Mount Pleasant Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, out in Comanche County. Now, picture yourself in October of 1892. No building, no steeple, no pews.

Just a brush arbor, open sky, and twenty-one people who decided that was enough to get started. On October 16th of that year, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church came into being, right there under that canopy of woven branches. That's your foundation, and it's a sturdy one.

The first pastor was F. M. Herring, and alongside him, E.

M. Moore, Jesse Cunningham, and C. C.

McCurdy made up the presbytery. Four men helping to set this thing on solid ground. Now, a church needs more than spirit.

It needs land. And a man named Will Dewitt provided exactly that, deeding the ground on November 26th, 1892. Less than six weeks after the church organized, the land question was settled.

The first building went up, and it was dedicated in May of 1893. From brush arbor to dedicated building in under a year. These twenty-one charter members meant business.

Then in 1906 a tabernacle was built. And the present church itself went up in 1913. Three structures across two decades, each one saying we're still here, we're still growin.

Now, the marker lists those twenty-one charter members by name, and they deserve to be heard. The Reverend and Mrs. Frank Herring.

The Reverend and Mrs. Jim Fagan. Mr. and Mrs.

Will Dewitt, the very man who gave the land. Mr. and Mrs. Jake Hodges.

Mr. and Mrs. John Cameron. Mr. and Mrs.

Dave Coker. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Loftis.

Mr. and Mrs. J. A.

Payne. And also Mrs. E.

B. Farmer, Beckie Leech, Green West, Cordelia McNutt, and Z. K.

Smith. Twenty-one names. Twenty-one people who gathered under a brush arbor on an October day and said, this is where we build.

Turns out, they were right.

What the marker says

Organized under a brush arbor, with 21 charter members, Oct. 16, 1892. First pastor, F. M. Herring, and E. M. Moore, Jesse Cunningham and C. C. McCurdy composed the presbytery. Will Dewitt gave land, Nov. 26, 1892, on which the first building was dedicated, May 1893. Tabernacle was built in 1906 and present church, 1913. The charter members were The Revs. and Mmes. Frank Herring and Jim Fagan; Messrs. and Mmes. Will Dewitt, Jake Hodges, John Cameron, Dave Coker, Alfred Loftis and J. A. Payne; also Mrs. E. B. Farmer, Beckie Leech, Green West, Cordelia McNutt, Z. K. Smith. (1969)