July 1957 - Our church started with eight people meeting at 2830 S. Yates in Harvey park, SW Denver, sponsored by Brentwood Baptist And Calvary Baptist.
 
January 11, 1959 - Lakeridge Baptist Church was organized with 30 charter members. August 1959 - Groundbreaking was held at 2600 S. Sheridan with Pastor Billy Joe Davenport. The initial phase was to seat 263 people at a cost of $64,500.
 
January - March, 1960 - The first unit of the building was occupied and dedicated with 59 enrolled in Sunday School. The following Texas Baptist churches underwrote the building costs: North Ft. Worth, Highlands, Hurst, Hereford and Galena Park.
 
November 1963 - Rev. Roland Cooper became pastor. A major layoff at Martin Marietta caused a decline in attendance. October 1967 - Rev. Pratt became pastor followed by a series of other pastors.
 
April 1971 - Riverside Baptist began sponsoring Lakeridge, changing the name to Riverside West. With an average attendance of 40-50 and an annual income of $12,000, Pastor Frank (and Mary) Tillapaugh came to pastor the church.
 
August 1971 - the church was named Bear Valley Baptist Church.
 
The 70's Decade - The Church Unleashed characterized the church with rapid growth and major ministry evidenced in multiple congregations, target group and multi-ethnic ministries, and inner city outreaches from the modest facilities.
 
1980-1986 - Attendance grew to over 1,100 with five worship services each Sunday. Home congregations were started. Bear Valley members and pastors went to revitalize Trinity Baptist, Heritage Baptist, Centennial Baptist, Hoffman Heights Baptist and Open Door Fellowship.
 
1986-1991 - Church Unleashed conferences drew pastors and lay leaders from across the U.S. and several other countries, coming to learn the philosophy of ministry and the motivation of lay-led outreach ministries.
 
1988 - Green Gables Chapel at Jewell and Old Kipling became a part of Bear Valley. A pastor and members were sent to Sherrelwood Baptist in North Denver.
 
May 1990 - To accommodate increasing attendance, the Sheridan campus was sold, and services were held at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Hampden Avenue.
 
June 1990 - Groundbreaking was held for a new building at 10001 W. Jewell Avenue.
 
May 1991 - At the first Sunday of worship in the new facility, 1,439 attended.
 
June 1993 - Jimmy Smith came from Dallas to become Senior Pastor at Bear Valley.
 
1998 - "Move The World" was the church-wide plan for reducing the church building debt to provide money for ministry.
 
January 2001 - Jim Walters became the Senior Pastor following Jimmy Smith's medical disability. A greater world missions emphasis, small group expansion, and caring connections became focal points for expanded ministry. Les Health and the Cornerstone group was sent to revitalize Alameda Hills Baptist. Kevin Kirby planted Mesa View in Golden, and Karl Wheeler led out The Community, which became the church at Joshua Station.
 
June 2002 - The building debt was entirely paid off with a "Free To Fly" Celebration. This debt payoff released funds to give 30% of the church budget for missions and ministry. The centerpiece of that emphasis was giving "Move The World" grants to missions projects around the world.
 
2004 - The new vision statement, "Climbing Together The Upward Trails of Life" placed a vigorous focus on "connecting, maturing, and unleashing." Hiking became the metaphor for the Christians growing in faith and ministering together.
 

What is an "unleashed" church?
Why don't you have committees?
What is a target group?
Do you change your methods of ministry?
What kind of people do you attract?
Do you still practice maximum ministry in modest facilities?
What does a person have to do to start a ministry?
Have you ceased to be a Baptist church?
Do you still have ministries in the inner city?
 

For many people familiar with BVC (Bear Valley Church) and our philosophy of ministry the above question makes complete sense. For everybody else it sounds like insider shop talk. Regardless of which group you fall into the question is important to understand and answer.
 
To be "unleashed" means BVC is not a come and sit kind of place, but instead, a go and serve kind of place. While we have a nice facility and great ministry programs that take place in our facilities, we aspire to minister far beyond the walls of our building. Our location at 10001 West Jewell Avenue is our place to stand to move the world for the kingdom of God.
 
BVC is not interested in simply collecting people and becoming a big, fat church that exists for itself. Rather, we want to love people into living passionately for Jesus Christ. It is the community of people at BVC that will carry the gospel of Jesus beyond our walls into the city and the world. We believe every member of God's family is a gifted minister (Ephesians 2:10; 1 Peter 2:9-10). Our pastors do not exist to "do the ministry", but to equip and encourage people to go out into the world as a minister of the gospel (Ephesians 4:11-13). God through His Spirit has given every follower of Christ a special ability or talent. God's intention is for all of us to exercise that spiritual gift He has given us.

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."
 
(1Corinthians 12:4-7)

Because every follower of Jesus is a minister, BVC wants to encourage you to join us in reaching our community, city and world for Jesus. Church should be a team effort not a spectator sport.
 

It is important at BVC to maintain a simple organization that maximizes ministry by keeping responsibility and authority tied together. Committees are very good at doing three things: consuming people's time in meetings, stifling creativity, and slowing progress. What they are not good at is promoting new ministry ideas, giving permission, and empowering people to do what they need to do for the kingdom of God. So at BVC if you are given the responsibility to do a ministry task, you also have the authority to carry out your ministry without having to deal with the bureaucracy of a committee. Where there is responsibility there is authority.
 

A key priority at BVC is to extend the reach of ministry beyond the walls of our facility into the city. "When a sociologist looks at cultures he or she looks at the groupings within the culture. Seeing the city as a collection of target groups is seeing the city as a Christian sociologist sees it. We look for groupings of people and design ministries with their life-styles in mind." (Unleashing the Church, p. 45)
 
We trust the Holy Spirit to burden our people with the desire to reach various target groups with the good news of Jesus. And then the church encourages, trains, and sends them out to be missionaries in our own city or wherever God leads them.
 

Lost people matter to God. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17)." Therefore, the message of the gospel is sacred, and will not be compromised. Methods of delivering the gospel are not sacred. At BVC we will change our methods to most effectively reach the people in our culture. Reaching lost people with the gospel is more important than preserving traditions and becoming irrelevant to the community that surrounds us.
 

BVC exists to extend the kingdom of God. We want to find where God is working and be a part of it. Often God's plans and activity do not fit our human plans and activities. That dynamic requires flexible people who are willing to change and move out of their comfort zones for God's kingdom. Consumer Christians who want to be served and kept comfortable will find their consumer mentality and comfort levels challenged at BVC.
 

The idea is to have as little of the churches resources invested in facilities and as much of the churches resources as possible invested in people and available for ministry.
 
Some would say BVC abandoned this value when we built our facility years ago. But the truth is we still believe this is strategically important. The growth and momentum BVC was experiencing in the late 80's and early 90's made it impossible to continue in our old facilities. When we finally did build our current facilities, we built the best facility we could for the least amount of money possible. The building is used for ministry seven days and evenings each week. The mortgage on our building has been paid off and the same amount goes to Move The World Grants for missions. The result is that about 25% of all giving goes to missions.
 

We try to make starting ministries at BVC simple. Too many hoops discourage creative thinking and rob people of their enthusiasm. All you need to do to start a ministry is get approval from one of the pastors. Don't expect our pastors to recruit people or lead the charge. They will help you get any training you may need and cheer you on. You can call the church at 303.985.400 or you can email Jim Walters at his would be a good place to start.
 

No, although we dropped the word "Baptist" from the church name. This has encouraged many people with mainline denominational as well as non-denominational backgrounds to check out our services and discover our church without any presuppositions about us. We are actively involved with both Conservative and Southern Baptist networks and a part of the Willow Creek Association.
 

Yes. We provide people and financial support to Mile High Ministries, Denver Street School, Prodigal Coffee House, Open Door Fellowship and The Inner City Health Clinic. Our people are also involved doing Multi-Housing Ministry here in Lakewood to bring Christ to those who live in these closer areas. We want to see our people move from the pews to the city around us and carry the good news of Jesus with them in all they do.