Old Center Baptist Church

7086 FM 699, Tenaha TX 75974, 936-248-2796
Schedule of Services
Sunday School: 9:50 am
Sunday Morning Worship: 10:50 am
Sunday Evening Worship: 6:15 pm
Wednesday Evening Prayer Service: 7:00 pm

A Brief Church History

Taken from Kountry Kitchen, a cook book published by Women's Missionary Auxiliary, 2004

Baptists in the Old Center community formed a formal church in 1851, although the first church building was not constructed until 1856. For the first five years, worshippers apparently gathered in homes for their church services.

The first church was built of logs and erected in 1856 across the road from the present church. Over the ensuing four decades, the log building steadily deteriorated. In the year 1900, Old Center Baptists built a two-door frame church building on the site of the present church.

In November 1954, church members launched a campaign to raise money to build a new church building. On July 4, 1955, the old church was demolished to make room for the new structure to be erected on the same site. During construction church members worshipped in the building across the road next to the cemetery.

The current red brick church was built over the next four months and the first service was held in the new structure on October 30, 1955.

In 1974 the church was expanded to add a baptistery, a pastor's study, two restrooms, four classrooms and a kitchen area. Over the next 20 years, the space was reconfigured to change one of the classrooms into a library and to covert part of the kitchen area into a nursery. The upstairs space was finished out to create two more classrooms.

Recent improvements include new carpeting, drapes at the baptistery, renovated pews and new pew cushions.

Church Pastors since 1954 or 1955

(The church does not have the minutes prior to those years.)

Early Families in the Old Center Baptist Church
The following family names are names of members who were in the church in September 1909. The Rowe name does not appear because the Rowe family members were Methodists at that time.

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  Last update 12 November 2020
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