DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna pass it right along to you. Nine members. That's all it took.
Nine people, and the Lufkin Baptist Church was chartered and ready to meet the world. Now, the world in this case came rolling in on iron rails, because it was the arrival of those rail lines in the early 1880s that got things moving. The town of Lufkin was just finding its footing, and right there alongside it, this congregation was finding its voice.
They started holding worship services not long after those trains first rumbled through, and from that modest beginning, something lasting took root. The Houston, East and West Texas Railroad donated the land at this very site, deeding it over to three church trustees: Joseph Kerr, E. H.
F. McMullen, and W. L.
Denman. Three names worth remembering, because without them holding that trust, there's no telling how the story unfolds. The congregation worshipped and waited, and then in 1893, during the pastorate of the Reverend W.
C. Manning, they built their first sanctuary. A real building.
A place that said, we're here, and we're staying. The church went on to become a leader in mission development and in the support of Christian education, and the marker says it plainly: the First Baptist Church has played an important role in the growth of Lufkin since the earliest days of the town. Nine members.
One donated lot. One reverend steady at the helm. Sometimes that's all a town needs to find its foundation.
What the marker says
Chartered with nine members, the Lufkin Baptist Church began conducting worship services soon after rail lines reached the townsite in the early 1880s. The Houston, East & West Texas Railroad donated land at this site to Joseph Kerr, E. H. F. McMullen, and W. L. Denman, church trustees. The first sanctuary was built in 1893, during the pastorate of the Rev. W. C. Manning. A leader in mission development and in the support of Christian education, the First Baptist Church has played an important role in the growth of Lufkin since the earliest days of the town. (1985)