First Baptist Church of Melissa

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, some things in this world start small and grow into something nobody quite expected. The congregation that would one day become the First Baptist Church of Melissa is one of those things.

It began on October 18, 1884, organized as the Melissa Baptist Church of Christ. Twenty-two charter members. That's it.

Twenty-two people who showed up and said, we're doing this. Levi Dunn served as the first pastor, and for a good long while, the fellowship gathered just once a month. Once a month, they'd come together, then go back to the business of living.

That arrangement held for fourteen years. Then, in 1898, they stepped it up; twice monthly services. Progress, steady and unhurried, the way deep roots tend to grow.

But here's where the story takes a turn, and it's the kind of turn you feel in your chest. In 1921, a tornado came through and destroyed the original church building. Just like that: gone.

Decades of worship, of gathering, of community, reduced to wreckage. Some congregations don't come back from something like that. This one did.

By 1924, they had erected a new sanctuary. Three years, and they were standing again. Weekly worship services came in 1948, and in 1952 the congregation took the name it still carries: the First Baptist Church of Melissa.

From twenty-two people meeting once a month to a congregation that outlasted a tornado and kept right on going. That's not just a church. That's a community holding itself together through everything the years could throw at it.

What the marker says

Organized as the Melissa Baptist Church of Christ on Oct. 18, 1884, this congregation began with 22 charter members. Levi Dunn served as first pastor. The fellowship met once a month until 1898, when services began to be held twice monthly. Weekly worship services began in 1948. A 1921 tornado destroyed the original church building, but by 1924 the congregation had erected a new sanctuary. Known since 1952 as the First Baptist Church of Melissa, the congregation has provided service and leadership to the community throughout its history.** (1984)***