NACOGDOCHES, Texas (BP)–The old oak tree is now a stump, but the church it provided cover for as early as 1832 is still standing tall and looking forward.
Old North Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, which affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in September, is the oldest Baptist church in the state, having turned 168 last May.
That an active congregation still exists serves as a testament to perseverance in the face of troubled times, its members say.
Beginning with secret prayer meetings in what was Mexican territory, Old North Baptist Church has seen slavery and the Civil War, the end of slavery and Reconstruction, the Great Depression and oil strikes, segregation and the civil rights movement.
Old North’s 20 members say they are praying that the church’s witness for the Gospel will continue far into the future.
“We don’t want it to become a landmark,” said church secretary and treasurer Callene Murdock, a 20-year Old North member.
The small congregation is well aware that they need to draw new members to keep the songs and sermons flowing from the pulpit each Sunday, Murdock said. She realizes younger people and their families tend to be drawn to larger churches with their many programs and contemporary music.
“We don’t exactly do that,” Murdock said. Hymns as old as the church’s 154-year-old white wood-frame building continue to be sung during worship that features, in Murdock’s view, an outstanding pulpiteer.
“He is the most wonderful preacher I’ve heard,” Murdock said of pastor C.T. “Bro. Pete” McGuire. “He is a fabulous preacher.” The 77-year-old pastor’s knowledge of Scripture and the way he imparts it is inspiring, Murdock said, noting, “We’re hoping through him the church will grow.”
The Old North story is one of pioneering faith and endurance. While Texas was still under Mexican rule, those wanting to settle in the territory had to proclaim allegiance to Mexico and the Catholic Church.
Those who did not ascribe to Catholicism gave lip service to the pledge but continued, in secret, practicing their baptistic beliefs. One such settler was Massey Millard who, along with several other women, met under the protective awning of the aforementioned oak tree.
In 1835, 10 acres of land were donated to build a church and school and provide a cemetery. Shortly after the defeat of Mexican General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, the church had its first pastor, Elder Isaac Reed, a Missionary Baptist believed to have preached the first Baptist sermon in Texas.
By the end of 1838, a log school, Liberty School House, was erected and Sunday services began as well, marking the official beginning of Old North Baptist Church. The first congregation called itself Union Church. In 1852 the existing wood-frame building was constructed on the original log building foundation.
Murdock has studied the church’s history. As a gift to the church she typed up at least 100 years of the church’s records, many of them from the first years. Some of the missing information, she said, is due to a fire in the home of a church clerk in the 1920s.
“In the first years they put down everything. Some of it was funny,” Murdock said. One such incident involved the unauthorized burial of Union soldiers in the church’s cemetery during Reconstruction. Apparently, when a half-dozen Yankee soldiers serving in nearby Nacogdoches became deathly ill, townspeople did not want them buried in the local cemetery. So their bodies were inconspicuously buried on the Old North Baptist grounds.
Historical documents reveal that slaves were among the first members of Old North Baptist Church. Tradition held that slaves who attended church throughout the South were not allowed in the building, instead gathering outside an open door or window. But Murdock said the slaves of Old North members were allowed to meet inside the one-room chapel.
When the outcome of the Civil War gave slaves their freedom, Old North members were admonished to relinquish their slaves or face expulsion from the church. Once freed, those former slaves continued to meet at the old church until establishing their own congregation, Johnson Chapel, which still exists today. During the church’s annual homecoming last May, a reunion of sorts was held between Old North and Johnson Chapel members.
The Depression hit the Nacogdoches area hard, where many locals were subsistence farmers. The struggles of the late 1920s and early ’30s found many offering plates with scant contents, and Old North Baptist was no exception. At one point the church was broke. All they could pay the pastor was what little was taken up each Sunday morning.
Last year, Hurricane Rita devastated the symbol of the congregation’s founding — the old oak tree under which the first members met for prayer. An examination of the tree revealed it probably had received irreparable storm damage more than 70 years ago, weakening it to the point that it could not withstand the winds of the storm. Texas Forestry officials estimate the tree to be 300-500 years old.
Local artisans have used wood from the tree to create small works of art. One such piece was a beautifully turned bowl presented to Pastor McGuire and his wife Betty by a woodworker from Tennessee. The remainder of the salvaged wood is being preserved so that someone may use it to make a special piece, such as a pulpit or communion table, for the church.
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This article first appeared in the Southern Baptist Texan, newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas convention.
