It was March 15, 1896, when twelve charter members and a pioneer preacher (3 men and 10 women) organized the Odessa Baptist Church. Several denominations used the same facility to worship in, and many times combined together for worship. On February 12, 1897, the first building was planned to be built for the Baptist Church. This building was started on May 13, 1898, and was 28 X 40 feet, costing $700 to build. In March 1898, the church changed its name from Odessa Baptist Church to the First Baptist Church of Odessa, Texas.
The frontier days were hard and lonely. But the people who came were determined to stay. By 1906, the church membership had grown to 46, and the first recorded Sunday school was started. Needing more space, construction was started January 16, 1938, on the corner of Eighth and Lee streets, the present location of the church, with the first service being held on Easter Sunday, 1938, in the basement of that building.
By 1940 the church had grown to 386 attending Sunday school. As the town grew, so did the congregation and the need for additional worship space caused the church to begin building our present worship center in 1953. We moved into the new facility on Sunday, April 3, 1955.
The church became involved in broadcasting its morning worship service on Channel 7 TV, on Sunday, September 6, 1957, and has been continually broadcasting every Sunday. That same year, the church voted and began the Day Care program as a ministry in the community. It is still one of the very best in the community today.
The pipe organ in the worship center was dedicated on January 12, 1969. Seeing the need to provide for Mothers to have a day out, the Mother’s Day Out program was started on July 3, 1979, and is still very active today, meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.
Groundbreaking for the Family Life Center, which houses the gym, game room, walking and jogging track, handball courts, and other activity rooms was held on August 5, 1979, and was dedicated on February 8, 1981. The Living Christmas Tree, presented every year by the Adult choir and the membership of the First Baptist Church, was started December 13-16, 1984.
Seeing the need to reach out into the community to minister to the needs of those in apartments, nursing homes, jails and other places, Mission Odessa was started on February 23, 1992.
During these 100 plus years, we have had twenty-six pastors help us minister to and care for the people in the city of Odessa. God has blessed us in every way, with pastors, staff and lay people serving the Lord and touching the lives of people. It has been and is an exciting adventure each week. We invite you to become a part of this great history of First Baptist Church.
