The First Baptist Church of Lexington

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I tell it to you. Way back in January of 1855, a preacher named Reverend E. E.

Lee rode over from the nearby Prospect Church with something on his mind. He had a vision, and he had the right people to share it with. He gathered Elders John Claybaugh, J.

W. D. Creath, D.

Fisher, and J. G. Thomas, along with nine charter members, and right then and there they organized what would become the First Baptist Church of Lexington.

That same year, the original building went up. And the man who helped inspire the whole thing, Reverend J. G.

Thomas, became the first pastor. That's the kind of full-circle moment you don't forget. Then in 1866, Sunday School was founded, and the church kept on growin', kept on servin', kept on buildin'.

Five houses of worship over the years. Five regional Baptist associations. Twenty-nine pastors who stood at that pulpit and carried the congregation forward.

And then there's Prospect Church, the very church that sparked this one into being. It disbanded in 1949, and its members didn't scatter to the wind. They came home, in a manner of speaking, and joined the Lexington Church.

Nearly a century after one preacher's inspiration set everything in motion, the congregation that inspired the first gathered under the same roof as the one it helped create. That's not just history. That's a story with a long memory.

What the marker says

The Rev. E. E. Lee of the nearby Prospect Church inspired Elders John Claybaugh, J. W. D. Creath, D. Fisher, and J. G. Thomas, with nine charter members, to organize this church in Jan. 1855. The original building was erected later that year. The Rev. J. G. Thomas was the first pastor. Sunday School was founded in 1866. Prospect Church disbanded in 1949, and members joined the Lexington Church, which has built five successive houses of worship, has belonged to five regional Baptist associations, and has been served by twenty-nine pastors.