Heritage Baptist Church - Manchester, New Hampshire

Below is just a brief summary of our history so far.

big dreams

Heritage Baptist Church was born almost twenty years ago when Paul & Sandy Schultz relocated from Indiana to plant a church in the Manchester area. They were soon joined by a small, dedicated core of Christian families who invested their lives (and their life savings!) into the new church.

The vision that God gave them grew, and in 2003, the church was averaging 110 people in services.

In November 2003, Pastor Paul felt he had met the need God had led him to Manchester to do. It was time to hand the church off to someone who would lead the church to the next level. With a sad heart, Pastor Paul resigned from HBC and took a sabbatical as he considered what God wanted him to do next. After two years of lay ministry, Pastor Paul accepted the pastorate of Faith Bible Church of Chestertown, New York, where he ministers today.

rough waters

After Pastor Paul resigned, the church faced a difficult year. The property which we had rented for several years was suddenly unavailable. A number of other key families were led to other congregations. The church moved to temporary facilities at a hotel on the west side of the city while a pastoral search committee looked for HBC’s next pastor.

Ultimately, the congregation leased storefront space at 21 Londonderry Turnpike in Hooksett. The church spent a large portion of our building fund to renovate these temporary facilities and create an adequate worship space.

On August 8, without a pastor, HBC met for the first time in their new facility. With the deacons preaching, leading worship, and cleaning the toilets, HBC pressed on.

new dreams

On November 21, 2004, the congregation called Erik DiVietro as our pastor. Pastor Erik had served as the associate pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Litchfield, NH, and he was in the middle of planting another church in Manchester when the opportunity to lead HBC arose.

The planting team joined Pastor Erik at HBC, and they were soon integrated as a single body. The church has enjoyed stable growth over the past two years and has maxed out our current facilities.

Pastor Erik, his wife Nichole and their daughter Ariel have been welcome additions to our history. - Truth be told, Ariel has got a pretty extensive chapter all for herself and does not want to share it with anyone! -

What next?

Your guess is as good as ours! Pastor Erik has cast a vision for the next ten years at HBC, including either purchasing or building our own facility and birthing new churches in our region. In reality, our future is in God’s hands - who better?