A HEART for God and Others
Pastor Matt Olson and his wife Diane came to Colorado immediately following their marriage and moved into an apartment in Broomfield on the north side of Denver. Pastor Olson had targeted this suburban area as one where there was a definite need for a new church, and began knocking on doors in August of 1981.
On September 6 of that year, Tri-City Baptist Church held its first service with eighteen people in the congregation. By December, there were 120.
After looking at forty buildings in the north side of the metropolitan area, the church settled in at the John R. Little Elementary School located in Arvada. Only available on Sunday mornings, the church family met Sunday evenings for services in the home of Sterling Miles near 94th and Wadsworth Boulevard, between Arvada and Broomfield.
On January of 1982, the people of Tri-City began praying for land and a building. One month later, the deacons at the First Baptist Church of Arvada offered their large physical complex at 57th and Yarrow St, plus two houses, to Tri-City Baptist. With no current pastor of their own, the church in Arvada merged its own forty members into the Tri-City Baptist congregation.
Tri-City continued to grow rapidly with the acquisition of debt free facility – so much so, that over ten acres of prime property in Westminster was purchased in 1985. Once access was granted from the City of Westminster across the Farmer's Highline Canal, and a bridge was constructed by the church, the new church campus construction began.
On Mother's Day (1996), the relocation finally took place – only two blocks from its original meeting location in the Miles' home.
Twenty years later, Dr. Matt Olson resigned from the pulpit the summer of 2001. Shortly after, the call of Senior Pastor went to Dr. William J. Senn III who had served at the University Baptist Church of Clemson, South Carolina for nearly twenty years himself. Along with his family, the Senn's arrived at Tri-City Baptist Church on July 4, 2002.
With its beginnings rooted as a new church plant, we have always had a desire to begin other new churches in the Denver metro area, and have successfully started and supported numerous other ministries along the Front Range.
Two expansion projects later, the congregation of Tri-City moved into its current sanctuary for worship services in April of 2008. With a seating capacity of nearly 900, we rejoice in all that God has miraculously done over the past thirty years. But we are not finished! We are currently in the process of planning our next expansion project at our current location which will include a new educational wing and nursery complex.
Tri-City is about much more than bricks and mortar, however. Please take time to browse through our website to see all that God is doing here in Westminster.
Then, come and visit for yourself to experience "the difference of Tri-City Baptist Church!"