Keystone - Brief History

In 1950 and 1951, the Marvin Chapel Methodist Church on Route 608, northeast of Berryville, Virginia was without a pastor and running 20 or less in attendance. The Methodist Conference would not send a pastor because of this low attendance. Therefore, Mr. Joe Galloway, a lifetime member, contacted Washington Bible College and asked if they would supply speakers for our services.
They were happy to help and sent Professor John Stannard to preach for us and to build up the work. We had 13 in attendance on his first Sunday. In about a year, we were running around 100 in attendance and decided to become an Independent, Fundamental Church and call our own pastor. We called Pastor W. C. Peet, a graduate of Washington Bible College in 1953.
The Methodist Conference then said we had to have a Methodist Pastor or vacate the building. We then rented an empty church about a mile away and moved into this building for our services. We had 99 on our first Sunday. Some of our congregation chose to stay with the Methodist.
We then purchased property nearby from Mr. John W. Franklin and began construction of Marvin Chapel Community Church. Our men did all the work. We moved into the basement in 1955. The rest of the building was finished enough for us to move into the upstairs in 1958.
As our attendance grew, we decided to look for land and build a larger church. Our present property was purchased in 1972 from Keystone Estates. Since we were moving into this area, we decided to name the church Keystone Bible Church.
Our present building was completed enough for us to move into in 1974. In 1975, our name was again changed. We then became Keystone Baptist Church. Our Pastors over the years are listed below.
Name | From | To | Duration |
William C. Peet | 11/53 | 11/59 | 6 years |
John Gowdy (Interim) | 11/59 | 9/60 | 10 months |
Raymond Brendle | 9/60 | 6/65 | 5 years |
Thomas S. Hogan | 9/65 | 11/73 | 8 years |
Claude Wiltshire (Interim) | 1/74 | 6/74 | 5 months |
M. Eugene Burge | 7/74 | 3/80 | 6 years |
Jay A. Sprecher (Asst. & Principal) | 6/76 | 7/79 | 3 years |
Dennis Deschene (Youth Pastor ) | 8/70 | 5/80 | 9 months |
Ronald Lee Tittle | 4/80 | 6/81 | 14 months |
Robert McEarchern | 8/80 | 11/82 | 15 months |
Jay Sprecher | 1/83 | 7/94 | 11 years |
Anthony Blackburn (Asst. & Principal) | 8/84 | 9/94 | 10 years |
Matt Sprecher (Asst. & Principal) | 8/90 | 5/97 | 7 years |
Douglas B. Wright | 11/94 | Present | 23+ years |
Rob Ingmire (Asst. & Principal) | 8/94 | 7/01 | 4 years |
Glen “Shorty” Shank (Asst. & Youth) | 8/99 | 12/12 | 14 years |
Matt Sands (Asst. Pastor) | 7/12 | 8/14 | 2 years |
Stuart Rogers | 11/14 | Present | 3+ years |