A Brief History of Quartz Hill Community Church
Quartz Hill Community Church was founded in 1963 as Olivet Southern Baptist Church; it officially incorporated as a non-profit organization on January 24, 1964. In 1989 it changed its name to the Rock. In 1993 the congregation moved from its location on 15th Street West (now a Jiffy Lube and Taco Bell: the address was 43720 N. 15th Street West) to its current location in Quartz Hill and changed its name to Quartz Hill Community Church in 1993. The facilities in which we currently operate were originally the home of Rick Rayls, the pastor at that time. The back part of the building was a house that was constructed in 1952. He sold the house to the church, which then purchased a house in Quartz Hill to serve as the parsonage for the pastor. Almond Grove Baptist Church merged with Quartz Hill Community Church in 1994. The original plan had been for Rick Rayls and Don Patterson (the Almond Grove pastor) to serve as co-pastors. However, Rick Rayls resigned as pastor shortly after the merger, so Don Patterson became the pastor of the newly merged church.
Almond Grove Baptist Church was originally known as Quartz Hill Southern Baptist Church until it changed its name to Almond Grove Baptist Church in 1990. The first meeting of what was then Quartz Hill Southern Baptist Mission, was April 16, 1958. Nine people were present. The work was sponsored by First Southern Baptist Church of Lancaster (now Boulevard Community Church). Rev. Joe Byran was the mission pastor.
On May 17, 1964, the mission voted to become Quartz Hill Southern Baptist Church. The nineteen members present made up the core of the church for the next fifteen years.
In 1966 the church acquired property at Avenue L-12 and 55th Street West from George Lane and began construction of a building, which was completed in 1967.
During the 1960s and 1970s the congregation grew to over two hundred members. They were able to minister to the community with weekly worship services, vacation Bible schools, and special music concerts.
By the mid-1980s, however, the church had lost much of its membership. It went through several years of turmoil. In 1988 the church had dropped to twelve members and applied to the High Desert Baptist Association for status as a Restart Church. Don Patterson came because of that decision in 1989. In 1990 the church was renamed Almond Grove Baptist Church. Over the next five years the church increased by fifty members.
On August 14, 1994 Almond Grove Baptist Church voted unanimously to merge with Quartz Hill Community Church, with the merger becoming official on September 1, 1994.
Shortly after the merger, the property of Almond Grove Baptist Church was sold to Resurrection Lutheran Church.
In 2016 Quartz Hill Community Church sold the parsonage.
Some of the pastors of our church have been:
Quartz Hill Southern Baptist Church 1958-1990
Almond Grove Baptist Church 1990-1994
Joe Bryan 4-16-1958 to 9-14-1958
Howard LeMarr 11-1958 to 8-1959
Henry Hankins 11-1959 to 1-18-1961
Roy Tugman 1-1961 to 4-1961
George Wood 4-1961 to 8-1964
Dan Ingle 9-25-1964 to 6-25-1967
Jess W. DeBord 11-19-1967 to 5-6-1970
James Dunn (interim pastor) 4-24-1970 to 10-1970
Walter Hughes 11-29-1971 to 6-1976
Trevie C. Dean 11-14-1976 to ?
Claude Miller ? -1989
Don Patterson 1989-1994
Almond Grove merges with Quartz Hill Community Church in 1994
Olivet Southern Baptist Church 1963-1989
The Rock 1989-1992
Quartz Hill Community Church 1992-present
William Carey Moore 1963-1964
Rick Rayls 1986-1994
Billy O’Quinn and Ted Bisceglia served as associate pastors for part of Rick’s ministry
Don Patterson 1994-2015
Ted Bisceglia, Rick Curtis and Dave Reynolds served as associate pastors for part of Don’s ministry
Robin Nettelhorst (interim pastor) August 23, 2015-August 29, 2021
Robin Nettelhorst August 29, 2021-
The school also operates Quartz Hill Publishing House, which publishes books on various topics. So far, the school has published over 50 different titles, some of which have been acquired by Libronex for their Logos Bible program, a high-end academic Bible program available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.