In October of 1995, Dr. Ed Nelson, who was working in itinerant evangelism at the time, was asked by Dr. Frank Bumpus, whether he would consider starting a new church in Tucson.   Dr. Bumpus was, at the time, the Senior Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, Schaumburg, IL.  Brother Nelson agreed to come to Tucson in December of 1995.  After much prayer and consideration of the field, Pastor Nelson said he would come to Tucson only if Bethel Baptist Church, Schaumburg, would sponsor the church in Tucson as a mission.  Bethel in Tucson was a mission of Bethel in Schaumburg for one year.  Bethel Baptist Church, Tucson, was chartered a local church duly organized in Arizona on April 6, 1997.
     The Nelsons moved to Tucson and had the first service March 17, 1996 in the living room of their house.  There were 16 in attendance, six of whom were the Tim Nelson family (Pastor Nelson’s son), who lived in Tempe, AZ.  That meant there were 11 from Tucson in that first service, two of who were Pastor and Mrs. Nelson.  Bethel Baptist Church, Schaumburg, was given the church building on Escalante, and the group met in the church building on March 31, 1996.  There were 28 in attendance.  From that beginning, the group has grown to be the church it is today.  Of those first 11, there are three left – Pastor and Mrs. Nelson and one other lady.
     Bethel Baptist Church started the Shining Light Baptist Church by giving Pastor Greg Dawson a number of members in September 2000.  Bethel Baptist Church acted as a mother church for Shining Light and it became an organized Baptist church in January of 2002.  That new church now averages 75 in attendance.
     Bethel Baptist has been a strong mission-minded church.  Giving to Missions has averaged between $80,000 and $90,000 a year for the last few years.  We use a Faith Promise for Missions program, and in addition, 10% of our General Fund offerings go into our Missions program.  Our Faith Promise fiscal year is from December 1 to November 30, with a Missions Conference completing the year.
     God has blessed despite normal new church growing pains.  Bethel Baptist Church has no outstanding debt, and is seeing growth.