First Baptist church of N.M. celebrates 150 years

Associated Baptist Press ^ | October 28, 2003 | John Loudat

[yonif]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ABP) -- "Our church will thrive as long as the River of Life flows in our midst and as long as our feet are firmly planted on a mountain called 'Calvary,' " declared the pastor of the first non-Catholic church west of Texas, during the recent celebration of the congregation's birth 150 years ago. Pastor Steve Taylor's words were reminiscent of those of the church's first pastor, Hiram Walter Read, who said, "Deo Volente (God willing), it is here to stay so long as the Rio Grande flows and the adjacent mountains abide."

"Occasionally it does us good to 'look back' and consider our heritage in order that we may 'live forward' with the legacy of a solid foundation," Taylor told church members Oct. 19.

First Baptist Church, Albuquerque, was the only non-Catholic church in the American Southwest on Oct. 10, 1853, when it was founded in a rented adobe building in what is now Old Town by 33-year-old Hiram Walter Read.

The dust scarcely had settled behind the hooves of Gen. Stephen W. Kearney's conquering army when the Baptist missionary came down the Santa Fe Trail into the New Mexico territory four years earlier, under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York.

In 1854, Read's wife, Alzina, was severely injured when she jumped down from a buggy. The following year, Read turned the Albuquerque flock over to another missionary, Samuel Gorman, and took his wife to Boston.

Read would serve as a doctor and chaplain in the Civil War, during which he was captured by the Confederates and sentenced to hang for treason. After a daring rescue by Union troops, in 1863 he was sent by President Lincoln to help set up the territorial government in Arizona, where he would be captured by Apaches, threatened with death by fire, but then spared. After the war, he served as a missionary and a pastor in Missouri.

In 1866, the American Baptist Mission Society that had funded Baptist work in New Mexico for 17 years, decided to shift all its funds into work with the south's newly freed slaves. First Baptist, Albuquerque, disappeared for a time, its members absorbed by arriving Presbyterian and Methodist congregations.

In 1880, at age 60, Read went to Nevada to pastor a church for two years, before accepting a position in El Paso as general missionary for the American Publication and Bible Society to New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas and the two northern provinces of Mexico.

In April of 1887, the 67-year-old missionary, now known to many as "the Apostle Paul of the American Southwest," rode a train from El Paso and gathered 11 Albuquerque Baptists together in the upstairs meeting room of the YMCA. He stayed for a month, and the church was refounded on May 1.

The church's first building was erected in 1891 under the leadership of Pastor John H. Thompson. The church would worship there until 1927, when it went "underground" for 10 years, meeting in the basement of its current building. In 1937, Pastor H.A. Zimmerman led the church to build the auditorium which is still in use today.

During the sesquicentennial celebration, much was said around the church and in newspapers comparing the church's current pastor with its founder.

Read was known as a man of great daring who traveled the region on tall stallions, and Taylor occasionally brings his mount to church to give children rides and often tells the congregation about some of the very real dangers he and his family experienced while serving as missionaries in Africa.

Taylor tells church members the most important thing he and Read have in common is a "passion for reaching people with a passionate love for the Lord and for his purpose in the church."

The pastor of the historic church says he looks to the future as one of "promise and potential" as the church continues to "impact the lives of those around with the transforming truth of the gospel."

-- Dale and Betty Danielson contributed to this article.

[CougarGA7]

How come you never see a Second Baptist Church?

[RedWhiteBlue]

Google "Second Baptist Church" and you will see LOTS of them. One of the most prominent churches in my area (Houston) is Second Baptist Church, which has something like 30,000 members. I'm not Baptist, and I couldn't tell you where the First Baptist Church is, but the Second Baptist Church is very prominent.