Second Baptist Church was established in 1910 by a small group of African American families, who wanted to worship and practice their faith in Santa Barbara, California. After the first worship service was held in the living room of one of the groups worshipers, Rev. H.B. Thomas, within a short period of time, became the first pastor. He served as pastor for almost forty years and during that period of time he performed as the organist, Sunday School Superintendent, and teacher. The church was initially named Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, but was later renamed Second Baptist Church on April 28, 1924. Rev. H.B. Thomas, was also an accomplished architect, he was primarily responsible for rebuilding the church in 1925 following an earthquake, that demolished the church. As a civil rights activist, he worked tirelessly to helped many in the community to prevail in lawsuits involving civil rights and property issues.

For the past five years, under the faithful leadership of Pastor Wallace K. Shepherd, Jr., Second Baptist is effectively commitment to serve Santa Barbara’s communities. Pastor Shepherd has create an outreach programs – supplying students with back to school materials, scholarships, an annual picnic/carnivals in which games, and prizes are given to all children who attended. Pastor Shepherd has acted as Chairperson on the Board for the Dr. Martin Luther King annual celebration, along with Second Baptist Church sponsoring the event concurrently for the past three years. In 2006, he reinstated the food distribution program and established a food pantry. He was instrumental with the church’s participation in the Environmental Coalition of Faith Organizations (ECOFaith). ECOFaith’s mission is to create a green environment with fossil free energy by 2033 – Second Baptist is committed to becoming green, we are educating our congregation, our community, to think green in our personal lives. We look to the future with plans to create a six unit senior residence on church property at 1032 East Mason Street, Santa Barbara.