Longbranch is unique in many ways. It is unique in its conception and objectives. It was birthed as a part of the Mission’s Ministry of First Baptist of Oak Cliff. As a matter of fact, it was one of 22 mission points established by FBOC. It was birthed with the commitment to be a different kind of church. It would be contemporary in its worship style and casual in dress. Its main objective would be to reach out to people who are looking for a more informal and contemporary type of music and worship style. It would seek to reach a group of people that the traditional church was not reaching. The church would put an emphasis on developing lay leadership and involving them in the ministry of the church and its committee structure. It would be a mission minded church with a kingdom view.

At the time the mission was launched, Dr. Herbert Pedersen, having been the former pastor of F.B.O.C. and at the time the Director of the Mission’s Division of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, was asked by the Missions Development Council of F.B.O.C. to give leadership to the new work. The work was started by asking interested members of F.B.O.C. and other people with the desire to be a part of a work such as this if they would like to participate on the start-up team for the new mission church. The beginning group of about 14 people met a Dr. Pedersen’s home. This group grew in number and began to meet at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Encampment. The congregation grew in number and was constituted into the LakeRidge Chapel Baptist Church in August of 1993 with 37 charter members. The church continued to meet at Mt. Lebanon for about three years. Several attempts were made to find a permanent location and all failed. As a result, many of the people felt that the church had no future and left to find other opportunities for spiritual growth. The church was left with about 20 to 25 active members who remained committed to the new congregation.

It was not long until Dr. Pedersen located an area in Ellis County in need of a congregation. He took the location committee to look at the area. They came upon a tract of land that was across from a newly constructed and unnamed elementary school. All felt a sense of God’s direction in leading the committee to the location. The possibility of securing the land across F.M. 1387 was investigated by Dr. Pedersen. The land was not listed for sale at the time. Roy and Jean Shipley were the owners. They graciously consented to meet with a delegation to consider the sale of five or six acres to the church. Terms of the sale were agreed upon, and the church purchased the initial five acres with one additional acre donated by the Shipleys.

The name of the church was changed to Longbranch Community Baptist Church. Planning for the utilization of the property began immediately. Within a few short months, a ground breaking ceremony took place and construction began immediately. During the construction of the new facility, the church met on the end of the property in a mobile unit. New members began to come and join and the numbers increased. By the time the church entered the new building, the attendance was averaging about 40 per Sunday. Then, rapid growth began to take place. This growth has continued, and the church has just added additional Sunday School space with the addition of the "Village".

In January of 2001, Dr. Pedersen was brought on as the first full time Pastor of Longbranch Community Baptist Church. He began to work on the space issue at hand. The "Village" was a concept developed by Dr. Pedersen to maximize the Sunday School space and accommodate more people in worship with the addition of a second worship service.

Since these changes were made, the highest attendance has been 425. The church currently averages close to 300 each Sunday in the new Phase II Multi-Purpose Worship Center. This facility provides a gymnasium along with worship capabilities for about 800. It will provide new preschool and children’s education space as well as a large commercial kitchen for church meals and fellowships. The Gym can be transformed and used for worship, AWANAS, fellowships and athletic events.