DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First Baptist Church of Smiley, down in Gonzales County. Now, every congregation worth its salt has an origin story, and this one starts not with a church at all — but with a man named George W. Colley, who in 1879 set himself up on Smiley Lake, about a mile south of where we're standing.
He built a home, a gin, and a grist mill. Practical man. But George W.
Colley apparently had more on his mind than cotton and cornmeal, because the very next year — 1880 — he arranged for a Reverend John Stringer to hold the area's first formal Baptist meeting. Now, they didn't have a building. What they had was a brush arbor — branches and timber lashed together to keep the sun off — and people came from all throughout the area to sit underneath it.
The meeting ran three weeks. Three weeks of preaching and singing and, apparently, convincing, because by the time it was over, one hundred and seventeen people had been baptized. Right there in Smiley Lake.
One hundred and seventeen souls. In a lake named for the very spot where it all began. Let that settle for a second.
Out of that revival, something took root. In 1882, the Smiley Lake Baptist Church was formally organized — thirty-four charter members strong. They erected a sanctuary.
They organized a Sunday School. A congregation with a name, a building, and a plan. By 1893, they needed something newer and bigger, and two acres came from F.
P. and M. L. Colley — the Colley name showing up again, as it does in this story.
A new sanctuary went up on that donated land, and the following year, 1894, the congregation got a new name to go with it: Smiley Baptist Church. Then comes 1906, and here's where things get a little complicated in the way only Texas church history can. Several members of Smiley Baptist Church stepped away to establish a second congregation — Calvary Baptist Church — in the new railroad town of Smiley.
Two Baptist churches now, practically neighbors, each going its own way. Smiley Baptist Church moved again in 1915, this time to a site in Smiley donated by a woman named Maggie Glover. And then — as if the story knew it had to come back together — in 1916, the Smiley and Calvary Churches reunited.
They came back as one, under the name First Baptist Church. They weren't done growing. In 1921, the congregation withdrew from the San Antonio Baptist Association and joined twelve other churches to form the Gambrell Baptist Association.
There's a certain confidence in that move — twelve churches deciding together that they'd build something of their own. Membership kept climbing, and in 1949 a new church building went up. A parsonage followed in 1962.
And through all of it — the moves, the splits, the reunions, the new buildings — the congregation kept hold of what it started with: Sunday School programs, women's group programs, Baptist instruction, and support of home and foreign missions. It began with a three-week meeting under a brush arbor and a lake full of believers. One hundred and seventeen of them, to be exact.
Some stories, friend, just have a number that stays with you.
What the marker says
George W. Colley, who established a home, gin, and grist mill on Smiley Lake (1 mile S) in 1879, arranged for the Rev. John Stringer to hold the area's first formal Baptist meeting in 1880. People from throughout the area attended the 3-week brush arbor meeting during which 117 people were baptized in Smiley Lake. Smiley Lake Baptist Church, organized in 1882 with 34 charter members, erected a sanctuary and organized a Sunday School. A new sanctuary was built in 1893 on two acres donated by F. P. and M. L. Colley. The congregation was renamed Smiley Baptist Church in 1894. In 1906 several church members established Calvary Baptist Church in the new railroad town of Smiley. In 1915 Smiley Baptist Church moved to a site in Smiley donated by Maggie Glover. The Smiley and Calvary Churches reunited as the First Baptist Church in 1916. In 1921 the congregation withdrew from the San Antonio Baptist Association and joined 12 other churches to form the Gambrell Baptist Association. Church membership grew and in 1949 a new church building was erected. A parsonage was built in 1962. The church continues to build on a tradition of Sunday School programs, women's group programs, Baptist instruction, and support of home and foreign missions.