Our History

A timeline of our history and important events here at Los Angeles Baptist Church

Our Pastor

An introduction to Pastor Sal Menjivar and his family who have been faithfully serving in The Los Angeles Baptist Church since 1999.

Our Purpose

Why we exist and our heart for our community. 

Our Beliefs

A short synopsis about our basic beliefs. 

A timeline of our history and important events here at Los Angeles Baptist Church

1997 - Paul Chappell, Pastor of Lancaster Baptist Church, had a burden of planting a church in the Los Angeles area.

June 6, 1998- Through many prayers and support, a soulwinning team lead by William Miracle and Radford Wong started in Los Angeles. The first meetings took place at the Belmont High School. Later on that year, another place for meeting was secured.

June of 1999- Bro. Salvador Menjivar graduated from Bible college, and was searching for God's plan. He came to Los Angeles Baptist Church by recommendation of Pastor Paul Chappell, to attend a Mission Service. In that service there were 48 first time visitors.

September 5, 1999 - God led Bro. Salvador Menjivar to be the Pastor of Los Angeles Baptist Church, and the first official service was held.

April 9, 2000- The Ordination Service for Salvador Menjivar was held at Lancastser Baptist Church.

April 16, 2000- Bro. Salvador Menjivar became the Pastor of Los Angeles Baptist Church at the Charter Service.

2001- The auditorium was expanded and pews were donated to the Church.

2002 -The Los Angeles Baptist Church had the first fundraising banquet for the building project.

2003 -The Church aquires the second floor of the building, doubling the size that it had before. That same year, the first deacon was ordained.

2004 -The second deacon was ordained, and more Sunday School classes were added.

2006 -The third deacon was ordained.

March 29, 2011 - The Los Angeles Baptist Church purchased its very own building.

July 3, 2011- The Church officially moved into its new location.

January 2013- AWANA was added into the children's ministry. 

September 2014- The church celebrates its 15th anniversary.

April 7, 2019 - Grand Opening of the church at the new Wadsworth location.

September 2019 - The church celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Inspire

Our aim is to inspire the people in our community to have a desire for God. We do this by reaching out to the community and bringing the gospel to their doorstep and inviting them to come and see what a new testament church looks like. (Deut. 6:5)

Include

We want to include people into a loving church family through the ordinance of baptism or by transferring their membership from their previous church. Our Sunday schools are designed to make people feel part of our church. (Acts 2:41)

Instruct

We instruct our people through the teaching of the Word of God which is an important component in our ministry. Paul said to Timothy, "Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15)

Involve

We encourage involvement in our church. We have several ministries that offer an opportunity to serve our Lord. Jesus said, "occupy till I come." (Luke 19:13)           

Impact

We believe that through the instruction of God's Word and ministry involvement people's lives will be impacted positively and spiritual growth will take place. Once this happens people will be able to impact somebody else's life. (Matt. 28:19-20)

God

We believe in one God, who is eternal, self-existent, infinite, and immutable. We believe He has one nature, one essence, and one substance, yet manifests Himself to man in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; I Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; I John 4:4).

The Bible

We believe the Bible to be the revealed Word of God, fully and verbally inspired of God. We believe the Scriptures to be the inerrant, infallible Word of God, as found within the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. We believe God not only inspired every word, but has preserved them through the ages. We believe the King James Version is the preserved Word of God for the English-speaking people (Psalm 12:6-7; II Timothy 3:15-17; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:19-21).

The Son

We believe Jesus Christ to be the one and only Saviour of mankind. We believe Jesus Christ to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of Deity. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born, that He was God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to reveal God, to redeem men, and to rule over God's kingdom. We believe Jesus Christ never relinquished any attributes of His Deity, but merely veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of which He was offered for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for man's sin. This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. It was activated by His death through the shedding of His blood on the Cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection to be seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the time of receiving His church at the Rapture, and returning seven years later to earth to rule and reign as King for 1,000 years (Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 43:11; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 1:3, 14, 18, 29; Romans 3:19-25; Romans 5:6-15; Philippians 2:5-11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 2:5; I Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:10-15; Hebrews 7:26, 9:24-28; I Peter 1:19, 2:2; I John 1:3; Revelation 20:1-6).

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit of God is a person who has personality and all the attributes of Deity. We believe the Holy Spirit has always been involved in the affairs of mankind. However, we believe He has a special ministry which began at Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture. This ministry includes convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was also sent to regenerate, sanctify, seal, and fill all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:5-6; John 14:16; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:15; I Corinthians 3:16; I Corinthians 6:19-20; I Corinthians 12:13).

Sin and Salvation

We believe all men were born with an inherited sin nature received from our common ancestor, Adam. We believe that because of his nature, man is a sinner by choice, and he is totally incapable of reforming himself or ceasing from his sin by his own power. We believe the only hope of deliverance for man is a total change of mind concerning his sinful condition and inability to change it, and a turning to Jesus Christ as the only Saviour. We believe that only through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the Cross can a man be delivered from his sin. We believe that all those who reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour are already condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire (Genesis 5:1-5; Acts 4:19; Acts 16:31; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:6-12; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; Revelation 20:11-14).

The New Testament Church

We believe the church began with the calling out of the twelve apostles by Jesus Christ and was empowered on the day of Pentecost. We believe the local church is God's only institution to carry out His work today. We believe the local church is composed of members who have been saved and baptized according to the command of Christ, and have voluntarily united together for the purposes of worship, fellowship, service, and the Lord's Table. We believe all true believers will be taken up at the Rapture, just prior to the Tribulation (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 1:15; Acts 2:41-43; Acts 11:15; Acts 20:28; I Corinthians 15: 51-58; Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 5:25-30; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Timothy 3:4-15).

The Last Days

We believe in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures in their grammatical and historical context. We believe in the pre-tribulational Rapture of the church saints, followed by the seven-year Tribulation. We believe in the pre-millennial return of Christ to the earth and His literal rule of one thousand years. Following this one thousand years is the Great White Throne judgment and then the new Heaven and new earth (I Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 5:1-9; Revelation 19-22).