First Baptist Church of Kyle

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight out of Hays County. The First Baptist Church of Kyle got its start not in Kyle at all, but up the road at Mountain City, back in 1872. The man who stood at the front of that first congregation was the Reverend J.

C. Tally, the original pastor, and by all accounts he was tending a flock with some real fire in it. Now, how do you know a congregation means business?

Well, within two months of its founding, just two months, that church had already licensed a man named D. A. Porter to preach.

They didn't stop there either. They went on and ordained him as a minister. That's the kind of congregation that doesn't sit still and wait for things to happen.

It makes things happen. Come 1879, that same church sent twenty-six of its members out the door, not as a loss, but as a gift, demitting them to form a new church nearby. Twenty-six souls, given away on purpose, to plant something new.

That takes confidence. Then in 1881, the church packed up, moved to Kyle, and was renamed. The First Baptist Church of Kyle.

Born in Mountain City, shaped by a pastor named Tally, quick enough to raise up its own ministers, generous enough to seed a neighbor congregation, and steady enough to follow where it needed to go. Some roots don't stay where they're planted. They just keep reaching.

What the marker says

Founded at Mountain City, 1872. Original pastor: the Rev. J. C. Tally. A dynamic congregation, this church within two months of its origin licensed (and later ordained) D. A. Porter as a minister; in 1879 demitted 26 members to form church nearby; in 1881 moved here and was renamed.