Our Story

Fair Oaks Church was born in 1955 as a result of a few dedicated believers who lent themselves
to Christ's leading. In early 1956, services were conducted in a storefront building in the Fair Oaks
District of Concord. On January 26, 1956 the name Fair Oaks Baptist Church was adopted. In
July, Reverend William Barber was called as the first full time pastor and on September 13, 1956,
Fair Oaks Baptist Church was officially chartered with 37 members.

As the congregation continued to grow, a mission program was started by sending $25 a month
to the Wilfred Head family in Ethiopia and $5 a month to the Midwest Hebrew Mission. We now
support some 22 missionary units throughout the world.

On April 4, 1957 Fair Oaks purchased two and one-half acres of property on Risdon Road. To
help finance this new venture, one family from Lakeside Baptist Church in Oakland, our mother
church, took out a second mortgage on their home. There were two buildings on the property that
could be used as a chapel and Sunday school building until the new church was built. The house
was used as the sanctuary and Sunday school classes were held in the cottage, parked station
wagons, and even in a large dog house.

As the years progressed, the phenomenal increase in membership and guests ushered in the
need for a much larger facility, so plans were drawn, and work began on a new building. This
building is what is now the two-story Sunday school facility. After this first building was built, the
remainder of our campus was created in the years following.

It has been fifty years since Fair Oaks Church began. With God's presence and a multitude of
faithful believers, we will continue our mission for another fifty years and beyond.