The First Baptist Church in Anton, Texas, will be Celebrating its 100th Anniversary on Sunday, July 27, 2025. The festivities will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the Welcome and Services Begin in God’s Word and Song. At 12:00 noon a lunch break will be held. The Celebration with resume at 1:30 pm. with more worship and music.
Join the members of the First Baptist Church who will hear from the current pastor, Herb Roever. Several past preachers will be returning to join the Celebration. Those include: Rush Coffman, Bill Campbell, and David Carpenter.
First Baptist Church of Anton was organized on January 25, 1925, with Mr. and Mrs. Y.W. Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. L.T. King, Emery King, and C.C. Morgan as charter members. C.C. Wallace was the first clerk, and the church agreed to meet the first Sunday of each month.
The church met in the local theater until February 28, 1926, when a building was bought from the school and moved to our present location. The first pastor was G.W. Robbins with a salary of $400 a year. The first Deacons were: LT. King, J.D. Gilbert, J.H. Brock, E.J. Posey, and R.D. Webb. The current structure was completed in 1951 with Evert Springfield as pastor, with the 2-story educational addition that joins the Fellowship Hall. In 1968, the Fellowship Hall was enlarged by removing the rooms on the North side and putting up support columns, which is really nice. Stain glass windows were installed in April 1990.
26 Pastors have served First Baptist Church and 46 Deacons have helped lead the church in its 100-year history. They were all a blessing to the community. Current deacons serving are Joe Adkins, Doyle Butler, Weldon Swan, Jeff Howard, and Larry Wood.
As records show, the church has had 13 music leaders with James Sypert now leading the music. Also, over the years, there have been several musicians, of which Yvette Knight, James Sypert, and May Stephenson are currently doing a wonderful job. First Baptist has had at least six secretaries, with special recognition to Connie Butler, who served as secretary for over 38 years. Beverly Hardin is the current secretary.
The members of the First Baptist Church expresses sincere gratitude to the many that have served such a wonderful church in an official or unofficial capacity over the years. To all those who have stepped in to “fill the gap” currently or in the past, the church members are truly grateful for love, leadership, and dedication.
In 1980, the First Baptist Church bought the Bethel Baptist Church building for the purpose of starting a Spanish Mission. Moses Padillo was the pastor and Ershel Bird was the music director with Loretta Jones as pianist. In March 2013, the church disbanded. Is is now the Macedonia Baptist Church.