First Baptist Church Of Cleburne

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back in 1868, a Baptist missionary preacher by the name of W. A.

Mason rode into Cleburne, the new Johnson County seat, and held himself a revival. Now, a revival is one thing. But Mason wasn't just passing through.

On May 5 of that very year, he formally organized the First Baptist Church of Cleburne with sixteen members. Sixteen souls, and they were just gettin' started. Mason stayed on as pastor himself until 1869, when the Reverend J.

R. Clarke arrived and took the reins. Clarke wasn't in a hurry; he settled in for an eleven-year pastorate.

And during those years, the congregation did something that separates the dreamers from the doers: they purchased property and put up their first building. Then comes 1893, and the Reverend Doctor George W. Baines, Jr., accepted the call to serve as pastor.

Under his leadership, the church didn't just tend to its own flock; it went out and founded three new Baptist congregations. Three. That's a church that's thinkin' beyond its own four walls.

By the time the Reverend J. A. Hendricks was serving as pastor, the congregation had grown enough that they needed a whole new building to hold everyone.

That building was completed in 1901, right here on this very site. More facilities followed: an education building, expanded ministries, church programs spreading out like roots looking for water. Then, along the way, they found the sanctuary was in poor repair, and in 1941 a new auditorium was constructed.

From sixteen members on a May afternoon in 1868 to a congregation still standin', still reaching into the community and out into the mission field overseas, that's not just a church history. That's a long, unbroken line of people deciding, generation after generation, that the work isn't finished yet.

What the marker says

First Baptist Church Of Cleburne Baptist missionary preacher W. A. Mason held a revival in the new Johnson County Seat of Cleburne in 1868 and on May 5 of that year formally organized the First Baptist Church with 16 members. Mason stayed on as pastor of the new congregation until the Rev. J. R. Clarke arrived in 1869 to begin an 11-year pastorate. During his tenure, the congregation purchased property and constructed its first building. In 1893, the Rev. Dr. George W. Baines, Jr., accepted the call to serve as pastor, and he led the church to found three new Baptist congregations. A new building was completed in 1901 on this site during the pastorate of the Rev. J. A. Hendricks to accommodate the growing congregation. Additional facilities, including an education building, were established to house the expanding ministries and church programs. After the sanctuary was found to be in poor repair, a new auditorium was constructed in 1941. Throughout its history, the First Baptist Church of Cleburne has accomplished significant work in the mission field, both in the community and overseas. A noteworthy part of the religious and cultural history of Cleburne, the congregation continues to uphold the ideals and traditions of its founders. (2002)