Wealthy Park Baptist Church Records have been divided into four series: CHURCH ADMINISTRATION; DAVID OTIS FULLER FILES; MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE; and PHOTOGRAPHS. The records document a wide variety of church activities, Reverend David Otis Fuller's career, and the experiences of missionaries who were sponsored by the church.
Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan began as a Sunday school mission of the Fountain Street Baptist Church in 1875, and officially organized as a separate church in 1886. From a founding group of 19 members, within 20 years the church grew to a membership of 350 through active evangelism in the surrounding southeast Grand Rapids neighborhood. The church was, and continues to be, a bastion of Baptist fundamentalism.
In 1909 Rev. Oliver W. Van Osdel was installed as Wealthy Street's eighth pastor. Under his direction a major building campaign took place; the church was designed to be a neighborhood gathering place, and had the appearance of a school or community center rather than a traditional church. The new building opened in 1917, the same year that Van Osdel led Wealthy Street and 13 other churches away from the "modernist" local Baptist Association to form the fundamentalist Grand River Valley Baptist Association. Wealthy Street took on a key role nationally among fundamentalists as well, first with the Baptist Bible Union [BBU], and later with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches [GARBC].
Saving souls and promoting the Bible as the unerring Word of God have always been at the heart of Wealthy Street's mission. At its high point in 1954, the church had 1,717 members and supported 38 missionaries around the world. In addition to Sunday schools, church groups and a neighborhood visitor program, Wealthy Street also started the Children's Bible Hour radio program in 1942; the Michigan Christian Home for the elderly in 1959; and its evening Bible institute, which began in 1941, grew into the Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary.
Rev. Van Osdel retired from the pulpit in 1934, and was succeeded by Rev. David Otis Fuller, who was Wealthy Street's pastor for the next 40 years. Fuller was a man of strong fundamentalist convictions, widely known for his uncompromising beliefs and fiery sermons.
By the early 1970s, church membership was declining, due partly to an aging congregation, and also to changes in the surrounding neighborhood, as many Wealthy Street parishioners moved out to the suburbs. The decision to move out of the city was controversial, but in 1988 the church moved into a new $2.5 million complex in suburban Grand Rapids, and changed its name to Wealthy Park Baptist Church. By the early 1990s the church was supporting 50 missionaries, and had 825 members.
