New Hope Baptist Church #3

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Thirty people. That's where this story starts.

Thirty former members of the Macedonia Baptist Church, out in the rural LaCasa community of Stephens County, who decided they had something new to build. In 1893, they organized the New Hope Baptist Church Number Three, and they called The Reverend C.J. McDonald to lead them as their first pastor.

Thirty people and a vision. That's enough to start something that lasts. And this one lasted.

For a while, the young congregation shared facilities with their parent church, Macedonia. Neighborly, practical, the way folks out in the country tend to handle things. But by 1899, they were ready to stand on their own ground, literally.

They acquired two acres from J.C. and Laura Bargsley, and on that land they built themselves a sanctuary. Their own place. Their own walls.

Then 1902 came along. The sanctuary was destroyed by fire. Now, the marker doesn't linger on that loss, and neither should we, but let's not rush past it either.

They had built that place with their own hands and their own hope, and fire took it. What the marker tells us next, though, is the part worth sittin' with. They replaced it.

A new building went up, and the congregation kept on. For decades, members gathered once a month, the rhythm of rural church life, faithful and steady. That continued all the way until 1948, when they called a full-time pastor for the first time.

And then, in 1993, one hundred years after those thirty souls walked out of Macedonia and started somethin' new, the congregation of New Hope Baptist Church Number Three celebrated a full century of service to the LaCasa community. Thirty people in 1893. A fire they didn't let stop them.

A hundred years of showing up. That's the marker, and that's the story.

What the marker says

Thirty former members of the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church organized the New Hope Baptist Church #3 in 1893 with The Rev. C.J. McDonald serving as its first pastor. The congregation shared facilities with its parent church until 1899 when they built a sanctuary on two acres acquired from J.C. and Laura Bargsley. The sanctuary was destroyed by fire in 1902 and replaced by a new building. Church members met once a month until 1948 when a full-time pastor was called. In 1993 the congregation celebrated its 100th year of service to the rural LaCasa community.