School Creek Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of the official marker for School Creek Baptist Church, right out of Lampasas County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way all good Texas stories do, with a creek, a schoolhouse, and a handful of determined people who showed up on a November morning ready to build something that would last. November 2, 1879, to be exact.

That was the day School Creek Baptist Church held its very first worship service. The building? A small schoolhouse sitting close to School Creek, the same stream the church was named for.

Nothing fancy. But then, the best things rarely start fancy. The Rev.

L.R. Millican was the man who organized the whole endeavor and stepped in as the church's first pastor. And he didn't do it alone.

The congregation that gathered in 1879 included Brothers Philip Smith, John W. Moore, Solan Mace, W.M. Wren, and J.I.

Scott, and Sisters C.L. Smith, S.F. Moore, D.

Mace, S.E. Wren, Harriet Holly, Rebecca Wilson, Sallie Mitchell, F.E. Scott, Wilson H.

Hurst, and Sally Hawkins. You hold that list in your mind a moment. Those are real people, real names, real Texans who planted a seed in the middle of Central Texas and trusted it would grow.

Grow it did. By 1900, plans were already taking shape for a proper church building. It was completed the very next year, in 1901, on land donated by the Philip Smith family, the same Philip Smith who'd been there from that first service.

Then, by 1920, the congregation had built a tabernacle. In 1947 they added a parsonage. In 1956, that old tabernacle was converted into an education building.

And in 2005, a multipurpose fellowship hall joined the campus. Building by building, year by year. Now here's the thread that runs through all of it: ministry.

To children, specifically. This church has poured itself into orphan homes, Sunday schools, and Vacation Bible Schools, decade after decade. Its members have organized outreach programs and sponsored youth mission trips.

Men and women from this congregation have gone on to become licensed and ordained ministers, many of them stepping into full-time mission work. Over a century after that first service in a little schoolhouse by a creek, School Creek Baptist Church is still at it, still reaching lives in Central Texas and beyond. That first November gathering had no way of knowing what they were starting.

But they showed up anyway. And that, right there, is the whole story.

What the marker says

Named for a nearby stream, this church organized in 1879 and held its first worship service on November 2 of that year. A small schoolhouse close to School Creek was the first building to house the church. The Rev. L.R. Millican served as primary organizer and first pastor of the church. Members of the congregation in 1879 included Brothers Philip Smith, John W. Moore, Solan Mace, W.M. Wren, and J.I. Scott, and Sisters C.L. Smith, S. F. Moore, D. Mace, S.E. Wren, Harriet Holly, Rebecca Wilson, Sallie Mitchell, F.E. Scott, Wilson H. Hurst and Sally Hawkins. In 1900, plans began for construction of a church building, which was completed the next year on land donated by the Philip Smith family. Members built a tabernacle by 1920 and in 1956 converted it to an education building. The church added more buildings to its campus through the years, including a parsonage in 1947 and a multipurpose fellowship hall in 2005. School Creek Baptist Church has a history of ministry to children through its involvement in orphan homes, Sunday schools and Vacation Bible Schools. Historically, the church has supported mission work with such activities as organizing outreach programs and sponsoring youth mission trips. Members of the church have become licensed and ordained ministers, with many entering full-time mission work. Over a century after its founding, the church continues to provide a positive influence on lives in the Central Texas area and beyond. (2006)