1984-2009
Prior to the summer of 1951, not one Southern Baptist church existed in the Northern Plains area of Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. People in these states with Southern Baptist beliefs or backgrounds had affiliated with churches of other denominations or had become inactive. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, an increased population of Southern Baptists in this area was occasioned principally by the establishment of military installations and expansion of the oil industry. Unable to find the kind of churches to which they had been accustomed, families began meeting together for fellowship and Bible study. On June 24, 1951, a small group, made up primarily of families connected with the oil industry, met in the Mountain States Power Company building in Casper, Wyoming, for Bible study. Two weeks later, O.R. “Benny” Delmar of Tollison, Arizona, met with the group and conducted worship services. The group voted to organize a Southern Baptist church the following Sunday. On July 15, 1951, in the City-Country Building, the First Southern Baptist Church of Casper was constituted. Delmar was called as pastor and the church affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Arizona. This began the spread of Southern Baptist churches in Wyoming. Many churches in the state, though small in membership and weak financially, reached out into other needy areas to establish missions and churches. On November 14-15, 1984, the first annual session of the Wyoming Southern Baptist Convention was held at the Sunnyside Baptist Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The Convention’s annual normally includes the constitution and bylaws, Convention proceedings, directories, executive board and WSBC department reports, financial statements and budgets, and statistical and historical tables. The annuals are any word searchable.
