First Baptist Church of Raymondville

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the words on the official marker for the First Baptist Church of Raymondville. Here's the story it tells. Now, every congregation worth its salt has a beginning, and this one starts not in a church at all, but in a two-story home on 7th Street.

The year was 1907, and the folks who would eventually become the First Baptist Church of Raymondville were sharing that house with other denominations, holding services the best way they knew how. No steeple, no pews, just neighbors under one roof making do. Seven years of that kind of determination, and by 1914, the First Baptist Church was officially organized.

The members didn't stop there. They built a wooden structure right here on this site, and the Reverend S. F.

Baucum and the Reverend E. L. Phipps were appointed ministers to lead the flock.

The years kept rolling. The Sunday School got itself organized in 1921. Then in 1922, two more pillars went up: the Training Union and the Woman's Missionary Union.

One year after another, this congregation was building something, layering in programs the way you'd add rooms to a house. But here's what really sets this story apart. Starting in 1927, and again in 1936, and once more in 1938, the First Baptist Church established missions specifically to serve area Hispanic and African American citizens.

That's a congregation looking past its own walls, three separate times over eleven years, reaching out to the broader community around it. In the soil of South Texas, that meant something. Then came 1944, and the ground breaking ceremony for a brand new sanctuary.

The congregation waited, worked, and watched. And on May 15, 1949, they held the first worship service in that new facility. That date was worth keeping.

The giving didn't slow down. In 1953, First Baptist Church members established a mission that would grow into the Wood Avenue Baptist Church. That church would later merge back with the founding congregation, which is its own kind of story, a branch finding its way home.

And then, on November 13, 1959, the church's voice carried even further when a Sunday morning radio ministry began broadcasting. Worship, education, outreach. Missions in three different decades.

A wooden building, then a proper sanctuary. A radio signal reaching out across the airwaves. The First Baptist Church of Raymondville has been at it since that two-story home on 7th Street, and the marker on this site makes sure nobody forgets it.

What the marker says

This congregation traces its history to 1907, when services were held in a two-story home on 7th Street shared with other denominations. The First Baptist Church was officially organized in 1914. The members built a wooden structure on this site, and the Rev. S. F. Baucum and the Rev. E. L. Phipps were appointed ministers. The Sunday School was organized in 1921; Training Union and the Woman's Missionary Union were begun in 1922. Missionary programs were a focus for the First Baptist Church congregation, which established missions in 1927, 1936, and 1938 to serve area Hispanic and African American citizens. A ground breaking ceremony for a new sanctuary was held in 1944, and the first worship service was hald in the new facility on May 15, 1949. In 1953, First Baptist Church members established a mission which became the Wood Avenue Baptist Church; it later merged with the founding congregation. A Sunday morning radio ministry was begun on November 13, 1959. Throughout its history, the First Baptist Church of Raymondville has served the community with a variety of worship, educational, and outreach programs. (1992)