Andrews First Baptist Church

Our History

On Sunday, March 12, 1902, twelve people met with the Reverend A.B. Smith of Marble, and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, moved their letters of membership from Valley River Baptist Church and formed the First Baptist Church of Andrews. Reverend Smith became their first pastor. That first meeting took place in the Andrews Presbyterian Church. The twelve charter members were:

Mr. and Mrs. S.M. Crawford            James Crawford            Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Paris

Mrs. W.P. Walker                                Mrs. Fannie Walker       Amos Canup

Mr. and Mrs. Cal Nichols                  Mr. and Mrs. Frances Potts

For a period of time the church met in the Presbyterian church. After this they met in the public school building until a white one room building was given by Captain J.W. Cooper, John H. Stewart and Col. A.B. Andrews. After a few years, under the leadership of Brother Thad Deitz, the pastor, another section was added to the one room building. A baptistry was put in the building. There was much opposition to the baptistry because it was on the inside of the church building and was not a running stream. After the first baptismal service in the new baptistry it found favor with the people and the bitterness was gone.

About 1912 or 1913 the land was given for a pastorium and an eight room house was erected. By 1920, the church body had grown and there was a need for a larger meeting facility. Under the leadership of pastor L.P. Smith, the church voted to construct a new building. The brick building was started and completed in 1923 at a cost of $50,000.00 and was paid off in March 1940.

While Reverend E.F. Baker was serving as interim pastor, the church voted to erect a new house for the pastor. This decision was made in 1967 and included the decision to tear down the old pastorium and erect the new brick house in the same location and was completed in March 1968.

In May of 1973 the church purchased almost six acres of land in the city limits of East Andrews from Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Battle for $30,000.00 for future expansion.

Thomas V. Wells was the pastor.

The church voted to build a new church in August 1984. Construction of the first phase of the new church building was started on June 10, 1985. The completed phase I structure was dedicated on January 19, 1986. Reverend Travis Styles was the pastor. The second phase of the new church building including the sanctuary, classrooms and baptistry was completed and dedicated on June 22, 1997.

Reverend Al Hood was the pastor.

In 2002 the First Baptist Church celebrated it's 100 years of existence.

The following pastors have served the church since it was formed in 1902:

A.B. Smith 1902-1904

H.H. Hyde 1904-1905

Thad F. Deitz 1905-1912

A.C. Sherwood 1912-1913

A.A. McClelland 1914-1915

Thad F. Deitz 1915-1917

J.E. Hyde 1917-1918

J.P. Bennett 1919-1920

L.P. Smith 1920-1926

W.H. Ford 1926-1929

J. Edwin Hoyle 1929-1930

R.W. Prevost 1930-1935

C.F. Rogers 1935-1938

E.F. Baker 1938-1943

L.P. Smith 1943-1945

T. Earl Ogg 1945-1950

John Richardson 1950-1952

John C. Corbitt 1953-1957

Thomas C. Christmas 1957-1966

E.F. Baker, Interim 1966-1967

Thomas V. Wells 1967-1975

Gutherie Colvard, Interim 1975-1976

David Brown 1976-1980

Travis Styles 1980-1987

David E. Roberts 1988-1993

Al Hood 1993-2000

Cullen Chesser 2001-2002

Jim Leonard, Interim 2002-2003

Tommy Lamb 2003-2011

Danny Paris 2011-2012

Calvin Bobo 2012-