The History of MFC 1836-2021

• 1836  On January 26, Canandaigua Baptist Church was organized with 23 members. 
• 1836  In June the church called its first pastor.  Rev Edward Hodge. 
• 1836  In December, The Baptist Church of Canandaigua voted to hold their meetings in the village of Medina.  In the winter of 1836- 1837 and the summer of 1837 meetings were held in the home of Cook Hotchkiss who served as Deacon at the time. 
• 1837 On May 30th the name of the church was changed to The Medina Baptist Church. 
• 1839 The Medina Baptist Church began meeting in the Medina school-house  
• 1844 A Methodist class was organized and a building was built.  This became known as the Medina Methodist Church. 
• 1846 A new Baptist Church building was built.  This is the building currently in use. 
• 1875 A remodel of the church was completed. 
• 1911 June 30 The 75th Anniversary of Medina Baptist was celebrated. 
• 1930  Due to the Depression, the Baptist Church and the Methodist Church could no longer function independently. Together they formed the Medina Federated Church and began to meet in the Baptist Church building. 
• 1936 100th Anniversary Celebration was hosted. 
• 1961  The basement of the church was completed and dedicated. 
• 1964  The land for the parsonage was donated by Sylvester Huff . 
• 1966 The construction on the parsonage was completed . 
• 1972 On April 16th a remodel of the sanctuary was completed. 
• 1986 The church celebrated its 150th Anniversary. 
• 1988 The new building addition was completed.  This building includes the Fellowship Hall, the Pastor’s Study, Sunday School Office and six classrooms. 
• 2003 An addition and remodel of the parsonage was completed. 
• 2007 In November ground was broke to put an addition onto the existing Fellowship Hall and construct a gymnasium.
• 2012 176th Anniversary Celebration was Hosted 
• 2012 An addition to the Sanctuary was added

During the first 50 years, the church had twenty pastors. Incomplete records show thirty-one up to the time of the federation. Following is a partial list of the pastors who have served at Medina Baptist and Medina Federated Church.  

Rev. Edward Hodge.       
1836-1838
Rev. Lauren Hotchkiss
1838-1840
Rev. Charles Bacon
1840-1842
Rev. John I. Fulton
1842-1843
Rev. A.S. Ames 
1845-1849
Peter VanWinkle
1850
Rev. U.B. Miller
1850-1853
Rev. H.P. Stillwell
1853-1857
Rev. William Pack
1857-1859
Rev S. Morland
1859
Rev. Philo Forbes
1860-1865
Rev. B.J. Boynton
1866-1869
Rev. C.P. Fesseden
1869
Rev. H.P. Eldridge 
1870-1878
Rev R.S. James
1878-1881
Rev. Issac Horton
1881
Rev. M.E. Hayne
1881-1884
Rev. A. H. Jessup
1885-1887
Rev. C.C. Willett
1887-?
Rev. Hamilton  Fraser
1905-1915
Rev. R.O. Thompson
1920
Rev Essex
1923
Joseph Richman
1924
Verle J. Carson
1936-38
Nihl Johnson
1938-1941
Walter Saxman 
1941-1944
Harry Harfst
1944-1949
Dr. R.D. Leonard
1949-1951
Robert Florean (student pastor)
1949-1951
James Simons
1951-1952
Miles Peele 
1952-1954
Ralph Cheeseborough (student pastor)
1954-1956
Larry Bentley
1956-1958
Rev. Howard Yatzek Sr.
1958-1962
Rev. Morgan Reese 
1963-1964
Charles Huber
Interim 
Rev. Gerald French
Interim
Rev. Burt Brooks
Interim
Rev. Howard Yatzek Sr.
1967-1982
Rev. Ronald Watterly
1982-1984
Rev. David Leman
1985-1993
Rev. George Hall
1993-1998
Darren Lemmon
1999-Present

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