History

In the fall of 1955, God laid on the heart of Brother Thad Entzminger and Brother Lewis Pratt of Manatee Baptist Church the spiritual needs of a group of people in this area who were hungry for the Word of God. Each Sunday night during the next two years, Bro. Entzminger and Bro. Pratt conducted a Bible Study around the dining room table in the home of Ralph & Jeannie Wiley on Pope Road.  

Travel in those days was very difficult. State Road 64 was under construction and was a quagmire of mud much of the time. The old wooden bridges over the Braden River were also being replaced with concrete bridges. 

On July 29,1959, the heirs of Mrs. Ella Harllee donated a parcel of land on Upper Manatee River Road to Manatee Baptist Church, for the purpose of establishing a church. On May 4, 1960 a checking account was opened for Mill Creek Mission. Contributions were deposited in hopes of building a place of worship on Upper Manatee River Road. A religious survey was conducted June 1, 1960 to determine the number of Baptists and unchurched in the area. In June of 1960 volunteers began clearing the land where Mill Creek Baptist sits today. On October 2, 1966 the Mill Creek Mission became a Church. A mortgage burning was held in 1966 to pay off our first Sanctuary and in 1975 a Fellowship Hall was added to the original sanctuary, debt free. In 1980 a building committee was formed to have plans drawn up for a new Sanctuary, which was built in 1981.  A Modular building was added for Sunday School rooms during that time also. In 2017 the modular was removed and replaced with an open pavilion.

 In 1995, Mill Creek was second in the state of Florida for baptisms, in ratio to membership, with 52 precious souls finding Jesus as their Savior! The membership more than doubled and Sunday School reached an all-time high attendance of 120.

Today, we are debt free, rebuilding our Sunday School classes, Children's church,  and our membership.  We are blessed to have Pastor Mark Gibbens and his wife Kim join our church! We are so appreciative of their dedication to leading people to a personal relationship with God, encouraging spiritual growth  to  our church family and friends, and ministering to the needs of our community!

Charter Members of Mill Creek Baptist Church

Mr. Paul Coddington

Mrs. Joan Coddington

Mrs. Nancy Louise Helton

Mr. Charles Pipkin

Mrs. Amanda Pipkin

Miss Christine Pipkin

Miss Joy Pipkin

Mr. Dick Pope

Mrs. Lotis Pope

Mrs. Jeannie Wiley

Mr. Roger Musgrave

Mrs. Carolyn Musgrave