Ours is a story of trials and triumphs, of wars and rumors of wars, spanning from the aftermath of the Civil War through the Indian Wars, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Southeast Asia Campaigns, and the War on Terrorism, across the leadership of 30 pastors and seven interim pastors.

In a time when our society seems to have lost its ability to collaborate, our church’s beginning and subsequent ministries serve as bright and shining stars. We began 150 years ago as a collaboration between two communities just north of Killeen, Palo Alto and Sugar Loaf, and their two ministries, the Church of Christ and the Baptist Church. Together we could afford to build. Our name in 1873 was, cleverly, the Missionary Baptist Church of Christ at Palo Alto.

We have continued on that path through the years, following Nehemiah’s example (similar and different) of building bridges instead of walls among like-hearted groups in order to accomplish God’s work. Century Plus: A History of Killeen’s First Baptist Church, 1873-1979, written by our own Mildred Brown Levy, is replete with examples: meeting in the public school building in 1881; celebrating our “Union Thanksgiving Services” together with the Methodists in 1899 and taking up a collection for orphans at that time; celebrating the Christmas service with the Methodists in 1942; hosting a weekday Bible School in the (only had one) Killeen school in 1924 and now supporting Good News Clubs in eight of the thirty-one Killeen elementary schools; hosting Vacation Bible School in backyards in Killeen and at Hood Village, a relocation community built for families displaced by Camp Hood in 1944; buying Bibles for boys in Gatesville in 1960; and sharing our parking lot with the garment factory in 1973 and now with the real estate company next door.

Opening the Killeen Food Care Center (FCC) in cooperation with Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in 1987 has had a huge impact on the community and exemplifies collaboration, engagement, and stewardship at their best. The Food Care Center has been recognized by the Killeen Chamber of Commerce as being the best non-profit, 2021; it has also been recognized nationally for its service to soldiers and their families. Because it is staffed largely by volunteers, its administrative cost continues to be below 3% each year. Under the leadership of our own Raymond Cockrell, the FCC provides more than 2 million tons of groceries to more than 115,000 people each year. Its walls tell the story through murals painted by our own Anne Cina and her middle school students.

Our church’s people ministry has taken a variety of paths and has ranged from birth to senior citizenry in its focus. That ministry has varied from providing small ($50) scholarships to teenagers participating in state marching contests in 1978 to more recently refurbishing churches in Alaska.

Caring for our soldiers and military families has played a prominent role in our church ministries. Early evidence of our commitment to them was documented in our 1973 “Reaching Fort Hood for Jesus Christ” and evidenced in our orchestrating our own Desert Storm campaign and in the significant numbers of military families supported at the Food Care Center. True to our pattern of caring for soldiers, our current pastor, Dr. Randy Wallace, has more recently provided congressional testimony regarding the negative impact that high interest “pay day loans” (aka, usury) has on military families.

Our church has always loved babies, knowing that they are among Jesus’s favorite humans. Clarence Clements, local banker, deacon and Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church (and so very much more) lived a lifetime of investing in humanitarian causes. He had a special place in his heart for babies and for babies’ parents. According to Mr. Clements, his work of homing babies whose parents couldn’t keep them, into the waiting arms of parents who could, was his most favorite work of all. It was transformational for twenty-eight babies and their parents. Two such babies are our own Jane Faucett St. John and Cherie Bostick Cockrell. Such heavenly gifts! Mr. Clements, also passionate about older children and their wellbeing, was instrumental in starting up the community’s Boys and Girls Clubs that is named for him.

Additionally, we had a legacy Cradle Roll Department whose story is told by Barbara Weiss. “When I was a teenager, our church had a Cradle Roll Department. My mother, Catherine Nitsche, was in charge of it. I loved babies so I had an opportunity to help her. When families in our church had a baby, they were recognized by our placing on the altar a bud vase with a pink or blue carnation. If the family was in attendance that day, we would give them the flower and a little New Testament for the infant. If they were not in church, my mother and I would deliver them to their home. It gave us a reason to visit and to welcome the baby into our church family.” We know grownups who held on to that New Testament after all of these years.

Mothers Day Out (MDO) is a very special element of our people ministry, focusing on little people (ages six months to five years) and their parents (no age limit) who need to take a breath. For more than fifty years, our church has made MDO available for two days each week to the entire community. Our current staff of ten works with 45 children, teaching physical, emotional, social, mental, and spiritual life skills. The monthly charge of $215 does not cover MDO’s costs, nor is it a requirement that MDO break even. This is the Lord’s ministry. Gwen Stewart, daughter of Lawanna Elliott, led MDO in the past. LaKeith Alley, our current director of sixteen years, recounts a time when an exasperated military mom came in the doors bringing her two little ones, close in age, with her. Two childcare businesses in town had already turned her down; her children could not be with them. One of the two had Down’s Syndrome. We know that Down’s Syndrome can be tough, particularly on the child. The mom and both children, all three, were welcomed with opened arms and nourished by MDO for two years until the Army, both giving and taking, transferred them away.

Vacation Bible School has always been an integral part of our children's ministry. Each summer, we marshal our resources, both people and funds, to orchestrate an amazing VBS experience for children and youth. The effort is both massive and personal. Again, this ministry is open to the public, another come one, come all experience where souls are saved and lives are forever changed.

Summer provides us with another terrific opportunity to engage our youth in mission trips throughout Texas and across our great nation. Alaska holds a special place in the heart of our church, a breathtakingly beautiful state that aches for God’s light, 24/7/365. From refurbishing church buildings, to providing Kids Camps, to street evangelism, to providing programs in rehab centers, Alaska serves as a terrific mission field for our youth -- fifteen years invested and holding!

Freebie Wednesday is one of our legacy school day favorite ministries. At its inception, once each week we would throw open our doors to the chaos and noise that naturally accompany feeding a whole bunch of teenagers, for free, in a limited amount of time, during their school day lunch period. We grew them in weight and stature while also growing God’s Kingdom. Now we provide dinner for students on Wednesday night, still free and still growing them! Both the need and the program have morphed over time as living things do.

Girls Auxiliary (GA's) and Royal Ambassadors (RA’s) are also student programs designed to engage young people through the years while providing important opportunities to memorize Bible verses and participate in projects designed to help others. This work is done in His service while building strong bonds among the young people of the church and between them and the adults who lead them. Those connections grow young women and men into the community in which God designed us to live.

Ministries come in all shapes and forms, as do the people to and with whom we minister. One of our members recalls the importance of creating opportunities for our Single Adult Sunday School Class to fellowship while playing volleyball. It was a ministry that had an impact on this member as a young single and so they invested in our church in the same way so that future generations could enjoy the same opportunities they had. This is the power of legacy: taking opportunities that were provided to us in our time of need and using them to pass on resources to the next generation out of the blessings we have been granted today.

Another of our legacy programs is Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), as recounted by Karen Weiss. “Over the years at First Baptist Church, Killeen, the WMU was extremely active and raised funds for such projects as buying stoves for the church kitchen, paying for repairs to the church parsonage, purchasing a rostrum for the church, funding backyard Vacation Bible Schools, visiting the local nursing home, helping a pastor’s widow, and, importantly, supporting Lottie Moon (the annual Christmas missions offering) and Annie Armstrong (the annual Easter missions offering).” As I studied their 1960-1961 yearbook that belonged to Cherie Bostick Cockrell’s mom, Janet Bostick, I could see that their purpose was “to promote Christian missions through a program of mission study, prayer, community missions and stewardship.” Their first quarter theme that year was “world peace,” no small dreams for this group. They met in circles in each other’s homes twice each month, augmented by monthly missionary programs in the sanctuary. Many lives in Killeen were won for Christ due to their efforts.

Our senior adults are and have been precious to us through the years, our mainstay, actually. More than 35 years ago, Diana Bassett would be present each month when our seniors assembled, not qualifying as a senior herself, but bringing her expertise and equipment and her love, all three needed in order to measure their blood pressure. Four small Bassett children grew up at their mom’s feet watching her do this work and knowing what a servant's heart looks like. This information impacted the quality of life for these precious souls. Now, we celebrate our senior adults, 55 and Alive, with a monthly lunch (covered dish, you know), an educational program, and fun for dessert (in addition to actual dessert). Barbara Weiss recounts their story: “The Senior Adult Committee meets every month on the First Thursday for lunch and a program. Most months have everyone bringing a covered dish to share; you know that Baptist women are the best cooks! In February, the members of the committee provide soup and salad and in July they provide a picnic lunch, INDOORS. In May senior adults are honored with a barbecue lunch on the first Sunday of the month; on the first Saturday in December they celebrate the season with a Christmas brunch with more than 100 seniors attending. Everyone enjoys the informative and entertaining programs, the food, and the fellowship.” Those same precious Christians in turn have intentionally mentored younger women through the legacy Apples of Gold ministry, as told to us by Clara Patterson. Seven classes, each a half-day long, were taught to a group of young women, all in the context of food and fun. Those same young women completed the program and then they fell back to become “applesauce,” supporting the next group of mentees.

Engagement in the community has also been part of our ministerial path, engagement designed to respond to the community’s challenges. We worked for the good of four local tribes of Native Americans in 1873, including the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole, established a “committee to look after the needy in town” in 1918, and later, in 1987, co-founded the Food Care Center with Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church. In 1925 the engagement took a more political path when the church approved a resolution to Senator C. C. Hardin supporting his efforts to “drive out Demon Rum from our fair land.” Our county was dry at the time. In 1973, almost 50 years later, the pastor penned a letter and sent a signed petition of commendation to city officials, supporting “their efforts to suppress the sale of obscene material, the showing of lewd films and prostitution.” Those church efforts were “carried out with vigor.” In more recent years, our current pastor, Dr. Randy Wallace, has taken up the gauntlet and gone on the circuit to raise awareness and forge collaborative partnerships among local churches to oppose sales of hard liquor, first, and then later, legalization of cannabis. Similarly he has opposed a proposed zoning change that would bring liquor sales within a stone’s throw of our church.

And the beat goes on ...