DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to honor every word. In the early spring of 1898, twenty-six members of the First Baptist Church of Oak Cliff walked out the door — not in anger, mind you, but with purpose. They were leaving to form something new: the Oak Cliff Baptist Church, staying aligned with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Twenty-six people. That's not a crowd, that's a covenant. Walter B.
Hillsman stepped up to lead that fledgling congregation, and he held the thing together until the fall of 1898, when he headed back to Baylor University to finish his studies. You've got to respect a man who knows when the classroom is calling. So the congregation looked around and chose the Reverend Joe W.
English as their next pastor. And Pastor English — well, he was the kind of man a young church needed. He led them for more than two years, and somewhere in that stretch he guided the construction of their very first chapel, right there at Jefferson and Lancaster streets in Oak Cliff.
A real building. A real home. Then between 1901 and 1904 the church cycled through three more pastors — three — before Pastor English came back for a second tour.
And if his first chapter was about establishing the church, his second was about growing it. He helped oversee the building of a second church in 1908, and he led the congregation to a new name: Memorial Baptist Church. Names matter in Texas, and this one meant something.
Then came 1912, and two names you don't take lightly entered the picture — Dr. J. B.
Gambrell and Dr. George W. Truett.
Under their guidance, the members of First Baptist Church of Oak Cliff and the members of Memorial Baptist Church joined hands and merged into a single new congregation: the Central Baptist Church of Oak Cliff. Dr. W.
A. Hewitt led that unified church from that point until 1918. And then, in 1918, a man named Dr.
Wallace Bassett was called as pastor. Now, I want you to sit with what comes next, because the numbers are something. Dr.
Bassett remained for forty-eight years. Forty-eight. He retired in 1966 at the age of eighty-one.
During those decades he led the church to change its name once more — to Cliff Temple Baptist Church, the name on this very marker. He oversaw the congregation's growth to five thousand members. He served in leadership roles with Baylor University, the Southern Baptist Annuity Board, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
And under his leadership, and the leadership of those who came after him, Cliff Temple laid what the marker calls a strong foundation for ministry and social work in Dallas' inner city. Twenty-six people left a church one spring morning in 1898. What they built eventually held five thousand souls.
That's not a small thing. That's a Texas thing.
What the marker says
In the early spring of 1898, twenty-six members of the First Baptist Church of Oak Cliff left the church to form the Oak Cliff Baptist Church to remain with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Walter B. Hillsman led the new congregation until he returned to finish his studies at Baylor University in the fall of 1898. The congregation then chose the Rev. Joe W. English as its next pastor. Pastor English led the church for more than two years and guided the construction of the congregation's first chapel at Jefferson and Lancaster streets in Oak Cliff. The church had three more pastors from 1901 until 1904 when Pastor English returned. During his second tenure he helped with the building of a second church in 1908 and led the congregation to change its name to Memorial Baptist Church. In 1912, under the guidance of Dr. J. B. Gambrell and Dr. George W. Truett, members of First Baptist Church of Oak Cliff and Memorial Baptist Church joined to form a new congregation. The unified church became the Central Baptist Church of Oak Cliff and was led by Dr. W. A. Hewitt until 1918. In 1918 Dr. Wallace Bassett was called as pastor and remained for 48 years until his retirement in 1966 at the age of 81. During his tenure he led the church to change its name to Cliff Temple Baptist Church, oversaw the church's growth to 5,000 members and served in many denominational leadership roles with Baylor University, the Southern Baptist Annuity Board and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Under Dr. Bassett's leadership and that of his successors the church laid a strong foundation for ministry and social work in Dallas' inner city. (1999)