Central Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Central Baptist Church in Panola County. Now settle in, because this is a story about seventeen people who showed up one September morning and built something that outlasted every doubt they ever faced. On September 26, 1901, Central Baptist Church was organized right there in Carthage, Texas.

Seventeen members. That's all. Seventeen souls gathered under the leadership of the Reverend H.

E. Harris, and among them you had the Harris, Butler, Comer, Gillaspie, Kirkley, Collins, Nelson, Neal, and Bowman families. Folks who knew each other, who were willing to put their names on something that didn't exist yet.

Now, they didn't waste any time feeling their way around. Very quickly, that early congregation formed a Sunday school and a Ladies Aid Society. And before the year was even out, they had invited a man named J.

M. Wright to serve as their first pastor. Seventeen people, two organizations, one pastor, and a whole lot of borrowed space, because Central Baptist held its worship services and meetings in rented space for a good while.

It wasn't until 1911 that their first sanctuary was completed. Those early years carried financial hardships along with the faith. That's the honest truth of it.

But congregations that survive hardship tend to grow deep roots, and by the 1940s, Central Baptist had grown large enough to begin planning an entirely new building. That building was completed in 1949, and it was no small thing. A four-hundred-and-fifty-seat auditorium.

It served the congregation all the way until 1987, when an even larger building was constructed. Think about that arc from rented rooms to a building that seated four hundred and fifty, to something larger still. And growth like that has a way of spilling over.

Out of its own growth, Central Baptist Church sponsored a mission congregation right there in Carthage, and that congregation became Southside Baptist Church. Members have also reached into mission projects both inside and outside of Texas. Education, outreach, music, worship.

The programs and ministries have kept on developing through the years, carrying forward the ideals and traditions of those original seventeen. Seventeen people walked into a room on a September day in 1901, and what they started is still going.

What the marker says

Organized with 17 members on September 26, 1901, Central Baptist has been a significant part of Carthage's religious and cultural heritage through the years. Formed under the leadership of the Rev. H. E. Harris, the early congregation included members of the Harris, Butler, Comer, Gillaspie, Kirkley, Collins, Nelson, Neal and Bowman families. They very quickly formed a Sunday school and a Ladies Aid Society, and by the end of the year had invited J. M. Wright to be their first pastor. Central Baptist Church held its worship services and other meetings in rented space until its first sanctuary was completed in 1911. Although the congregation struggled with financial hardships in its early years, by the 1940s, membership was large enough to initiate plans for the construction of a new building. Completed in 1949, it contained a 450-seat auditorium and served until 1987, when an even larger building was constructed. Out of its own growth, Central Baptist Church sponsored a mission congregation in Carthage, which became Southside Baptist Church. Members have participated in other mission projects, both in and outside of Texas. Throughout its history, the congregation has developed programs and ministries of education, outreach, music and worship, as it continues to uphold the ideals and traditions of its founders. (2001)