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First Calvary Baptist Church P.O. Box 440 Sanderson, TX 79848-0440 Phone ~ 432-345-2847 Fax ~ 432-345-2848 pray79848 at yahoo.com |
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In May 1978 some families associated with a Baptist Mission called Flight for Christ met and discussed the possibility of starting a Mission to reach the Hispanic population of Sanderson, Texas. A pulpit stand and some chairs were borrowed from the First Baptist and the first meeting was the first Sunday in June of 1978.
Some time in this interval the Jim Jones incident in Guyana happened at the People's Temple and so the Church in Sanderson met and officially changed the name to Calvary Baptist Church. However, in attempting to apply for tax exempt status in the State of Texas we could not register because there was already a C.B.C registered. So the Church added "First" to the name, thus, First Calvary Baptist Church.
In the summer of 1984 Rev. Ray resigned and the church called Rev. Charles Pearson to pastor. Also that same year the Church erected the Youth/Fellowship hall that was begun as a memorial to Wilford A. “Bill” Rose who was a member that had been killed in a tragic plane crash on his ranch in February 1982.
Rev. Pearson was here until 1986 and Rev. Gary Pokorney came as pastor. The Church did very well through these years, however Bro. Pokorney decided to leave in order to complete some extended studies in California in regards to the ministry. He resigned in 1991 and the Church called Rev. Jim Riggins to pastor.
In 1984 Bro. Charles Pearson along with the people of the Church made a great move forward for the ministry of the Church. They entered in to a Prison Ministry by correspondence that is still going on to this day. This ministry is now headed by Gene & Earlene Thompson and they have recorded over 2200 professions of faith from behind prison walls since its inception in 1984.
The Church has a parsonage, a guest house and employs a full time pastor. As mentioned there is a faith promise program in place and the church has an annual Mission Conference each year. The Church now supports 32 missionaries all around the globe. Once a month the Church has at least one missionary speaker come and challenge everyone anew about missions and fulfilling the great commission that Christ gave in Matthew 28. We believe this increases our enthusiasm for missions and helps us to stay focused on the job at hand, which is to go into all the world with the good news. One of our goals is to try and support at least one missionary in every time zone around the world so that the sun will never set on the ministry of First Calvary Baptist Church.
We are an old fashioned Baptist Church with a simple message of hope for a dark world. Jesus is our only hope and we must propagate the gospel where we can, to as many as we can. We use the "Old" Bible and trust it explicitly. Come visit when you can.
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Our History... |
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This group began to visit the homes in Sanderson and continued regular services but the Mexican-American people did not respond. A few came and visited but did not join in and eventually other people came. So, in December of 1978 an organizational meeting was held and Sanderson Baptist Temple was organized and elected Paul M. Ray as Pastor. After a revival meeting the following March with Evangelist Rod Inman, a real nucleus of people joined and the Church was off and running.
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The Church was meeting upstairs in a rented store building at the corner of 2nd and Oak on the main street of Sanderson. The owner wanted to sell the property so the Church bought it. Renovation was done and the church moved into the remodeled downstairs and turned the three bedroom apartment upstairs into Sunday School rooms. God marvelously blessed in the services and according to records, 78 converts were baptized in the first 18 months.
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Very soon the Church wanted to begin a Missions program and began by giving 10% of their income of the Church into missions. Rev. Harvey Belshie, a missionary to Mexico, was the first missionary to be supported and soon several others were taken on for support. Then in January of 1984 the Church had its first "Faith Promise Missions Conference" where any one who so desired could pledge whatever amount of money a week that they believed God would put into their hands for missions for the next 12 months and immediately had the ability to support more missionaries by faith. Many missionaries were then taken on for support and prayed for by the membership.
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During these years First Calvary had reached a lot of railroad men who either joined as believers or got saved and joined by baptism. In 1994-95 the railroad decided to move the terminal to Alpine, Texas and accordingly, approximately fifty families were affected by the move. And not only Sanderson was affected, but also First Calvary as the Church lost a lot of great people.
Also during this time Bro. Riggins was having his own problems. His health caused him to have to resign and go to a larger town to try and get a kidney transplant and so he moved to San Angelo in 1997. This story would really be sad but the lord surely intervened and after many months Bro. Riggins did receive a transplant and we’re happy to say is pastoring a Church in Grape Creek, Texas. In November of 1997 Rev. Paul M. Ray was called to come back to Calvary and has been the Pastor since that date.
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