Summit Woods Baptist Church began on March 1, 1998, with a worship service in the Blue River Kansas City Baptist Association Building with Dr. Mark DeVine preaching. By the next week, the new church had secured a building to call home near the Pappi’s Pizza restaurant on O’Brien Road. Dr. Mark DeVine, a theology professor from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, agreed to serve as the first interim pastor and continued in this position until he and his family became missionaries.

During the first year of ministry, the church began to organize many different ministries and established a pastor search committee to seek God’s leadership in calling their first pastor. The membership served faithfully to establish a strong foundation for the children and youth ministries. From Vacation Bible School to Youth Camp to ministry projects in the community, Summit Woods had a desire to serve the Lord and make Him known! It was also during this year that the 10 acre tract off of 50 Highway was purchased for future development.

On January 31, 1999, Ryan Bowman accepted the call to serve as pastor. After serving for several years as an associate pastor and youth minister, this call began his ministry as pastor. It was a unique beginning as Summit Woods was his first pastorate, and he was the first pastor of Summit Woods!

Shortly after the church’s first anniversary, Summit Woods relocated to a new building to facilitate the growth in membership and to accommodate the church’s growing ministries. The next location was inside a brand new warehouse on the corner of Broadway & Bailey, not far from the present location of the Hawk’s Ridge subdivision and the Home Depot. Summit Woods was beginning to be fondly referred to as “the church in a warehouse!” It was also during this time that the vision statement to “Exalt the King & Extend the Kingdom!” was embraced by the membership.

At the beginning of 2002, it was announced that the 10 acres off of 50 Highway had been completely paid off! The church’s land & building committee continued their work with an architect and made plans for the ground-breaking of the new permanent facility. While the plans for construction were underway, the ministries of Summit Woods continue to develop and new ministries such as AWANA for children were begun. Even though the warehouse had its limitations, it also spurred some unique events. For example, since the warehouse was not equipped with a baptistery, many lakeside baptism services were held during the summer months. As the new building was erected, there were countless workdays for the folks of Summit Woods to take part in the construction process. The eagerness of the body to take part in the construction was incredible as it served to strengthen the fellowship and to demonstrate their commitment to establishing this church in Lee’s Summit.

On the first Sunday of 2004, Summit Woods worshipped in the brand new facility on 50 Highway! On a cold and icy morning, the members gathered for a special time to celebrate God’s faithfulness and to move forward in the next leg of their journey together. The people of Summit Woods have been honored to serve the Lord in such a wonderful city as Lee’s Summit, Missouri. It is with great enthusiasm that they look ahead to see how God intends to use them to “Exalt the King & Extend the Kingdom” in this community and around the world.