Cadiz Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Cadiz Baptist Church, out in Bee County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a ways. August 12, 1877.

Thirty-two charter members gathered together and organized what they called Lapara Baptist Church. Thirty-two people. And where did they hold services in those early days?

Not in any fine building, I'll tell you that. They gathered under a brush arbor, just a canopy of cut branches between them and the Texas sky, and later in a schoolhouse. Simple as it gets.

But a congregation with that kind of grit doesn't stay under a brush arbor forever. Before long, they erected a proper sanctuary, right there on Lapara Creek. Now here's where the story takes a turn.

Come 1920, that building didn't just sit still. The whole thing was moved, relocated to a new site, and when it arrived, the congregation took a new name to match the new place: Cadiz Baptist Church, named for the Cadiz settlement. A new address, a new name, and a community still growing.

And grow it did. The facility was enlarged to accommodate all those new faces coming through the doors. By 1960, the wider world had taken notice.

The congregation won the Rural Church of the Year award. That's not a thing a church earns by accident. And it didn't stop there.

In the years that followed, Cadiz Baptist reached beyond its own walls, aiding disaster victims, supporting ministerial students, and backing Christian crusades. From a brush arbor on Lapara Creek to a Rural Church of the Year. Thirty-two people planted something in 1877 that just kept on growing.

What the marker says

This congregation, orginally known as Lapara Baptist Church, was organized on Aug. 12, 1877, by 32 charter members. Services were held under a brush arbor and in a schoolhouse before a sanctuary was erected on Lapara Creek. The building was moved here in 1920, and the church was renamed for the Cadiz settlement. The facility later was enlarged to accommodate the growing church. In 1960 the congregation won the Rural Church of the Year award. In recent years the church has aided disaster victims and supported ministerial students and Christian crusades. (1983)