New Baptist church formed, first service to be held June 3
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Pastor David Smolinski and his wife, Julie, will meet with families during the first service of Temple Baptist Church on June 3. The church is using space at St. James Lutheran Church, 1407 N. Forest Road, to start a new mission. They are pictured with their children, clockwise from lower left, Faith, 5, Matthew, 7, Andrew, 10, Dion, 15, Sarah, 9, Elizabeth, 6, and Aaron, 2.

Now three years in the making, Temple Baptist Church will hold its first service on June 3.

Temple's pastor, David Smolinski, said he believes this will be the only Independent Baptist church in Amherst.

Independent Baptist churches are self-governing and self-supporting.

A native of Hamburg, Smolinski served in the U.S. Air Force before attending Tennessee Temple University for Bible college.

He was recently named the pastor of Temple Baptist Church, which is leasing space from St. James Lutheran Church, 1407 N. Forest Road.

The first service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 3 at that location. A Sunday School program will be held at the same time, followed by a spaghetti dinner from 3 to 4 p.m. This will also serve as a meet and greet with Smolinski, his wife, Julie, and their family.

The couple has seven children, Dion, Andrew, Sarah, Matthew, Elizabeth, Faith and Aaron.

"Temple Baptist is very family oriented ... we promote strong marriages and strong family units," he said.

Smolinski added that there was a need in Amherst for a Baptist church and with many churches closing their doors in Western New York he is encouraged by the plan to move this church forward.

Temple Baptist's largest supporter is Lighthouse Baptist Church in North Tonawanda, which Smolinski said has been thriving. He added that many of its members will volunteer at Temple Baptist as the congregation grows.

"We are in a place now where we can go out and start a new ministry in the area," he said.

The idea of another Baptist church in Western New York began three years ago. Approximately 150,000 miles and 350 churches later, the funding needed to start Temple Baptist has been completed.

"We needed funding so we went on the road to explain what we are doing, and churches agreed to support us financially," Smolinski said.

Contributing churches include, Old Time Baptist Church in Hamburg, Prospect Avenue Baptist Church in Buffalo and Cornerstone Baptist in Ransomville.

Eventually, Temple Baptist plans to erect its own building. Until then, it will use space in St. James Lutheran Church because of its location in town, including the proximity to the University at Buffalo.

"For students who want to attend church this will be accessible to them," he said.

Smolinski has been serving as missionary church planner at Lighthouse Baptist Church where his father-in-law, David Kostantino, is the pastor. For more information, call 316-9272 or 694-0535.