Our History
Summit Woods Baptist Church began on March 1, 1998, with a worship service in the Blue River Kansas City Baptist Association Building with Dr. Mark DeVine preaching. By the next week, the new church had secured a building to call home near the Pappi’s Pizza restaurant on O’Brien Road. Dr. Mark DeVine, a theology professor from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, agreed to serve as the first interim pastor and continued in this position until he and his family became missionaries.
During the first year of ministry, the church began to organize many different ministries and established a pastor search committee to seek God’s leadership in calling their first pastor. The membership served faithfully to establish a strong foundation for the children and youth ministries. From Vacation Bible School to Youth Camp to ministry projects in the community, Summit Woods had a desire to serve the Lord and make Him known. It was also during this year that the 10 acre tract off of 50 Highway was purchased for future development.
On January 31, 1999, Pastor Ryan accepted the call to serve as pastor. After serving for several years as an associate pastor and youth minister, this call began his ministry as pastor. It was a unique beginning as Summit Woods was his first pastorate, and he was the first pastor of Summit Woods.
Shortly after the church’s first anniversary, Summit Woods relocated to a new building to facilitate the growth in membership and to accommodate the church’s growing ministries. The next location was inside a brand new warehouse on the corner of Broadway & Bailey, not far from the present location of the Hawk’s Ridge subdivision and the Home Depot. Summit Woods was beginning to be fondly referred to as “the church in a warehouse.” It was also during this time that the vision statement to “Exalt the King & Extend the Kingdom” was embraced by the membership.
At the beginning of 2002, it was announced that the 10 acres off of 50 Highway had been completely paid off. The church’s land and building committee continued its work with an architect and made plans for the ground-breaking of the permanent facility. While the plans for construction were underway, the ministries of Summit Woods continue to develop and new ministries such as AWANA for children were begun. Even though the warehouse had its limitations, it also spurred some unique events. For example, since the warehouse was not equipped with a baptistry, many lakeside baptism services were held during the summer months. Also during the year of 2002, our first mission trip to Haiti took place. There have been five other trips since that time as we are now officially engaged in a strategic partnership with the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. Many members have now served in their surgery center, orphanage and various ministries through the mission.
As the new building was erected in 2003, there were countless workdays for the folks of Summit Woods to take part in the construction process. The eagerness of the body to take part in the construction was incredible as it served to strengthen the fellowship and to demonstrate the members’ commitment to establishing this church in Lee’s Summit.
On the first Sunday of 2004, Summit Woods worshipped in the brand new facility on 50 Highway. On a cold and icy morning, the members gathered for a special time to celebrate God’s faithfulness and to move forward in the next leg of their journey together. The church family grew by one-third in this year alone.
In 2005, another strategic partnership was developed for overseas mission work — this time it was in the former communist country of Romania in Eastern Europe. Summit Woods and the Biserica Crestina Baptista (Baptist Christian Church) of Baile Olanesti began co-laboring together in a country where there is a great need for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Members of Summit Woods have had the privilege in sharing Jesus with people in towns and villages where there is no gospel witness.
As 2008 unfolded, the church family of Summit Woods looked forward to serve the Lord in the wonderful community of Lee’s Summit, Missouri. It is with great enthusiasm that they look ahead to see how God intends to use them to “Exalt the King and Extend the Kingdom” in this community and around the world.
