1950-2018
Sixty-Eight Years of Contending for the Faith (Jude 3)

     The Hendrickson Avenue Bible Church was founded when a group of godly men and women gathered for worship at a house on Kelsey Street in Lynbrook, New York. Pastor Walter Patrick originally of New Britian, Conneticut and later from Canarsie, Brooklyn was called to pastor the little church at Lynbrook in the early fall months of 1950.

     Walter Patrick was one of the faithful who on September 28, 1939 walked out of The Eastern Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church when it was declared to be out of existence and all of its churches to be a part of the newly formed Methodist Church. Pastors, delegates and friends representing thirty four churches walked out of that meeting and met in Scullville, New Jersey to form what would become known as the Bible Protestant Church and finally the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches.

     Pastor Patrick retired from the ministry in 1960. Howard Crist took the HABC pulpit that same year. Crist manned it until 1973 turning it over to Duane Sweet. Sweet stayed at HABC until 1985 when William Roberts took the helm.

     Then in September of 1993 George Bruns was called to minister to God's people at Lynbrook and he continues to do so to this day. In 1995 the Berean Bible Institute was begun by Pastor Bruns as a ministry of the Hendrickson Avenue Bible Church because he firmly believes that most of the so-called fundamental seminaries and Bible colleges are no longer being run by fundamentalists, but by men willing to compromise on God's Word and who are turning our young people against the solid biblical teaching they were getting at home. But above all else Pastor Bruns believes God called the local church to disciple her own people. (Matthew 28:19, 20; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Timothy 3:15)

     Today, the Hendrickson Avenue Bible Church is independent and baptistic. We require members to be born-again and baptized by immersion.