent church. On its third anniversary Sunday, March 1, 1959, Twinbrook Baptist was constituted as a separate church in a well-attended afternoon service at the Broome Junior High School. Today we now consider the sixty-four names listed on the attached page as Twinbrook Baptist Church's charter members. They either transferred their membership from Bethesda First Baptist or had joined Twinbrook prior to its becoming officially constituted. Later that year, on November 16, Twinbrook Baptist Church was accepted into full membership in the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, through which it also became a member of the American Baptist Convention, U.S.A. and the Southern Baptist Convention.
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