The History Of HPBC 1944 - 2007

A group of people who had left Okolona Baptist Church, began to have prayer meetings in different homes, and the idea of a new church was conceived on January 31, 1944. Forty-four charter members purchased 18 lots and a ravaged night club known as the "Silver Slipper" on the corner of 6th St. and Woodward Ave. With the new property secured, the members met at 7:00am in their "new" church building to spend the entire day praising God and giving thanks. It was a great day, memorable in many ways, including the fact that it was a cold February day spent in a vandalized building with no heat! After many repairs had been made, the church held services in the renovated building and services were held on the former dance floor which was now the auditorium with the back area serving as Sunday School rooms and the east side and a portion of the upstairs used as the pastorium.

It was in March 1957 that the members again went out on faith and voted to build a new church building to replace the old "Silver Slipper". It was an 8800 sq ft of floor space, with a seating capacity of 450 to 500 with 20 classrooms. Building began in summer of 1957 and on January 12, 1958 the move was made into the new church building. Bro. Pete made the statement "We have moved from the 'Silver Slipper' to the 'Golden Shoe'". It was truly a "Golden Shoe" to the people of HPBC. On February 2, 1975 the church voted to build an education/activities building to be connected to the west wide of the existing building.

Bro. Kenneth Hale accepted the call as pastor of HPBC on January 17, 1988 and came on board in Febuary. God kept blessing HPBC beyond their dreams. On August 7, 1988, Bro. Hale shared with the church a program "Challenge To Grow". It was a three year program where members were challeneged to give approximately one and one half times above their usual tithe to this effort. In a note burning on April 9, 1989, of the Activities Building, the church voted to contact an architect to draw up plans for a new worship center. There were many prayers and exciting plans being made for the new worship center. With another blessing from God, Sunday, September 23, 1990 the people of HPBC had a ground breaking for new worship center and almost one year later on September 18, 1991 the first service was held in the new beautiful worship center.
During the 90's the church continued to grow and we called Bro. Ted Vafeas as Senior Pastor. As we grew we continued to add to our staff and in 2003 we broke ground on a new Pre-School and Children's Building. This new building was occupied during May 2004.

Highland Park has been so very fortunate to have so many people who have contributed to the success of the church. Through the years, they have worked together prayerfully, financially, and physically in building, renovating, and repairing the buildings and grounds, as well as ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of the community and of one another. The main purpose of and reason for Highland Park has always been to lead souls to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be a light to the community. It is our earnest hope and prayer that we may never lose the vision of seeing lost souls brought to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.