On February 28, 1949, this group met at the home of Jake Van Der Veen and a decision was made to move forward. A steering committee composed of John Plowman, Jake Van Der Veen and Dr. Herman Ahrenholz was elected. Arrangements were made to rent the Seventh Day Adventist Church on West Second Street for $7.00 a Sunday. The first service was conducted on March 27, 1949 by Rev. H. Blystra. Shortly after this, a Sunday School was organized with John Plowman as the first Superintendent, and a Ladies Mission Circle was set up composed of five ladies.

The services were conducted by nearby ministers, classical appointments or reading by members of the Steering Committee of the Church. During the first summer Seminarian Tymen Hoffman served as Pastor. In February 1950, Rev. Sydney Werkema arrived as home Missionary. The Werkema family lived that first summer in a cottage on Green Lake until a parsonage on East Becker was acquired in September 1950.

The Willmar Christian Reformed Church was officially organized on December 15, 1950 with 15 families and four individuals as charter members. The first consistory consisted of two Elders and two Deacons.

The desire to acquire a building site and proceed with building was expressed by various members and regular building fund offerings were begun. A Building Committee was appointed with Jake Van Der Veen being the Chairman. They held their first meeting in January 1951. During the summer of 1951 the present property was acquired and in late August construction of a basement church had begun. The first service in the basement church was held on Thanksgiving Day, 1951; a day not to be forgotten since it was the beginning of having our own place of worship. Formal dedication was held on January 9, 1952 with 28 families and 5 individuals as members. The completed basement church is pictured above.

In November 1952, our Home Missionary, Rev. Werkema, left this field of work. Our first Pastor, Candidate Kenneth Slager was ordained and installed on September 20, 1953 and ministered to us until August 18, 1957. We were without a pastor for more than two years following Pastor Slager's departure. Seminarians Albert Haan, Cornelius Korhorn, and Martin Toonstra served with us during the summer months. On September 4, 1959 Rev. Ralph Bos was installed as our second pastor. He and Mrs. Bos remained with us until August 1, 1962.

Plans were formulated and construction of the present building began in 1961. Dr. Herman Ahrenholz was appointed Chairman of the Building Committee. On Thanksgiving Day, just ten years after having the first service in our basement church, groundbreaking services for the present structure were held. Cornerstone laying ceremonies were held on March 8, 1962. The first service in our present structure was held on August 12, 1962. Membership at this time consisted of fifty families and five individuals.

Since that time the church has been served by Rev. Norman Meyer (1962-1966), Rev. Paul Ouwinga (1966-1975), Rev. Anthony Louwerse (1975-1979), Rev. Martin Toonstra (1979-1988), Rev. Ken Van De Griend (1989-1996) and Dr. Al Van Dellen (1997-2004). In 1980 the church approved of additional staff to work with the youth. Mark Manning served as our first Youth Leader until 1984. Mike Van Eps served as Director of Youth, Education, and Evangelism from 1986 to December 1989.