The history of this local church is rich with the fingerprints of God’s greatness and goodness. From our formation as Richmond Baptist Church (in Richmond, IA) in 1854 during the Civil War, to our present day location in Washington, IA as Prairie Flower Baptist Church, God’s hand of protection, provision, and blessing has been on our church for over 160 years! We are indeed a testimony to a mighty God who promised nearly 2,000 years ago that “I will build MY CHURCH and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

In fact, as I was digging through some old historical archives of our church, I ran across a list of every pastor who has served this local church. I like lists 🙂 It’s just the nature of my personality to gravitate towards lists…And during my quick survey of this list of PFBC Pastors, I discovered five fun facts, but first let me give to you the list of the 40 Pastors of PFBC…

Pastors Who Served Richmond Baptist Church…

1. Rev. George Bell (Dates Unknown)
2. Rev. Sangster (Dates Unknown)
3. Rev. Ward (1865-1869)
4. Rev. Nelson (1869-1872)
5. Rev. S. M. Crambelt (1872-1873)
6. Rev. Whitacker (1873-1874)
7. Rev. Dailey (1874-1877)
8. Rev. Sharpnack (1877-1880)
9. Rev. Jones (1880-1882)
10. Rev. L. W. Atkins (1882-1889)

Pastors Who Served Prairie Flower Baptist Church…

1. Rev. Cornelius (1889-1892)
2. Rev. Arthur Fowler (1893-1895)
3. Rev. Walter Fowler (1896-1899)
4. Rev. O. J. Clark (1900-1901)
5. Rev. W. R. Yard (1901-1904)
6. Rev. J. F. Catlin (1904-1906)
7. Rev. J. C. Clark (1907-1908)
8. Rev. Edgar Mills (1909-1911)
9. Rev. Charles E. Hamilton (1911-1913)
10. Rev. Hal E. Norton (1913-1915)
11. Rev. C. S. Carroll (1916-1918)
12. Rev. E. A. Anderson (1918-1922)
13. Rev. A. J. Unthank (1922-1926)
14. Rev. Charles E. Hamilton (1926-1930)
15. Rev. L. H. Anderson (1930-1933)
16. Rev. C. E. Strong (1934-1941)
17. Rev. Harold Day (1941-1943)
18. Rev. A. E. Diddams (1943-1945)
19. Rev. Merle Booth (1945-1947)
20. Rev. B. G. Hall (1948-1950)
21. Rev. Homer Kirchner (1950-1954)
22. Rev. Charles Hawkins (1954-1966)
23. Rev. David Hess (1966-1972)
24. Rev. Paul Lobb (1973-1978)
25. Rev. Nick Boeke (1978-1982)
26. Rev. Paul Mann (1982-1991)
27. Rev. Kevin Subra (1992-1994)
28. Rev. Dan McClure (1995-1999)
29. Rev. Don Collings (2000-2013)
30. Rev. David Cotner (2013-Present)

Five Fun Facts…

1. Our church (founded in 1854) is older than blue jeans (1873), cars (1885), and Coca-Cola (1892)!
2. Rev. Ward, who served our church from 1865-1869, pastored our church during the time frame of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
3. Rev. Charles E. Hamilton is the only minister who pastored our church during two separate time frames (1911-1913 and 1926-1930)…he just couldn’t get enough of us!
4. Rev. C. E. Strong (1934-1941) was truly Prairie Flower’s first #PrairieStrong Pastor 🙂
5. The average pastorate, in our rich 164-year history, has been 4.1 years, with my predecessor, Pastor Collings, serving the longest with 13 years under his belt.