First Baptist Church of Weslaco

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can pass it along. Weslaco was a brand-new town, just two years old, when Visiting Evangelists from the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board came through and encouraged the Baptists already living in the area to organize a church. That was 1921, and those folks didn't waste any time.

They had no building yet, so they gathered where they could, inside the Stephen F. Austin School, Sunday after Sunday, until they finally moved into a place they could call their own. Now, the people who made up that early congregation weren't just filling pews.

Many of them were community leaders, vital, the marker says vital, in Weslaco's very development. So the church and the town were growing up together, each one shaping the other. And from the beginning, this congregation had its eyes set beyond the city limits.

They took up missions work, including overseas medical work, the kind that requires real commitment and real sacrifice. Closer to home, starting in 1946, the church organized four Spanish-speaking congregations right there in Weslaco. Four.

That's not a footnote, that's a legacy. And between 1938 and 1968, members were also involved in a well-baby clinic, quietly tending to the youngest and most vulnerable in their community, decade after decade. The First Baptist Church of Weslaco has been a lot of things to a lot of people over the years, a meetinghouse, a mission base, a neighbor.

And according to that marker, it's still serving as a spiritual leader in the Weslaco community today. Some institutions just refuse to stop showing up.

What the marker says

Visiting Evangelists from the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board encouraged area Baptists to organize a church in 1921, just two years after Weslaco was established. The congregation first met in the Stephen F. Austin School before moving into its own building. Many early members of First Baptist Church were community leaders who were vital in Weslaco’s development. The congregation has focused on missions, including overseas medical work and the organization of four Spanish-speaking churches in Weslaco since 1946. Between 1938 and 1968, members were also involved in a well-baby clinic. Today, the church continues to serve as a spiritual leader in the Weslaco community. (2008)