My journey in starting Valley Forge Baptist began years before moving to this area in 1984. The need for church planting in the northeast was often highlighted by pastors.  While at Bible college I was given the assignment to prepare a counseling ministry for a church including a potential church name.  I choose Philadelphia Baptist Temple as a church name. Little did I know that God was planting the seeds in my heart to prepare me to minister in southeastern Pennsylvania. 

After college, I began an internship at Fairfax Baptist Temple in Virginia. During the third year of my internship, I planned survey trips to the northeast in search of where God would have me to move and plant a new church. My first trip was going to start in the Philadelphia area and then I would travel north until the Lord opened the right door.

In December 1983, a pastor from the Philadelphia visited some relatives in our church. He invited me to visit him in Jenkintown. He said he would give me a map and show me the areas where he knew of Gospel preaching churches.  In February 1984 we headed toward Philadelphia. We made our first trip up the Main Line, stopping in various locations looking for a meeting place. There were no open doors.

On the second survey we went to the Chamber of Commerce in Norristown. There we were told that it would be impossible to find a meeting place in King of Prussia. Knowing that with God “all things are possible” my next stop was the King of Prussia township building.  Their meeting hall was open to churches to rent for dances and bingo, but not for church services. It was a long shot, but I decided to stop by the school district to see if I could rent a classroom in a public school building.

On our third survey trip in May 1984, I dropped off the application to rent a room in the Upper Merion Middle School which also had an indoor pool.  I was given the green light a few weeks later.  We purchased a one-bedroom condominium in Mont Clare for $45,000. With Pastor Aylestock’s help, we designed our first church flyer – “Valley Forge Baptist Temple, New Church Begins.” I taught my last Sunday school lesson as the single adult director at Fairfax Baptist Temple in June 1984, and then was ordained to the ministry.

We mailed out 25,000 flyers and I began visiting, knocking on doors, and passing out another 5,000 flyers. The week before our opening services, the pastoral staff of Fairfax Baptist Temple—Pastor Calvert, Pastor Abbey, Pastor Aylestock, and intern Gil Hansen—joined me to knock on doors for one week. With all of those thousands of flyers that went out in June and July, the most significant event occurred when one of my single adults from the military came up from Virginia for one day to knock on doors with me. He knocked on a door on Keebler Road and gave a flyer to a little 10-year-old girl named Joanna, who promptly passed it on to her mother, Linda Orfanos. The next day, Linda called me and asked some questions about the new church and promised to be out for our opening service with her children.

July 29, 1984, was an exciting day. We had 54 people attend our first service. Half the folks were from out of state, and the other half were simply interested in seeing what it was like to be at the very first service of a church. Of all those people, Linda, was the only one interested in joining this new church. She and her three children were baptized and became charter members of Valley Forge Baptist Temple. We had services every night for that first week with an average attendance of about 15-20 people. 

One of my biggest fears was that I would be considered too young to be a pastor, especially in the eyes of older members.  I was 24 years old, but I barely looked like I was 18. God took away that fear on the second Sunday by bringing an elderly couple.  The husband had just been saved and I led his wife, daughter, and future son-in-law to Christ the next week. Four adults were baptized on Labor Day, 1984.  

We had Sunday morning and evening services in the Middle school for 5 ½ years.  During the first six months, our midweek Bible studies were held in our little condo. Beginning in 1985, members of the church family took turns hosting the midweek Bible study for one month.  Within six months of conducting our first church service, we held our charter-signing service on January 13, 1985, and 21 folks signed the charter, including children. We grew from zero to 90 in five-and-a-half years, with a couple of Sundays topping 100 in 1989. Every time we had a baptism, I had to schedule a lifeguard to come and watch me baptize in 4 feet of water. We had the biggest baptistry in the state of Pennsylvania, the Middle School indoor swimming pool. Though the rented space was expensive, the school officials were very good to us, making sure that a piano and a pulpit were moved to Room 100, a tiered classroom complete with a huge Viking mural painted on the back wall.  The school was so gracious to give to us the piano when we moved out in December 1989. 

Within a year we began our first choir – which some Sundays was almost as large as the congregation.  On a few occasions, we could not reach school security, the custodian, or the police to open the building and we had to be creative in getting in. One time a couple of men picked me up and lowered me through an open window; another time I scaled a fence to be able to get to our meeting room. On a few other occasions, I would look at Mrs. Rutter, our deacon’s wife, when the doors were locked and say, “May we please come to your house for services tonight?” Though we did not have many visitors every Sunday, those who did come heard the gospel, and many trusted Christ as their Savior during those years.

When the church was only two years old we began our search for a permanent home.  Three times the church voted to buy land in Upper Providence and three times God closed the door.  Ed and Sylvia Geisler lived cattycorner to a field that was adjacent to the 422 expressway.  The land was not for sale but showed up in the newspaper because the owner was late in paying his taxes.  In 1988 we wrote a letter to a lawyer in Norristown and he was glad to sell us 4 acres for $130,000.  In the providence of God, it was His providence that our church home be in Upper Providence. 

Our initial building fund goal was $60,000 which we met before we purchased the land.  The few pioneers at VFBT gave sacrificially week after week. The first building design was drawn on a napkin at a Pizza Hut. An architect submitted plans and RAM Construction was contracted to build the first building for $289,000 along with “sweat equity” from the members.  What a joy for everyone to participate in the various construction phases – block, brick, plumbing, roofing, wiring, cleaning, etc.  December 3,1989 was opening day and at the ribbon cutting I shared, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord’”  Psalm122:1.

Immediately a steady stream of visitors began coming to Sunday services.  Many were saved both in their homes and at services.  In 1990 we had our first missions conference which challenged us to greater efforts in reaching the world.  Valley Forge Baptist Academy opened its doors in August 1991 with 9 students.  Most of our 150+ graduates continue to serve the Lord as adults and are raising their children for the Lord.  Glory to God!  Our academy theme verse has become a reality – “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” 3 John 4.  In this season of ministry also we began a bus ministry and a prison ministry.  Mani and Shunila Ganguli went to India and Scott and Terri Shaw went to Canada to plant churches.  But it was also a time of great trial, as my first wife Carole entered the presence of the Lord in 1993.  Yet, the Lord is faithful on the mountain top and in the valley.  God’s people showed the love of the Lord proving once again that this body of believers is “The Caring Church.”  I experienced it first hand in my darkest days.  In 1995, we began double services and 100 additional chairs were added making our total seating capacity 277.  The Lord provided more land and plans were made to expand our building to reach more people with the Gospel.  On June 15 1996, the church family celebrated God’s blessings as Jodie and I were joined together in marriage in Canada.  Words cannot describe the blessing Jodie has brought to me, our family, and church family.  The Lord had refined us and prepared us for greater ministry in the years ahead. 

As the church family has grown, so has our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, His Word, and each other.  Since those early years dozens of ministries and creative outreaches have impacted hundreds and hundreds of people.  May we NEVER lose our passion for leading people to the Savior and keep “the Main Thing the Main Thing!”