Open Door Baptist Church History
August 28, 1977 - August 28, 2007
Open Door Baptist Church did not begin in August 1977. No, it actually began on July 13, 1949 when a son born to Elsie and Glenn Hauser was born. Oh my, what a surprise to this young couple. So embarrassed was she that they "were still doing such things" (she was only 38) mom Hauser did not even go to church for a time until her pastor came for a visit. In 1960 dad Hauser went to be with the Lord and thus mom Hauser was left to raise two sons on her own. Her daughter was already grown and living in California. She did so with the help of the Lord and a very stern set of rules that they must abide by. Tom graduated from school in 1967 and then from Thomas Road Bible Institute on May 14, 1975.
At the same time a young man named Sammie Hannah was born to Rubel and Fletcher Hannah on July 6, 1945. Because of the death of his mother and circumstances only God knows, Sammie was raised by living in orphanages, his sister's home and his father's home. At the age of 18 he entered the Navy and then in 1972 he attended Liberty Baptist College and later transferred to the Bible Institute where he met up with Tom Hauser while both were enrolled in a speech class.
These two daring young men both called by God to do a work that they knew not where, began street preaching and singing in the little town of Alta Vista, Virginia. Sammie would sing in front of the billiard hall and gather a crowd with his "down home style" and then Tom would preach to them. This seemed to work out fine for them both and thus the Hauser-Hannah team began and continues to this day.
While in college together the Hauser's and the Hannah's continued to strengthen their friendship and even talked of working together in the future, if that was God's plan. After graduation from the Bible Institute they agreed to meet in Rochester, New York on December 26th, 1976 at the former Ramada Inn on Chili Avenue. They toured the city together and met with pastors in this area to see where there might be unchurched areas. They even prayed all night - well, Tom did while the rest of us fell asleep (sounds a little like some disciples doesn't it) but we knew he was in good hands. Come morning Tom still did not have complete direction from God but they agreed that they would meet again in Rochester on January 17, 1977, unless God changed the plan. Sammie, Pam and their 2 girls (Rebekah and Tabitha) arrived as scheduled but Tom and Char along with their son (Rob) and daughter (Amy) arrived the next day due to a car accident and horrific storm that January day. Even a storm could not keep this young family from their appointed destination even though they had to sleep in a stranger's home for the night. And thus the real story begins.
Tom and Sam searched for a place willing to allow both families to live together and found such a place on Thurston Road. A church that would be a lighthouse to the community for years to come started as a bible study in their home and then grew enough to require larger accommodations. Tom would visit door-to-door during the day while Sammie worked at Howard Johnson's. Truly we had "all things common" at that time. Whoever had a bill, we pooled our monies together to make sure it was paid. God led Tom to pray in his support and God never failed to bring in monies from unusual places such as an inmate Tom had discipled, Char's former boss from Colorado, Tom's former boss from Virginia and on and on it goes. The two men would go visiting in the evenings any visitors that came to the services. They handled the teen ministry together, Char took care of the nursery and Pam taught the young children. As more and more people joined us and became part of Open Door they were added to our list of volunteers. Each one as valuable as the one before them.
So you might ask, how could two families live together for 8 months and then 30 years later still care so deeply for each other? The answers lie in praying nightly together and knowing this was God's will for them, as well as having fun together such as playing the Tupperware Challenge, remember that one Pam? Maybe you have never heard of this game - you get the tupperware children's toy (the red/blue one) of shapes and then time each other to see who can get the shapes back into the correct slot in the least amount of time. Of course the children were asleep when all this "fun" was taking place. Try it - you'll like it. They also shared in babysitting for each other. Giving each couple a chance to go out on dates and celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
The church rented the Six in One building on Thurston Road and celebrated our first Mother's Day in that building. Preaching took place for the adults in the 6 in 1 building while the children's ministry, along with the nursery was held back at the apartment the two families shared. Remember we spoke of Tom praying in his support, well in August when Sam and Pam moved to their home on Pioneer Street well that monthly support stopped and the church was able to take Pastor Tom on full-time for $25 per week. Pastor Tom often tells the story of not asking for support but also not telling anyone to quit.
On August 28, 1977 Open Door was officially formed as a church and recognized by the state of New York. The story comes to mind of Tom being interviewed by someone from the state and he trying to convince the lady that Open Door was more a church than most churches are a church. Deacons were found and thus we were on our way and began renting the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Sundays and Wednesday evenings. Classes were added and a few of those teachers are still today teaching in the same age group such as Bill and Vee Villegas with the 2-3 year olds. Thank you Bill and Vee, may God bless you for your efforts.
Down through the years there have been special Sundays such as: Fill a Pew, Round-up Sundays and each time we would have more in attendance the next week than we had for the "Special Day." Go figure! We found out early in our church history that Tom was not called to be a promoter - but a Preacher.
The Lord led this young congregation to purchase the former Trinity Emmanuel Lutheran Church at 174 Thurston Road in the 19th ward of the city of Rochester. This building was purchased how, you might want to know - we had "gold and silver Sundays" where people brought in their class rings from school and we turned them in for the money - young men as God would lead, sold their cars and gave the entire amount to the Lord. One by one each and every one did what they could to purchase the former Lutheran church for $165,000. There were 3 installments made to the Lutheran church and if any of those payments could not be made than we would lose the church. The first payment was given and then the second, it was down to the wire. The last several thousands of dollars was due and Tom was sweating it out. So much pressure for such a young man. One of the members told Tom he would be giving a donation of $70,000 to the project and did that make this young preacher happy. Now he could rest assured that God was going to perform our miracle. Much to Tom's surprise when the donation came in - it was not for $70,000 - but that man had said $7,000. How do you look appreciative and yet wonder how are we going to raise the other $63,000? As many of you know Tom's hearing is not the best - perhaps God allowed him to hear $70,000 to get this young pastor to "have faith." But praise be to our God we did in fact reach the goal of paying the $165,000 for the building by many who sit in this auditorium tonight. The last dollar came on the night of December 31st the deadline date. Many memories were made on Thurston Road that will never be erased from our minds. Babies dedicated, marriages that took place, the farewell services for many of our departed saints. There were bus routes, deaf ministry began, Word of Life Clubs started. But above all this little church called Open Door continued to flourish, so much so that in 1998 we moved to our current location.
Just in case you think we are finished with the story we must back up and tell you a few things that happened on Genesee Park Boulevard and Thurston Road.
We had men's baseball, Round-Up Sunday to celebrate our first anniversary and the 5th anniversary where we had service at the church and then headed to Genesee Valley Park for a church-wide picnic. We set records of attendance and God allowed us to meet those goals one after the other. Souls were saved and discipled into the church and sermons - oh my, the sermons this young man could preach and the songs that other guy could sing. We will not know until we get to heaven all the lives that were touched in that congregation.
In 1998 God allowed us to build the church you are seated in now and the church grew. The congregation grew from approximately 200 to over 700 weekly. There was growth that required a larger staff and in April 2000, God brought to us our Missions Pastor and his wife, Bill and Diane Finnerty. Bill had worked at the church for more than 4 years before his paid position was created. We thank God for what has happened in our congregation because of their unending work in this field. The missions program we have today could never have been realized without the two of them. Thank you, Bill and Diane. Along this same time the counseling work was becoming an enormous task for Tom and thus Lloyd McKee was added to the pastoral staff. Under Dr Lloyd, as we call him, Tom has had the time to devote to study and Dr. Lloyd takes care to counsel from the Word of God and helps many to "find their way" and become what God wants them to be. Thank you, Lloyd and Cheri for answering God's call. All areas of ministry continue to grow and as the teen ministry grew the church hired Paul St. Denis to become the Youth Pastor. Paul grew up in this church and we thank God for the call upon his life to lead our teens in the right path. He keeps up with the teens and involves them in areas of ministry as well as Missions opportunies. Thank you Paul and Tab for your work and love to our teens and college-age young people. Our teens and college-age truly are the church of the future.
Along with the growth of a lively and prospering church comes many challenges and Pastor Tom recommended to the church to hire a very capable man by the name of Joe Lima in January 2003. Joe, man full of grace and truth and above reproach in the area of finance. Joe has been the church Financial Officer for many years donating his time and talent, however the job was becoming overwhelming even for a very capable man like Joe. Joe also is in charge of all matters of business for this body of believers and many have sought his help in times of need. Thank you Joe, for your love to the Lord and this congregation.
As ministries have grown and the church congegation has grown, we have seen many victories and seen many areas where help is needed. The church hired Jonathan Stansel to work full-time to clean this building. Jonathan also coordinates our ministry to the chidren for the Sunday morning and evening services. He is also the coordinator for the Wednesday evening services and has a very capable staff of eager workers who wish to reach children for the Lord. Thank you, Jonathan and Beth.
Without all the workers we have here, there would be no Open Door Baptist Church. Stop to think of just a few areas of ministry - teaching, singing, planning of events such as tonight, to strengthen the Body of Christ. And Open Door grew.
By the grace of God and under Pastor Tom's leadership with the other pastors and deacons in full support in 2003 we embarked upon a building fund to add to our existing building and to build it for cash. Yes you heard me correctly, there would be no loan taken out to place added financial burden on this church but that if God wanted the addition to be added He would allow us to pay for it with cash, you know, "bucks, mou-la, that green stuff." As we sit in here today we can all say a hearty "Amen." God did perform that miracle that some were doubtful could happen. Therefore, in June of 2007 we dedicated the new addition and many of us take advantage of the teaching opportunities weekly. If you have never attended one of our classes headed up by very capable volunteers, I encourage you to "give it a try." You will be blessed and those who tirelessly work for you weekly will be encouraged.
So now what, we celebrate thirty years and where do we go from here? We take a few days to contemplate what we have accomplished thus far and then roll up our sleeves and get in there again and go for the next thirty years. There are people to visit, there are souls to reach, there are classes needed to be taught and there are young minds to learn the Word of God. Are you one who comes just to sit and then go home and wait for the next service, I hope not. I pray that this anniversary becomes a deciding day for you and will say - I knew that church when it was only 30 years old and got in there and used the talents God had given to me and see what we have done together with God's help. Perhaps when we gather here in 30 years from now we can say "To God be the Glory, Great things He hath done."
May we continue to work for Jesus until we hear His words, "Come up hither." And together we will spend all eternity together reminiscing about "the good old days." God bless Open Door and all those who enter. In Revelation 3:8 and we have taken as our church verse "I know thy works: behold I set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name."
May God bless all our festivities this evening and may we continue to always have an "Open Door" for any and all who wish to be a part of us and together glorify our God and King.
