History
Center Road Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church founded in August, 1966 by Pastor Barney Lee, with his wife, Lillian, and their three children, Kenny, Patty and Jenny, by his side. Upon graduating from Bible College while still in Michigan, Dr. Lee originally had planned on going to Chicago to start a church, hearing it was a needy area. He believed God closed that door, so, upon hearing Buffalo, NY was also a needy place, he decided to investigate further.
Dr. Lee followed his calling and on July 4th, 1966, the Lee family moved from Pontiac, Michigan to West Seneca, New York. On August 14th, the church began in the Odd Fellows Hall, 104 Aurora Avenue, under the name Buffalo Baptist Temple. Ten months later, the building was greatly damaged by fire caused by a teenage gang and it became necessary to change locations. For over three years, the church met in the Masonic Temple at Main and Mill streets. In 1968, the church purchased 6 6/8 acres of land on Center Road in West Seneca and, as Pastor Lee wanted a name that would identify its location more, changed the name to Center Road Baptist Church.
Many notable miracles took place in establishing the church, building the new building, establishing a school, and overcoming overwhelming opposition from both outside and sadly, inside as well. Dr. Lee recorded many of these precious and powerful incidents in his booklet, Remembering the Miracles. On Palm Sunday, 1971, the church moved into the new building on Center Road. Sunday School classes met on the lower level of the building on a crushed stone floor. The upper level had only a plywood subfloor and the only heating system was an overhead garage-type heater.
By 1973, the average weekly attendance was 325! Nine bus routes had developed, which brought in most of the people. In September of that same year, the Day Care began and in 1974, the Center Road Christian Academy was born. The goals of the ministry were to reach families and provide for their needs. Additionally, the church supported twenty missionaries and six home mission projects!
In 1995, nearly thirty years after starting the church, Pastor Lee became the Pastor Emeritus and Pastor Bill Livermore became the new pastor. His wife is Mrs. Jenny (Lee) Livermore, Pastor Lee’s daughter. He was pastoring a small church in Buffalo, and, when they came to Center Road with their two sons, Bill and Sam, they brought several of the people from that church with them. The Livermore family was at Center Road for twenty years, in which time three other churches were established in: Bradford, PA, Warren, PA, and Salamanca, NY.
The pastor of the Salamanca work – Center Street Baptist Church, was Ed Darling. In 2016 he and his wife Rita assumed the leadership of Center Road once Bro. Livermore resigned and took the pastorate in Warren, PA. In turn, Bro. Darling’s son-in-law assumed the pastorate of Center Street. After two years, Bro. Darling, struggling with health issues, resigned the pastorate and, after the deacons led the church for some time, welcomed Robert Perrotti on as Interim Pastor in October of 2019.
The history of Center Road Baptist is still being written. What Pastor Lee called the “Friendliest Church in Town” has a renewed mission of “Speaking the Truth in Love”! We strive to be and do those things in truth and are always excited for the opportunity of new folks to experience them.
