The group now known as The Upper Room Bible Church met in five different locations between 1972 and 1979. It has met in the old West Lawn School building, 425 W Orleans, since 1979.
The church first met in the living room of Daniel and Lora Kupferschmid, 2 1/2 miles east of Paxton. It met there for two Sundays in 1972. The church then met in the Paxton Civic Center on East Orleans and was called Community Christian Chapel. Next, it met for about 12 months in a building on the east side of Route 45 just north of the State Street Mall, after which the church met in an apartment above Dan’s Electric Service on 119 South Market — and was first known as The Upper Room Bible Church.
The first building the church actually owned was the Paxton Theater from 1975 through 1979. It ran both a school and a church in this location. The church used a smaller room for worship. The theater itself was used to show occasional first-run movies as well as Christian movies. Many years after the church had moved away from the theater, the historic building burned to the ground in 2007.
The church purchased the old West Lawn school building in 1980 and has been meeting in that location for almost 30 years. The church subsequently sold the historic older portion of the building which was built in 1902.
Pastor Kupferschmid served as pastor from 1972 until 2006 and went to be with the Lord in 2013. Kevin Heiser served for a few years as associate pastor alongside Dan, becoming senior pastor in 2007. He served until our current pastor, Dave Hohulin, came to lead on Aug 1, 2013 as the third pastor in the history of the church.
The Upper Room Bible Church currently operates as an independent non-denominational church, seating 168 people. Attendance varies between 120 and 145 people. The church has also become a regional church, with attendees coming from Paxton, Loda , Rantoul, Saybrook, Melvin, Sibley, Fisher, Elliot, Philo,and Gibson City.
Please check out our ministries on this website for information on how you can be welcomed here!
