Our Story

In the early 1980s, a church was born from a campus ministry. Jeff Lewis and his wife Elaine were members at then First Southern Baptist Church in Williamsport, PA, and had a heart for college students, prompting them to start a Bible study at Lock Haven University in 1983. As the study grew that year, a group of students from the campus ministry graduated and decided to stick around. On August 5, 1984, this group gathered at the local YMCA to hold the very first worship service of Big Woods Chapel.

Big Woods met at the Y for a year before moving to a rented church building on West Main Street in Lock Haven. Things were thriving as Jeff pastored the Chapel and led the campus ministry. Two years later in 1987, Jeff and Elaine were called to serve with the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board) in GA, leaving the newly founded church without a pastor for the first time. Big Woods Chapel continued to meet, relying on church members and guest speakers to fill the pulpit and continue the work of the Gospel.

A small handful of faithful congregants and college students were continuing to meet together a year later in 1988 when the church hired Pastor Bill Murray to lead them. Bill and his wife Kitti moved to Lock Haven from Atlanta, GA, to continue the ministry of Big Woods Chapel, growing the church to 125 members during Bill’s tenure as pastor. Due to health issues and building relocations, church attendance began to decline. Over the next two years, the church met at various locations around town, including the YMCA, the Parson’s Union Building on LHU’s campus, the Vo-Tech Building of Lock Haven High School, and various regional parks. The unofficial motto of the church became: “If you can find us, you can worship with us.” Despite the challenges, a faithful remnant of about 40 members remained.

As the Chapel continued to move around, Bill and Kitti felt led to return home to Georgia in 1993, but not before establishing the first Elder Board of the newly renamed Big Woods Bible Church. After the Murrays left, Big Woods welcomed Brian and Karen Morphonios, who came to serve as campus ministers at the church, returning to Big Woods’ origins on the campus of LHU. Shortly after their arrival, Ted and Linda Justice moved to town, ending Big Woods’ second stint without a lead pastor, as Ted became the new pastor in 1994.

During this season, the church continued to meet in various locations, even switching to Sunday evening services to meet in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Lock Haven. After Ted was hired, Big Woods began meeting in a space of their own, regularly holding services Sunday mornings in the newly purchased building that was formerly Castanea Elementary School. God’s faithfulness, Ted’s leadership, and the regularity of gatherings allowed the church attendance to grow to over 200 people, necessitating two services in the small schoolhouse space.

Big Woods Bible Church continued to maintain ties with LHU through the campus ministry NewLife Christian Student Fellowship. Many men have served in the position of campus minister since the turn of the millennium, beginning with Todd Cravens in 2000. Todd joined Big Woods’ staff as the Associate Pastor and Campus Minister, where he taught Sunday School classes, assimilated new members, and ministered to students at LHU.

Eric Reiber joined the BWBC team as campus ministry intern in 2007 and 2008, before moving to State College to become the director of NewLife at Penn State University. In 2009, Jason Ritz came on staff after moving to Lock Haven with his wife, Carla, and son, Timmy. Jason served in this role for two years as the campus ministry continued to grow and the church grew with it, even through a third period without a lead pastor from 2009 to 2011.

In 2011 the church welcomed Senior Pastor Tim Boger, his wife Wendy, and their children Seth and Sarah. A year later, Pastor Tim and the Elders developed Vision 2020, a multifaceted plan to impact the Lock Haven area with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The plan included purchasing a new building that would be large enough to accommodate the growing congregation and potential future expansion of the church body, alongside other ministry goals such as increased discipleship and outreach.

As people were reached and disciples made, BWBC purchased an old warehouse building to house the rapidly growing church, renovating the space to be a suitable house of worship. Remodeling began in 2017, and although remodeling was not entirely complete, by God’s grace, the first service at the new facility was held on Easter morning in 2018. A few months later in October of 2018, Big Woods Bible Church officially moved to its current location, 241 S Hanna Street.

Since that time, Big Woods Bible Church has continued to grow in attendance and faithfulness, as God extends His grace and unending love to the community through the body at Big Woods. Among the Sunday worship service, Big Woods is still actively involved in the lives of college students through campus ministry, and has increased its discipleship focus towards children, youth, and senior adults over the years.

Many other teams and ministries help keep things running smoothly at Big Woods, affording members new and exciting ways to get involved all the time, from ministry here in Lock Haven to the ends of the earth. It’s important for us to remind ourselves of God’s enduring faithfulness as we continue in ministry as a church, remembering how many have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior by God’s grace through the church’s ministries and testimony. With God’s help and for His glory, we hope to continue to make Christ known in the Lock Haven area and to the nations for many years to come!

Now that you know our story, we'd love for you to come be a part of it! Join us on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am for worship, connect with us at any of our ministry events, or fill out a connection form below to get plugged in and be a part of what God is doing at Big Woods!