First Baptist Church of Stockdale

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, friends. The First Baptist Church of Stockdale, Wilson County, Texas. Pull over and listen a minute, because this one's been a long time in the making.

A very long time. We're talkin' about a congregation that has been meetin', movin', rebuildin', and growin' since eighteen seventy-four. That's the year the Stockdale Baptists organized their church, and they did it in a picket building.

Not a grand sanctuary. A picket building. The Rev.

L. S. Cox was their first pastor, and those early members gathered where they could, the picket building, a mill house, a schoolhouse.

Wherever there was room and a roof, that's where they worshipped. Now, by eighteen eighty-five, under Pastor E. Norwood, this congregation had grown determined enough to erect its first real church building.

A proper house of worship. They must have been proud. And then, just one year later, in eighteen eighty-six, a storm came through and damaged it.

Just like that. So where did they hold services while the church was being rebuilt? A cotton warehouse.

You heard me right. A cotton warehouse. That is a congregation that does not quit.

They kept going, kept building, kept showing up. By nineteen ten, while the Rev. J.

A. Morse was pastor, the congregation bought the present site and raised their third sanctuary. Third one.

Each one a little harder won than the last. Then, under the leadership of the Rev. Charles Bowes, the present building was completed in nineteen fifty-three.

The current parsonage came along in nineteen sixty-six, erected on the very site of that original eighteen eighty-five church building, during the pastorate of the Rev. Charles Young. There's something quietly remarkable about that.

The new standing where the storm-damaged old once stood. But here's what the marker wants you to understand about this church: it was never just lookin' inward. In nineteen sixteen, the congregation began to sponsor a Mexican mission.

They erected a mission hall in nineteen nineteen, and the present mission church was built in nineteen sixty-four, during the pastorate of the Rev. Kenneth Wellman. That's nearly five decades of mission work, growin' right alongside the mother church.

And over the course of that century, this congregation ordained ministers of their own, one right after another. The Rev. Marshall Smith in nineteen eighteen.

The Rev. Celestino Grasciotti in nineteen twenty-four. The Rev.

Bryan Teague in nineteen twenty-eight. The Rev. Jesse Jasso, ordained through the mission, in nineteen sixty-two.

The Rev. Antonio Del Carmen in nineteen seventy. And the Rev.

Crus Casarez in nineteen seventy-three. Six ministers shaped and sent out from one church in one small Texas town. The marker closes by noting that stewardship and enrollment have grown during the century, and that in nineteen seventy-four, the Rev.

John Hallum is the present pastor. A picket building in eighteen seventy-four. A storm.

A cotton warehouse. A mission. Six ordained ministers.

And still going. That right there is the whole story of the First Baptist Church of Stockdale, and it didn't need any embellishing from me.

What the marker says

Stockdale Baptists organized their church in 1874 in a picket building. They met there or in a mill house or schoolhouse for years. The Rev. L. S. Cox was the first pastor. In 1885, under Pastor E. Norwood. The congregation erected its first church building, but this soon (1886) was damaged in a storm. Services were held in a cotton warehouse while the church was being rebuilt. In 1910, while The Rev. J. A. Morse was pastor, present site was bought and the third sanctuary built. Under leadership of The Rev. Charles Bowes, the present building was completed in 1953. The Rev. Charles Young was pastor (1966) when current parsonage was erected on site of the 1885 church. Stewardship and enrolment have grown during the century. The congregation began in 1916 to sponsor a Mexican mission, erecting a mission hall in 1919. Present mission church was built in 1964, during the pastorate of The Rev. Kenneth Wellman. The congregation has ordained several ministers: The Rev. Marshall Smith (1918), the Rev. Celestino Grasciotti (1924), the Rev. Bryan Teague (1928), the Rev. Jesse Jasso (in the mission, 1962), the Rev. Antonio Del Carmen (1970), and the Rev. Crus Casarez (1973). The Rev. John Hallum is the present pastor. (1974)