Primera Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Primera Baptist Church in Bastrop County. On March 1, 1903, Primera Iglesia Bautista organized. That date matters.

It wasn't an accident, and it wasn't the beginning of the work either. It was the culmination, the marker says, of mission work carried out by Primera Iglesia Bautista of Welder. Someone had been planting seeds long before that spring morning.

By 1907, the congregation had constructed their first church building. A roof over their faith. And then came the Reverend Paul C.

Bell. Under his leadership, a growing membership didn't just fill pews. They rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

In 1920, they opened a primary and secondary school for the area's unschooled Hispanic children. Same year, 1920, they opened an orphanage. Four years later, in 1924, they established a Baptist Bible Institute.

Now think about that for a moment. Three institutions, rooted in one congregation, serving children who had nowhere else to go, students who had no other door to walk through. And here's the part that'll stay with you: some of those orphans, some of those students, they went on to become ministers and missionaries themselves.

The work multiplied. In 1928, the congregation moved to a new building, and they kept right on going, ministering to English and Spanish-speaking residents alike. That thread, from Welder's mission work to a March morning in 1903 to schools and orphanages and a Bible institute, it never broke.

Today, Primera Baptist Church remains what the marker calls it: a beacon of light in the Bastrop community. Some things earn that title.

What the marker says

On March 1, 1903, Primera Iglesia Bautista organized as the culmination of mission work carried out by Primera Iglesia Bautista of Welder. By 1907, the congregation constructed their first church building, led by the Rev. Paul C. Bell, the growing membership was active in the community, opening a primary and secondary school for the area's unschooled Hispanic children (1920), an orphanage (1920), and a Baptist Bible Institute (1924). Some of the orphans and students later became ministers and missionaries. The congregation moved to a new building in 1928. Members have since continued to minister to English and Spanish-speaking residents of the area. Today Primera Baptist Church remains a beacon of light in the Bastrop community.