Church History

Our History

Miami Valley Baptist Deaf Chapel (MVBDC) was established on March 3, 1992. You may be surprised to learn that God started a long time ago to plan for this church for the deaf and for Phillip Easterling, Mark Korf, and Dennis Nickel to be our 3 pastors. God started in 1963 to prepare us for this day.

At one time, there were twelve Southern Baptist churches that had Deaf ministries with interpreters. At the time MVBDC started, there were six deaf ministries. Several of their members joined MVBDC, leaving three churches with Deaf ministries. For 30 years, all of the churches worked together in fellowships and in planning revivals, Bible study, and workshops. We had wonderful deaf and hearing men who preached our revivals and taught our workshops. God was truly teaching us! We had great fun at our Valentine Banquets, Halloween parties, Christmas parties and yearly picnics. We had officers and met monthly in one of our churches and later at the Association office.

The interpreters also met monthly as they supported the deaf ministries and helped each other learn and improve their skills. (This was before there were colleges teaching sign language.) They even started a two year interpreter training program at the Association Office under the Seminary Extension Program. They sponsored with great success, a yearly Interpreter's Workshop where deaf and hearing came to teach. They got the best to teach them. Also Dayton people started the State-wide Deaf camp and Interpreter's Retreat. All this was training us for what would happen in God's Plan for starting MVBCDH.

Our Deaf Association and Associational Interpreters for the Deaf was a special group that worked together in a very different way than any other Southern Baptist deaf ministry in the country. The hearing churches, the deaf people and the interpreters were faithful and saw many deaf saved and become leaders. From Dayton came a man, Bill Roaden, who became President of SBCD and an interpreter, Evelyn Parker, who God used to teach workshops and voice for revivals in Ohio and other states. God truly moved among us!

After much prayer and work by the representatives of each church with a deaf ministry in the Dayton Association, our associational leaders and the state church planning men, MIAMI VALLEY BAPTIST CHAPEL FOR THE DEAF (MVBCD) was established on March 3, 1992. The Greater Dayton Baptist Association (GDBA) gave MVBCD the responsibility of reaching out to the deaf and ended their financial support for all events.

The Dayton Baptist Deaf Association voted for a committee of twelve individuals to work on starting a deaf church and finding a deaf man to be our pastor. This committee was faithful and prayerful and served from August 1991 to April 1992.

One of the greatest ways God led us and we followed was in the faith of starting a church when we had no idea who our pastor would be. WHAT FAITH WE HAD! We started with four Deaf men from our church to lead the worship services on Sunday morning. In two weeks, we started meeting on Sunday evening, too. We recognized that God honors prayer and we should have a Prayer Meeting. On Wednesday we prayed for our church and who God would send as our pastor. All this happened in the month of March. God kept His promise. He gave us the name of Phillip Easterling, who came to Dayton to interview. Phillip and Elaine were interviewed in April by the committee and then by a group of pastors from some of the Southern Baptist Churches. We knew Pastor Phillip was God's choice and we asked him to be our full-time pastor. Phillip took time to pray and confirm God's plan. Two weeks later (in April), Phillip and Elaine Easterling and family said "Yes." He started as our pastor on the first Sunday in July 1992.

This was the beginning of the most wonderful years of serving God and trusting Him for every need and then seeing how God provided for us in every way. And it is wonderful how God has led us to love others and to be a giving church and to do mission work. It is true, we are a deaf church, but we don't only reach out to deaf people. We care for all people!