Clear Creek Baptist Church

Duane's take

Now, the way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Clear Creek Baptist Church. According to oral tradition, this congregation came together in 1872, organized as the Clear Creek Missionary Baptist Church by six families living in this part of east Lampasas County. Six families.

That's your foundation right there, and apparently it held. The oldest legible tombstone in the nearby cemetery is dated that same year, 1872, which tells you something about how long this ground has been in use. By 1876, the church was petitioning for membership in the Leon River Baptist Association, and the following year they sent delegates to the associational meeting.

They weren't just building a church, they were joining something larger. The Rev. Ambrose W.

Elledge served as the first pastor, and when he passed in 1884, they laid him to rest in that nearby cemetery. He is still there. Now, the congregation had been gathering on this land since the late 1870s, but it wasn't until 1889 that Joseph M. and Alice Carnes formally deeded the land at this site to the church deacons.

The sanctuary had already been standing, the deed just made it official. Sometime during the last few years of the nineteenth century, the congregation joined the newly formed Lampasas Baptist Association and grew to a membership of sixty-six, all under the leadership of the Rev. C.

C. Greer. Sixty-six souls.

Then came 1912, and the land had something to say about that. A tornado hit the sanctuary. And then, as if the tornado felt it hadn't quite made the point, a hailstorm followed.

The building took the punishment, repairs were made, and somehow it kept standing for nearly three more decades, until 1940, when the congregation finally decided it was time to rebuild. Over the years, for revivals, they used a brush arbor first, and then later an open air tabernacle, the kind of place where a summer evening sermon could carry clean across the pasture. And for baptisms, the congregation traveled to the Lampasas River, five miles south, and continued doing so until 1975.

More than a century of faith, rooted in six families, weathered by wind and hail, fed by a river five miles down the road. That's a long time to keep the doors open.

What the marker says

According to oral tradition, this congregation was organized in 1872 as the Clear Creek Missionary Baptist Church by six families who resided in this area of east Lampasas County. The church petitioned for membership in the Leon River Baptist Association in 1876 and sent delegates to the associational meeting the following year. The Rev. Ambrose W. Elledge (d. 1884) served as first pastor and is buried in the nearby cemetery. In 1889 Joseph M. and Alice Carnes formally deeded land at this site to the church deacons, although a sanctuary had been here since the late 1870s. During the last few years of the 19th century, the congregation joined the newly formed Lampasas Baptist Association and grew to a membership of 66 under the leadership of The Rev. C. C. Greer. In 1912, a tornado and then a hailstorm caused damage to the sanctuary, but repairs sufficed to keep the building standing until the decision to rebuild was made in 1940. Over the years a brush arbor and later an open air tabernacle were used for revivals. Baptisms were held in the Lampasas River (5 mi. S) until 1975. The oldest legible tombstone in the nearby church cemetery is dated 1872.