DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Now, it was November 4th, 1894, when twenty local members of White Hall Baptist Church made their move. White Hall sat about five miles to the northwest, and those twenty souls weren't leaving the faith behind.
They were planting it somewhere new. They had help doing it right. White Hall's own pastor, J.B.
Reaves, was there, along with the Reverend J.L. Ward and the Reverend J.W. Thomas.
Three men of the cloth, twenty determined members, and a congregation was organized. Just like that, Hewitt Baptist was born. They wasted no time joining the Waco Baptist Association, and by 1895 they had a sanctuary standing right here on this ground.
Now, you build something, you put your heart into it, and you expect it to last. That 1895 church building had thirty years on it when a storm came through in 1924 and destroyed it. Gone.
But here's the thing about a congregation with roots, they don't scatter when the walls come down. They build a larger facility and they keep going. And keep going they did.
The membership grew steady enough that a new worship center went up in 1959, and then another in 1988. From twenty founding members borrowing their pastor from White Hall, to a church that has outlasted storms and outgrown its own buildings more than once. That's not just growth.
That's a congregation that means to stay.
What the marker says
This congregation was organized on November 4, 1894, by 20 local members of White Hall Baptist Church (5 mi. NW) with the help of White Hall Pastor J.B. Reaves, and the Rev. J.L. Ward and the Rev.J.W. Thomas. Hewitt Baptist joined the Waco Baptist Association and built a sanctuary here in 1895. The 1895 church building was destroyed in a 1924 storm and replaced with a larger facility. Due to steady growth in its membership new worship centers were built here in 1959 and in 1988. Hewitt Baptist Church sponsors a variety of ministries and continues its historic role in the community.