405 W. 8th St., Junction City, KS 66441
ABOUT US
In January 1954, Pastor Art Wilson of Wichita Baptist Tabernacle held a revival meeting in Junction City, Kansas. The revival meeting took place at the city's municipal building, and it continued for three weeks. His hope was to start a Baptist church near Fort Riley. During that time, many people put their faith in Christ and were eager to start their own church in Junction City. At the conclusion of the meeting, a charter signing ceremony was held on Valentine's Day, and Calvary Baptist Church was officially established. Paul Morgan was called to be the first pastor of the church, and the church purchased a building on 16th and Jefferson Street.
Following Pastor Morgan's tenure at the church, there was a transition period in the late fifties where the church had three different men serve: Pastor Statz, Pastor Sawatzky, and Pastor Sheperd. In the early sixties, Pastor Ray Melugin pastored the church until he returned to work for Pastor Art Wilson at Wichita Baptist Temple in 1964. Several years later, Pastor Melugin became the pastor of Wichita Baptist Temple (now called Friendship Baptist Church), and he is still serving as the pastor there today. Pastor Jayne served the church for the next several years, and he was followed by his brother-in-law Pastor Rowe. After Pastor Rowe moved to another ministry in 1972, Calvary Baptist Church was looking for its eighth pastor in only eighteen years of being open.
Thankfully, the Lord sent Pastor George Wright to be the next pastor of the church, and he and his family arrived in July of 1972. Over the next several years, the church continued to grow and flourish. Early on Sunday morning, August 26, 1979, the church building was burned down by an arson's fire. That same Sunday, the church refused to be discouraged, and they met for their regular services at a storefront less than fifty feet from their still-smoldering building. On December 19,1979, the church moved into its current building on 8th Street. Pastor Wright continued to be the pastor of the church until he passed in 2011. His wife, Madge, and two of their children, Gary and Jerry, are still serving faithfully in the church today. The people of Calvary Baptist Church love the Wright family very much, and we are very thankful that the Lord allowed Pastor Wright to serve in the church for several decades.
On Mother's Day of 2011, the church called Shane Groff to be their new pastor. After serving the church faithfully for the past six years, Pastor Groff was led to pastor a church in Texas. In September 2017, the church voted unanimously to call Pastor Aaron Harris as their new pastor. His first Sunday at the church was on October 22, 2017.
