Heritage Baptist Church presently owns the original First Baptist Church of Arcadia building. This structure was completed in 1909 and sold to the City of Arcadia in 1978. First Baptist moved to their new facility one mile north and took the church bell and stained glass windows with them.
In 1980, Heritage Baptist Church, under the leadership at that time of Pastor Bob Marshall, bought the building from the City for $50,000. The mortgage was paid off under the leadership at that time of Pastor Thomas Kickerbocker in 2000.
Heritage Baptist Church began in the mid-1970s in Pastor Jack Riffe’s home on Whispering Pines Street. It later moved, under Pastor Jack Wray leadership to the Garden Club and changed its name to Morningside Baptist Church. Other pastors have included David Greenwood, Bud Gibbs, and Thomas Knickerbocker.
Thomas Knickerbocker resigned from the pastorate to go into missions work with HELP ministries. David Bedell, who was associate pastor at the time of his resignation, was voted by the congregation to be the next pastor in 2012. He has served as senior church pastor since that time.