In 1967 a small group of members from Grandview Baptist Church, Davenport, Iowa felt that there was a need for a Bible-teaching church in the Pleasant Valley area. Grandview Baptist Church encouraged this group because they realized that many of these people lived in the area where the church would be located. The original group of people were the Robert (Ada) Browning, Sr. family, the Robert (Bernice) Browning, Jr. family, the Harold (Glenda) Crosno family, the Robert (Dorrie) Orr family, the Max (Helen) Roller family, and the Stan (Betty) Smith family.
This small group began meeting weekly in homes to pray about starting a new church. The Baptist General Conference (BGC) offered to send God’s Invasion Army to help this group with visitation. God’s Invasion Army trained these Grandview members to do door-to-door witnessing and assisted them in beginning weekly canvassing in the Pleasant Valley area.
On Wednesday evenings the group met in one of their homes for prayer. Part of the group would then go door-to-door while the others stayed and prayed for those that were witnessing.
J. Stanley Rendahl, executive director from the Iowa Baptist Conference (IBC), gave much guidance during this organizational stage. Grandview Baptist Church continued to be supportive throughout this time.
Melvin Dirksen was asked to be the pastor for this new congregation. The first Sunday service of the Pleasant Valley Chapel was January 7, 1968. They met at the Pleasant Valley Community Center, Pleasant Valley, Iowa. Harold Crosno was the chairman of the church. Stan Smith was the treasurer. Max Roller was the Sunday School superintendent. Sunday School was held at 9:15 A.M., and the worship service was at 10:30 A.M. Wednesday evening prayer meetings for adults, youth and children were still held in the various homes.
Pleasant Valley Chapel was officially organized as Pleasant View Baptist Church in March of 1968 with 32 charter members. It was recognized as a Baptist General Conference (BGC) church in April of 1968, welcomed into the Iowa Baptist Conference (IBC) in May of 1968, and into the BGC in June of 1968. The members of Pleasant View Baptist Church (PVBC) continued to meet in the Pleasant Valley Community Center for Sunday worship, while searching for property for a new church building. Don Olsen, a deacon from Grandview Baptist, acted as the liaison between Grandview and the new church. In 1968 PVBC purchased a home in Surrey Heights to be used as a parsonage.
Walton Johnson, the first full-time pastor for PVBC, was called. Pastor Johnson, his wife Eunice, and their three sons and one daughter (Vern, Dale, Paul and Lois) arrived in January of 1969. Property for the church was purchased in the spring of 1969. Groundbreaking for the new church building took place in March of 1971. The construction started in June, and the building was completed in November. The first worship service in the new building was held on December 5, 1971. On January 9, 1972 there was a dedication service for the new building.
New programs were started as PVBC continued to grow. CYF (high school youth group) was started in 1970 under the leadership of Brent and Judy Herman. Helen Roller began Children’s Church during the worship service starting in 1971. In 1972 GMG (Girls Meeting God) was established under the direction of Delores Schilt, and in 1973 AWANA was started for the boys with Dennis Meredith as the Commander.
A women’s ministry (BGC-Baptist Conference Women) was also begun in 1973. Betty Smith was responsible for establishing the library with a total of 282 books. Linda Taylor started a youth choir in 1972 called 'Brothers and Sisters'. An adult fellowship was also initiated at this time and held many activities.
A mobile home was purchased in late 1973 to provide extra classroom space for Sunday School, youth activities and Vacation Bible School. Continual growth led to a need for an addition to the building. Membership had grown to 154 members in 1975.
Eunice Johnson was very active in the church. She taught Sunday School, played the piano, helped with special music, and did chalk talks. The Johnsons left PVBC at the end of August, 1976 to do church planting.
In October of 1976 Lee Giddings became the second pastor of PVBC. Pastor Giddings came from the IBC church in Kiron, Iowa with his wife, Shirley, and their three children, Dave, Janna and Bob.
Groundbreaking for a new addition was in August of 1976. The new addition was dedicated on March 6, 1977. This addition added offices to the upper level, enlarged the foyer, doubled the seating capacity in the sanctuary, and added an area in the lower level for an AWANA circle and classrooms.
In 1977 the church decided to have AWANA for the boys and the girls. Bob Taylor was the Commander for both the boys and the girls’ groups. A mission committee was formed at this time also. Helen Roller shared information about specific missionaries every Sunday during the Sunday School hour.
During the summer of 1981 PVBC hired a summer youth worker, Mike Cooley, from Moody Bible Institute. He also provided pulpit supply.
Shirley Giddings was very busy helping with the music program at PVBC, especially as organist. Pastor Giddings resigned at the end of 1981 after five years of service. He accepted a pastorate at Menominee, Michigan.
During the time PVBC was without a pastor, several guest speakers filled the pulpit. Mel Dirksen was very helpful during this time by preaching and providing invaluable leadership in all areas of church business. Damon Hall was the summer youth worker in 1982.
In November of 1982 Ron Hanson became the third pastor of PVBC. Pastor Hanson came with his wife, Lona, and their two children, Sheri and Tim, from Colorado.
During Pastor Hanson’s pastorate, Rema Francisco was hired as the first secretary for PVBC.
Pastor Hanson developed a Katharos ministry which was a specialized group designed to help those who were hurting. He also was concerned about people having redemptive relationships. There were several youth interns during this time who helped
with administration, counseling and youth.
PVBC was considered a 'sending church' because many people were involved in ministries outside the church, such as Teen Missions, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Newlight Singers, Continentals, and Mission Aviation Fellowship.
Faith-promise giving was introduced in 1984 as a means of support for the Missions Committee. Cubbies were added to the AWANA program for the 3-4 year old children with Lona Hanson as director.
Pastor Hanson left PVBC in August of 1987 to become a Christian counselor in
the Quad Cities.
Pastor Walton Johnson returned as an interim for a year while PVBC was searching for a new senior pastor. He and Eunice were a comforting influence after a time of conflict in the church.
In 1988 Doug Baltz became the fourth pastor of PVBC. He was the former executive secretary of the IBC. Pastor Baltz promoted growth groups, a visitation program, and retirees’ fellowships. He guided the church in revising its constitution. There were several physical improvements made to the church, such as new carpeting, painting, and installing a sound system in the sanctuary. Pastor Baltz’s wife, Joyce, was active with teaching Sunday School, being Sunday School superintendent, and working with the senior citizens.
In 1991 Pleasant View Baptist Church hired its first full-time associate/youth pastor, Mike Fendley. Pastor Fendley came with his wife, Janice, and their two children, Brenda and Craig. Pastor Mike led several youth trips to Mexico to build houses for some of the poorest people there. He helped organize a puppet ministry which the young people of the church manned. He was an unofficial liaison between the Christian community and the Pleasant Valley School District. Mike organized many youth trips and activities, such as SLAM, Planet Wisdom, Acquire the Fire, and Breakaway.
Tewanta Yerington was hired as PVBC’s first music director. She helped in the growth of the music program and started an orchestra. She directed Christmas and Easter cantatas, Patriotic Sunday, Country Sunday Singin’, and weekly choir and orchestra music.
In 1994 Richard (Rick) Smith became the fifth pastor of PVBC. The church again had a need for more space and a groundbreaking service was held on March 1, 1998 for a new addition. A dedication service for the new addition was held on October 25, 1998 with the BGC President, Bob Ricker and IBC District Executive Minister, Bill Larson, as special guests.
Gail Smith was active at PVBC teaching Sunday School, working with the senior adults, and assisting with the music program. She was choir director for several years.
During Pastor Smith’s pastorate the concept of the Purpose Driven Church model was introduced, but not implemented. Because the church was experiencing a continual decline in attendance, the church leaders asked Titus Ministries to conduct an intensive church assessment to discover the church’s needs and make
recommendations to address those needs. One of the results of the assessment was that Pastors Smith and Fendley felt it would best for the future of the church if they resigned, which they did in April 2005.
Lay leaders filled the pulpit from July of 2005 to December of 2005. Jarol Duerksen, of Titus Intentional Interim Ministries, provided pulpit supply during the first three months of 2006, when Pastor Jeff Scherer and his wife Marie came to PVBC to serve as interim pastor.
Titus Intentional Interim Ministries led the church through a seven stage process which included individual meetings with nearly everyone who attends the church, as well as conducting a Natural Church Development Survey; formation of a leadership group who has led us through the transition period; taking actions to increase prayer in our congregational life, conducting leadership training, intentionally seeking congregational renewal and unity, studying and then transitioning to an elder led structure with ministry teams; seeking a vision from God for the church, developing a vision statement and goals to achieve that vision; and conducting a pastoral search.
On February 8th, 2009, Pastor Ed Hedding was installed as our next pastor of Pleasant View Baptist Church. Pastor Ed, using the principles of Simple Church and the Natural Church Development surveys began to train and execute the new government structure of the church. Pleasant View moved from a congregational form of church government to an Elder led church government, and had the offices of Elders, deacons, and deaconesses. The church is led by ministry team leaders who have people working in their ministries who have a passion and spiritual gift for those ministries.
Awana was restarted in 2011 and has grown as new young families have come into the church along with families from the community sending their kids to Awana.
Pastor Hedding brought a message and practice of community involvement and outreach when he came to Pleasant View with the goal of reaching out to Bettendorf as part of the church’s mandate. Serve Sunday was started as part of that outreach to the community. It involved the church going out and serving the community one Sunday of the year in May. Good News clubs in area schools using CEF material has brought the Gospel to public schools. New families continue to come and grow the church with its
vision to Connect – Grow – Serve.
In January of 2018, the church celebrated its 50 th year of faithfully preaching the Gospel and the whole counsel of God to the community in Bettendorf. A large celebration took place in April of 2018 emceed by Twila Belk, one of the founding members of the church. A big gala event was had with sharing of testimonies, song, and the history of the church.
Pastor Paul Hovey was hired as the Associate Pastor of Worship and Family in February of 2013. Pastor Paul developed ministry for families and drew in young couples with children to the church. Pastor Paul also upgraded the sound system and added new people to the worship team. He also worked with our students in the Chaos Student Ministry and helped the students grow in their faith and grow in numbers. Pastor Paul left in July of 2018. Gage Pedersen was interim worship leader from July 2018 until February of 2019.
Austin Fink was hired as Director of Worship and Youth in February of 2018. Austin worked with the church in developing these two important ministries as he went to Clark Summit University to finish his bachelor’s degree in biblical studies. He gained experience in preaching and other aspects of church ministry. Austin and his wife Melissa were a great addition to the church with the experience they had in various ministries before coming to PVBC.
The church had a difficult stretch in March of 2020 when COVID hit our country. The church was closed on March 15 th and went to Livestreaming the service until June 7th when the church reopened. Several weeks the church met outside as people were encouraged to come back to worship. It affected attendance in a dramatic way and the church is striving to return to pre-COVID numbers in attendance.
In November of 2023, Austin resigned to take a position as Worship Leader in Vincennes, Indiana. Nick Holcomb became the interim worship leader while the church searched for someone God would bring to lead the church in Worship. Kerry Zanki was hired on April 1st , 2024, to be the new Worship Leader
Pastor Ed Hedding announced March 3rd , 2024, that after 15 years as Pastor of the church, he would retire in March of 2025. The Elders and Deacons are putting together a search team to look for the next Pastor of Pleasant View Baptist Church after April 1st, 2025
This history was written by Carol Dirksen and Pastor Ed Hedding