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First Baptist Church celebrates 125 years in Dalhart
By Sandy Reynolds
Special to the Dalhart Texan
(Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series about the 125th anniversary of the First Baptist Church and its history in Dalhart. The first was published on Au- gust 20, and covered the time period from 1901 through about 1938.)Â
On January 23, 1944, under the pastorate of Rev. George M. King, First Baptist Church began a “mis- sion school†at the Bomber Village at the Dalhart Army Airfield and met each Sunday afternoon, thereafter, throughout the year. The “mission school†leaders conducted Bi- ble studies for all ages of the military person- nel, their families, and civilian personnel on base in the little white church that accommo- dated approximately 300 people.Â
Rev. William R. Law- rence accepted the call to become pastor of First Baptist in June of 1947. Rev. Law- rence had served four years as chaplain in World War II and con- tinued as a Reserve Officer. Under the auspices of FBC and the leadership of Rev. Lawrence, discussion began in June 1949 as to the feasibility of supporting a mission on the north side of town. In September 1949, the church pur- chased the Nazarene church and parson- age, and in June 1950, Rev. Ward Lawrence (not related to Wm. R. Lawrence) was called as pastor of Lincoln Street Mission located at 1019 Lincoln Street.Â
The mission soon outgrew that build- ing and in 1951, First Baptist purchased one of the portable classrooms from the Dalhart Consolidated Schools and expanded the much needed space for the mission. The FBC Mission Committee in Septem- ber 1951 recommended that FBC organize Lincoln Street Mission into an autonomous Baptist church and give them all of the purchased church property located on Lincoln Street. A warranty deed was executed and deliv- ered to Lincoln Street Baptist Church. First Baptist Church grant- ed letters to 63 FBC members who wished to become charter members of the new church that was of- ficially organized the afternoon of Septem- ber 30, 1951 as Lincoln Street Baptist Church (LSBC.)Â
Since its beginning, LSBC has flourished and her outreach programs on the north side have increased substantially, along with the partnering assistance from First Baptist’s Missions Committee. Some of those programs were picnics at the North Ward School Park; sack lunches delivered to local residents; Wednesday night children’s meals; craft programs; Bible stud- ies; Vacation Bible School; and a Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. Clothing was available for babies through adults with more clothes available for school children as needed. These were always great opportu- nities to share God’s love and His Gospel messages.Â
Lincoln Street had buses that would pick up children and adults to take them to church or summer programs planned at North Ward. Today’s current sack lunch program in the amount of 200 plus sacks is put together with volunteer help on Thursdays and distributed on Fridays through the month of July together with the Food Pantry distribu- tions. The Food Pantry distributions com- bined with the Clothes Closet are on Fridays year round.Â
Pastors who have faithfully served at Lincoln Street Baptist Church from 1951 to 2026 have been Rev. Ward Lawrence, Rev. O.L. McCollum, Rev. Nelse Wright, Rev. William Mervyn Hall, Rev. Marvin Knox, Rev. O.R. Looper, Rev. Dinzel Leonard, Rev. Jerry McFather, Rev. Roy L. Moody, Rev. Johnny Lee, Jr., Rev. Bob McAlister, Rev. Rusty Hancock and Ty Hancock.Â
Rev. William R. Lawrence was called back into active duty with the Air Force as a Chaplain in Korea in February 1952. First Baptist gave him a leave of absence, at which time Rev. W. Clyde Hankins was selected as Interim Pastor. Rev. Hankins was a Missionary to Brazil, and his deep dedication to mission- ary causes helped to strengthen First Baptist’s interest in missions. He led the members in constant prayers for the pastor in Korea; this, in turn, enabled the church to see missions as a world-wide project. When Rev. Lawrence returned in June 1953, the congregation adopted Rev. Hankins as one of her mission- aries. In 1946, First Baptist had contrib- uted $5,771.77 toward missions. In contrast, her mission support in 1959 increased sub- stantially to $22,889.00.Â
In January 1953, the Missions Committee under the pastorate of Rev. Hankins dis- cussed the progress on locating property in the Kella Hill area to build another mission church. After discus- sion they decided to buy five 30-foot lots for a total of $600 to use for the establishing of a mission church at a later date.Â
With the leadership of Rev. Lawrence in April 1955, an organi- zation entitled “Cru- saders for Christ†was established for First Baptist Church’s young people with the purpose of encourag- ing youth to live a pur- poseful Christian life with special empha- sis on soul winning (witness) and prayer among the youth.Â
On September 7, 1958, a group of Christian believ- ers met in the First Baptist Church, and with Rev. Lawrence acting as moderator, the Antioch Baptist Church of Dalhart was organized. With the guidance of Rev. S.R. Roberts of Lub- bock and after a devotional and song service, those from the Antioch Church unanimously voiced their desire to become charter members of the newly organized membership. There was a total of fifteen new members of An- tioch Baptist Church that day. Sad to say, that church closed her doors in 2025.Â
Rev. Jack Pearce was called to become the pastor of First Baptist on June 7, 1959. He brought fresh ideas of how to improve and create more interest in the work of the church. One of those new ideas was to take a community survey, which resulted in a map indicating areas of needed support in the community, as well as locations of multiple areas of churched and un- churched peoples. This was used as a blueprint to minister to needs of those resi- dents in each area of Dalhart and to share the Good News.Â
Several years earlier in 1952, FBC under the pastorate of Interim Pastor Rev. Clyde Han- kins, the deacons had recommended that the church secure a lot at the new Baptist En- campment at Glorieta, New Mexico for the use of her members attending activities there. The lease would be $75 a year for 25 years. The lot was se- cured and seven years later in 1959 construc- tion was begun on a five-bedroom cottage under the leadership of Rev. Pearce. Con- struction would be completed one year later. The Glorieta cabin would be sold in 2013.Â
Under the leader- ship of Rev. Jimmy Reese, who was called to preach at First Baptist on August 26, 1968, a new mission would soon be realized in the Kella Hill area on Hillcrest Avenue. This vision for anoth- er mission ministry would serve our local Spanish-speaking people and become a Christ-centered bridge connecting with First Baptist Church and was previously dis- cussed in January 1953, when Interim Pastor Clyde Hankins was preacher and the lots purchased at that time. In Novem- ber 1968, the Baptist Brotherhood of FBC began to look for an available, suitable building in a good location for the pro- posed work. That building was located at the corner of Pine and Omaha and be- longed to Porters’ Gro- cery. This gracious supporting business made that location available for worship, rent free, from 1969 to 1974 where Bible studies for all ages were conducted and even Vacation Bible schools.Â
On February 11, 1969, the Baptist men met at the building and began work on the interior doing needed repair and remodel- ing. This work was finished around May 7, 1969. The Girls in Action groups and their leaders cleaned the building in prepa- ration for a visit from Rev. Charles Pierson of San Angelo, who was a professor at the Mexican Baptist Bible Institute. The ladies of the Women’s Missionary Society provided drapes for the windows, meeting in the home of Mrs. King Fike on October 28, 1969. All needed to be ready for the first service to be held on November 2, 1969. The WMS had purchased 75 copies of “Good News for Modern Man†in the Spanish language and FBC bought Spanish hymn books. At that first service there were 15 Spanish-speaking peo- ple and approximately 16 people from FBC and Lincoln Street Baptist in attendance.Â
On June 14, 1970, Rev. Andres Rodriguez was called to pastor the mission at Pine and Omaha. A house was donated rent-free for use of the mission pastor and his family. His first service was held on July 28 with 16 present in the morn- ing service and 18 in the evening service. Rev. Herman Martinez was called as pastor of La Primera on Janu- ary 1, 1974. La Prim- era continued to grow through programs for Girls in Action, Royal Ambassadors, Mis- sion Friends, Baptist Women, Men’s Broth- erhood, and the chil- dren would meet with FBC choirs. During this time frame, the Mission started its first Vacation Bible School and first of many River ministries VBS.
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