DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The First Baptist Church of Zephyr, Brown County — this one goes back to 1886, and it starts the way a lot of good Texas stories do: around somebody's kitchen table. Specifically, the home of John J.
Driskill, where an organizational meeting was held and twelve charter members decided they were going to build something that would last. Twelve. Not a dozen more than twelve, not a congregation already swelling with hundreds — just twelve people with enough conviction to get the thing started.
Now, their first pastor was a man named J. B. Greenfield, and — here's where you've got to appreciate the honesty baked right into the historical record — he served exactly one month.
One month. The marker doesn't tell us why, and we're not going to speculate. What we do know is that J.
A. Jarrett stepped in and carried the congregation forward. By 1892, those members had raised up their first sanctuary.
A real church building, standing in Zephyr. Then 1909 came along, and with it a tornado. The marker calls it devastating, and you don't use a word like that lightly.
That storm tore into their church home, and what did the congregation do? They rebuilt it. No dramatic pause needed — they just rebuilt it.
In its early years, the church also held revivals under the Zephyr Gospel Tabernacle, gathering the faithful and keeping that flame going. And here's the line that lands the whole story: descendants of many of those original members still worship there. Twelve people around John J.
Driskill's table in 1886, and the roots they put down that day are still holding.
What the marker says
The organizational meeting for this congregation was held at the home of John J. Driskill in 1886. The twelve charter members were first led by Pastor J. B. Greenfield, who served only one month, and then by J. A. Jarrett. The Baptist fellowship erected its first sanctuary in 1892. Members rebuilt their church home following the devastating tornado of 1909. During its early history, First Baptist Church of Zephyr held revivals under the Zephyr Gospel tabernacle. Descendants of many of the early members still worship here. (1985)