Senior Pastors of First Church
Associate Ministers of First Church
First Church of God in Tallmadge came into being through the dedicated efforts of one Christian woman, Sister Burdich, who moved to Akron from Moundsville, West Virginia. In 1896, she walked from place to place distributing gospel tracts and Gospel Trumpet magazine, the Church of God publication at that time.
As a result of her efforts, a group of Christians were drawn together for study and worship in their homes, or in vacant store rooms, as well as holding meetings on street comers. Later, a tent meeting was held and the group of believers increased.
Dennis Koch came to pastor the group in 1906, and by 1910 a small church building was built on Second Avenue in Akron.
Still later in 1917, E. E. Shaw came as pastor. Under his leadership, the small building was sold and a larger one was built in 1926 on McKinley Avenue in East Akron. This called for great sacrifice by the people. The congregation worshiped in the basement until the completion of the building in 1928.
A crisis faced the church in 1931, during the Great Depression. God's church was not to be defeated. Like Nehemiah and his workers, the people had a heart and mind to work, and at that time F .G. Smith was called to be pastor. His God-given vision and wisdom rallied the people into action. He challenged the church to accept the biblical plan of tithing. In addition, many of the saints mortgaged their homes and made other sacrifices. Praise God! The church doors were kept open.
Elmer Rich was installed as pastor in 1946 and served faithfully with loving dedication for twenty-one years. The church continued to prosper and grow. A large addition was added to the church at this time providing many more Sunday School rooms and a hall for fellowship.
March 1968 brought Francis Joliff as our new pastor. Again it was time to make a change---a new challenge faced the church, the need to build again, resulting in the facility we have occupied at Northeast Avenue in Tallmadge since July 1972.
In 1974, James Bradley became our pastor. Surely this church has been continually blessed as each succeeding pastor gave his best in talent and dedication to serve God here.
It was December of 1984 that we were again blessed by the coming of John Phillips. Pastor John led the church through a building campaign started in 1994 which resulted in the remodeling of the sanctuary and an addition of a Fellowship Center and classrooms.
New vision and purpose is the goal of our current pastor William Wimmer. Pastor William came to serve at First Church in January 2001. With his leadership and guidance First Church will continue to be a "Lighthouse" in the community of Tallmadge.
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." --Proverbs 29:18
Senior Pastors of First Church
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1896-1906 Various leaders
1906-1917 Dennis Koch
1917-1931 E. E. Shaw
1931-1946
F. G. Smith
1946-1967 Elmer Rich
1968-1974 Francis Joliff
1974-1984 James Bradley
1984-2000 John Phillips
2001-Present William Wimmer
Associate Pastors
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1925-1946 J . W. Kershaw
1935-???? Calvin Hanes
1945-1947
Ken Jones
1952-1962 Chuck Wood
1965-1970 Arthur Kluge
1963-1969 Larry Collins
1969-1975 Dave Tate
1977-1978 Ray Bradway
1978-1984
Judy Bradley
1983-1984 Donna Merrill
1987-1990 Henry McCray
1985-1990 Kenneth Rhoades
1991-1991
Connie Spear
1992-present Douglas Walter