15 years before the city of College Station was incorporated, was the organization of College Station’s First Baptist Church.
The church’s centennial was recognized with a proclamation at Thursday’s College Station city council meeting.
Click HERE to read and download the proclamation.
Click below to hear the proclamation, read by mayor John Nichols, followed by comments from senior Troy Allen, from the April 13, 2023 College Station city council meeting.
Script of the proclamation:
WHEREAS, in 1920 the Baptist General Convention of Texas initiated a program at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas to reach students. Rev. R.L. Brown was hired as a “Student Worker” and regular meetings of Baptists began to be held in campus buildings; and
WHEREAS, on April 8, 1923, those Baptists meeting on campus organized into an actual church called First Baptist Church and became the only church in the nation to begin as a Baptist Student Union and grow into an actual church; and
WHEREAS, during Rev. Brown’s time the church ministered with food to people on the trains that passed the “college train station” during the Great Depression, the City of College Station was chartered in 1938 and thousands of Aggies went off to serve in World War II. Rev. Brown successfully oversaw the construction of new church facilities in 1942 on College Main and the groundbreaking for the Baptist Student Union building right across the street in 1949; and
WHEREAS, Rev. Brown was succeeded by Pastors Bryon Richardson, Bob Longshore, Cecil Sherman, Guy Greenfield, and Lloyd Elder who shepherded the church through the turbulence of the 50’s and ‘60’s leading to the calling of Dr. Malcolm Bane as pastor in 1969; and
WHEREAS, when Dr. Malcolm Bane started, the City of College Station had 17,000 people and Texas A&M had 14,000 students. By the time of his retirement the City of College Station had grown to 67,000 people and Texas A&M to 44,000 students. The church grew from 700 members to over 1400 when Dr. Bane retired, and Dr. Rodney McGlothlin became pastor; and
WHEREAS, presently the church still ministers to people that need food each year delivering 1,600,000 pounds annually and Dr. Troy Allen is carrying on the legacy of his predecessors by leading First Baptist Church of College Station to bring the message of Christ to students and faculty of Texas A&M University, in missions in its neighborhood, in Texas and across the world.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, John P. Nichols, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of College Station, Texas, do hereby recognize the 100th Anniversary of First Baptist Church of College Station
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the seal of the City of College Station, Texas this 13th Day of April, 2023.