New Hope Baptist Church

Duane's take

Now, this one comes straight off the official marker, and I'm gonna tell it to you just the way it was recorded. Pull up a chair around that campfire, because this story's got more names than a Texas family reunion, and every single one of 'em matters. This is the story of New Hope Baptist Church, out here in Wood County.

It starts, as so many good stories do, long before anybody called it by the name you see today. Way back in 1864, a fellowship was planted here under the name Baptist Church of Christ. Simple enough.

But churches, like rivers, have a way of findin' new courses. By 1890, the members had reorganized. They gathered at a place called Greer's Neighborhood, which by now you'd know as the Golden Rule community, sitting about two miles to the northwest.

And when they came back together, they came back with a new name: Stephen's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. That name wasn't picked at random. It honored a man named Stephen Kelley, a church elder who had died the previous year.

So right there in the name, you've got a congregation carryin' their grief and their gratitude forward at the same time. That is a thing worth noticin'. Then came 1902, and the congregation built a sanctuary, a proper house of worship, right on the banks of a stream called Black Branch.

And Black Branch wasn't just a pretty setting. It sat near New Hope Cemetery, about three quarters of a mile to the south, and those waters served as the place for baptismal services. So that little stream was doin' some serious spiritual work.

Now, a church that's been reorganized once can reorganize again, and in 1916, this fellowship was renamed New Hope Baptist. The following year, 1917, the congregation moved to the present location, the very ground you might be standin' on right now. From 1864 to a new name, a new stream, a new home, and a name that honors both the living and the gone.

That's not just a church history. That's a community holdin' on.

What the marker says

This fellowship was started as a Baptist Church of Christ in 1864. Members reorganized at Greer's Neighborhood, now Golden Rule community (2 mi. NW), in 1890 as Stephen's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. The new name honored Stephen Kelley, a church elder who had died the previous year. A sanctuary was built in 1902 on the banks of Black Branch, a stream near New Hope Cemetery (3/4 mi. S) used for baptismal services. The church was renamed New Hope Baptist in 1916 and the congregation moved to the present location the following year. (1980)