Odem First Baptist Church

ON SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 1912, BAPTISTS OF ODEM ORGANIZED THEIR OWN CONGREGATION. REV. R. A. COHRAN, GENERAL MISSIONARY OF THE BLANCO ASSOCIATION, WAS CALLED TO ASSIST. WITH J. F. JANICKE AS CLERK AND W. B. JONES AS MODERATOR, REV. COHRAN READ THE ARTICLES OF FAITH AND CHURCH COVENANT, WHICH WERE ADOPTED BY THE CHURCH. WITH NO BUILDING OF THEIR OWN, THE CONGREGATION MET ONCE A MONTH AT THE METHODIST CHURCH. LATER THE ODEM TOWN SITE COMPANY DONATED LAND AT KLINE AND SELLERS STREETS, AND A FRAME SANCTUARY WAS COMPLETED. IN THE 1930s, BAPTISMS WERE PERFORMED AT SINTON AND SODVILLE.

THE CHURCH LATER MOVED TO TURNER STREET, WITH SEVERAL MEMBERS CONTRIBUTING LABOR AND MATERIALS FOR A NEW BUILDING. R. G. McDANIEL, SUPERINTENDENT OF ODEM SCHOOLS, WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE AND PAINTED THE NEW CHURCH, BUILT FOR $15,000. THE FIRST SERVICES IN THE NEW SANCTUARY WERE HELD IN MAY 1935. A TWO-BEDROOM PARSONAGE WAS COMPLETED IN 1941. THE MEMBERSHIP NUMBERED 160 AT THIS TIME AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL WAS GROWING. HOWEVER, THE CHURCH WAS UNABLE TO SECURE BUILDING MATERIALS DURING WORLD WAR II. A 1943 CANDLELIGHT SERVICE HONORED CHURCH MEMBERS SERVING IN THE WAR. BILL SPRADLEY WAS THE CHURCH’S ONLY WORLD WAR II CASUALTY. IN THE LATE 1940s, A FARMHOUSE WAS MOVED TO THE CAMPUS FOR AN EDUCATION BUILDING. IN SEP. 1950, THE CHURCH CELEBRATED BUILDERS DAY (LATER HARVEST DAY), BENEFITING A BUILDING FUND AND STARTING A TRADITION WHICH CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. A NEW BRICK SANCTUARY WAS DEDICATED IN JULY 1951, AND NEW EDUCATION BUILDINGS WERE ADDED IN 1955 AND 1969. ODEM FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH HAS SERVED FOR A CENTURY AND WILL CONTINUE TO ENCOURAGE ITS NEIGHBORS AND COMMUNITY THROUGH MISSIONS, CHARITY AND OUTREACH.