God's Places

Finally, ours is a story of building and of buildings, a hard scrabble tale of faith. Imagine, in 1873, two very small towns north of Killeen, partnering so that, together, they could house a church, just one. They called it The Missionary Baptist Church of Christ of Palo Alto. It had nine charter members. Efforts to hold it together lagged in 1879 and the church was placed on pause, to be reconstituted in 1881 and then relocated in a nearby community now known as Killeen. Here the church's name morphed a bit to become the Baptist Church of Christ. It was first housed, temporarily, in a public school building so that resources could be gathered. Our church then moved to the intersection of Fourth and Green Streets where a small frame building and tabernacle could be built. An official historical marker still marks this location, rightfully so.

In 1917, the Red Brick Sanctuary was constructed on that same site. From 1917 until 1955, the Red Brick Sanctuary was our gathering place, dutifully housing congregations as they prayed and sang praises to the Lord. November 5, 1955, was its last Sunday to be in service as our sanctuary; not coincidentally, this was also the first Sunday for a young military couple, John and Pat Shannon. Later, in 1968, when they were stationed in Germany, Jim Sharp, a prominent brick mason, contacted them to see if they wanted to buy the red bricks. The building was being razed in order to build a larger sanctuary on the same footprint. Those bricks were stacked on the Shannons' empty lot located in Killeen for seven years, waiting to be repurposed. When the Shannons returned to Killeen, they built their dream home out of those bricks; they and the bricks continued in God's service for more than 40 years, housing a beloved church family and hosting many bridal showers.

An education building was added to the red brick structure in 1949 to accommodate the community's surge in population that accompanied the advent of Camp Hood. In succeeding years, four wooden structures were purchased and a two-story building was added right next to the sanctuary. By 1963, our labyrinth of a church had hallways that did not connect and stairwells that went nowhere. It was both beloved and remarkably accessible by God, but not so much for church members with mobility challenges and no longer easily accessed by the majority of the burgeoning population of Killeen.

In 1964 Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Clements birthed the idea of adding a special purpose chapel that would adjoin the larger sanctuary. Their vision was for a place to host weddings, funerals, the seniors' Sunday School class, and prayer meetings. They put feet to their vision by establishing an accompanying trust fund (Hyperlink to "Remembering Clements Chapel" article). The beautiful chapel featured a Dalle deVere (slab glass) glass window, depicting Jesus with His arms outstretched to the seven churches in Revelation 1-3. We can still see that special window in that chapel then, in our heads, and in our sanctuary now. God still moves and so did and does this stained glass window.

Through the years, the church located at Fourth and Green Streets, in the heart of the city, expanded to fill the entire city block as we could afford and as God directed; the church plant even spilled out into the next block. The result was beautiful in His eyes, certainly not elegant; it was functional, and not really expandable. We grew with the community, numbered our buildings for the sake of clarity, and provided a steady beacon in downtown until we came to understand that it was God's desire for us to move to a more effective location, closer to the heart of the population. He had moved us before and was preparing us to move again. Trepidation vacillated between financial considerations and emotional ties, both causing us to march in place for a while. Do we go? Do we stay? How do we go? Where do we go? The Israelites in Egypt must have churned like us.

Over time, church members arrived at a new shared vision. We would move. The Joshua Project was designed to finance the purchase of the land at our new site. The United We Build and Together We Build campaigns (Yes, it surely did take two.) were designed to finance the construction.

But, where should we move? Triangulated data (God does love numbers!) nailed the exact location: 3310 South W.S. Young Drive, Killeen. First, the staff's demographic pin map indicated that the need was great in this area. Second, the Church's Land Search Committee prayed and searched. Third, forty years prior (Coincidental? I think not.) one of our church families purchased 40 acres (See?) of land yet to be developed. That purchase was made NOT using their nest egg set aside so that they could adopt a baby. The Faucetts had prayed Isaiah 60:22 and waited on the Lord. As a result, this special piece of land was available to the church at a sacrificial price. The Lord did the rest, of course.

The Faucetts were not the only ones praying. Once the land had been identified and purchased, but the building not yet built, prayers redoubled. Realizing that such big prayers needed a "prayer closet" that was easily accessed and available to all, Ron Culp went into action and made that happen for us.

The transition from a presence downtown to our presence on the southern skirts of town was made more difficult by the fact that the place, the building at Fourth and Green, housed our priceless memories of encounters with God and with God's people. As happened in the Old Testament, we were tempted to build a shrine there and stay just a bit longer, or maybe even longer than that. Like Lot's wife should have known, we needed to march forward and not, not, not look back. Again, God said, "I can help with that. Be sure to have a steeple again, a visual beacon like your old one; be sure to take the bells in the tower and rehouse them; be sure to take the stained glass window featuring Jesus." (When our young daughter had inquired to ensure that we were taking Jesus with us, the only answer that could be the answer was yes, of course.) Then, with all of those boxes checked, we, church members, girded up our loins, fired up our pickups, and moved the church's contents ourselves; we wanted to march forward, together.

We worshipped in our new sanctuary located at 3310 S. W.S. Young Drive in Killeen in June, 2009. Just months later our pastor put out the call to build a ballpark for the young and the young at heart. The family that had sold the site at a sacrificial price provided the funds needed to build the ballpark; it bears the name of their patriarch, Troy Faucett Field, and is available 24/7/365 to the entire community. Another kind of beacon.

Very importantly, some of the most important places of FBC Killeen aren't even our places at all. We have been blessed with opportunities to go forth and multiply, not just by growing our own membership, but also in nurturing and encouraging the birth of other churches that now serve in our community, activating God's purpose, on purpose.

It is our prayer that, as we look backward, reviewing and enjoying our past and present work in the Lord, we will now pivot, using that energy to fuel our investment in future efforts, honoring Clarence Clements's wish, stated almost 50 years ago, that we "work harder and set larger goals in the days ahead." This time those future efforts will take the form of our upcoming building campaign, "Carry It Forward."