First Baptist Church of Buna

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the First Baptist Church of Buna, right there in southern Jasper County. Now settle in, because this one starts with timber and ends with something that outlasted every last tree. Back in 1892, the Beaumont Lumber Company rolled into southern Jasper County and set up a logging camp.

Camps like that were rough, temporary things, built to last only as long as the trees did. But something funny happened. The following year, a post office opened, and the place started calling itself Buna.

A town was taking shape whether anybody planned it or not. Now, when the timber ran out, a lot of camps like this one just folded up and blew away. Buna didn't.

Jobs stayed. Businesses stayed. Families stayed.

And families, well, they need a place to worship. The Kirby Lumber Company, a prominent sawmill right there in town, furnished a building over in Bessmay for Baptist and Methodist services to share. That's the kind of arrangement you make when you're still figuring things out.

And the Baptists, it turns out, had been figuring things out in this area for a good while. By 1899, church minutes show they were already meeting in Buna as a congregation, and those same minutes note they'd been gathering under various names, meeting intermittently in the area, for more than four decades before that. Four decades of showing up, even when the name wasn't settled and the meeting place wasn't their own.

They shared space with the Methodist congregations all the way until 1916. Then came December 8, 1918. With around sixteen members, the Buna Missionary Baptist Church was officially founded.

Sixteen people. That's not a crowd, that's a commitment. Three years later, in 1921, those members constructed a small sanctuary with their own hands.

The church was growing, slowly but surely. In the 1940s, the Richard Lyon house on Main Street was purchased as a parsonage to house ministers, and right around that same time the congregation was officially renamed the First Baptist Church of Buna. By the mid-1940s, they added a two-story building to their campus, classrooms, a nursery, modern amenities.

They were building something meant to last. In 1955, the church moved to a three-acre plot and kept on expanding over the decades that followed. Through all of it, the Women's Missionary Union kept the congregation pointed outward, focused on missions and service.

Members traveled to other states, and to other countries, to support missionaries in the field. Back home, starting in the 1960s, the church began offering radio services so the congregation could reach folks who couldn't come through the doors. Community outreach, assistance to neighbors, participation in the annual Buna Redbud Festival.

A logging camp that was never supposed to last gave rise to a town, and that town grew a church that has now served the community and the region for more than a century. The trees are long gone. The church is still there.

What the marker says

In 1892, in southern Jasper County, Beaumont Lumber Company established a logging camp that developed into a town, with the Buna post office opening the following year. The former logging camp survived after timber ran out and many jobs and businesses stayed, requiring a place for families to worship. The Kirby Lumber Company, a prominent sawmill in town, furnished a building in Bessmay for Baptist and Methodist services. By 1899, church minutes indicate that Baptists were meeting in Buna as a church and had been calling themselves by various names and meeting intermittently in the area for more than four decades. Meeting places were still shared with Methodist congregations until 1916. On December 8, 1918, with around 16 members, the Buna Missionary Baptist Church was founded. Members of the church constructed a small sanctuary in 1921. In the 1940s, the Richard Lyon house on Main Street was purchased as a parsonage to house ministers. During this time, the church was officially renamed First Baptist Church of Buna. Membership increased and by the mid-1940s, the church added a two-story building to their campus for classrooms, a nursery and modern amenities. In 1955, the church moved to a three-acre plot and expanded over the decades. The Women's Missionary Union led the focus on missions and service for the church. Members traveled to other states and countries to support missionaries in the field. Locally, radio church services were offered beginning in the 1960s. From community outreach and assistance to participation in the annual Buna Redbud Festival, First Baptist Church of Buna has served the community and region for more than a century. (2019)