A HISTORY OF FERGUSON
ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH
Ferguson Road
Baptist Church began as a mission church on August 13,
1950. The Reverend M.D. Frank was called to pastor this new mission
church. In a tent borrowed from the sponsoring Tenison Park Baptist
Church, 26 second-hand pews, 12 borrowed song books and a pulpit,
services commenced with 22 in Sunday School attendance and 22 attending
the worship service that followed. The church borrowed a larger tent
for the following Sunday and within a month were in a permanent
dwelling at 7918 Ferguson Road at the corner of Ferguson and Highland
Roads. Tenison Park withdrew as sponsors in September 1950 and the
sponsorship was picked up by Munger Place Baptist Church who carried it
until the church was formally organized on December 10, 1950 with 26
charter members.
In
May 1959 the church purchased from the Claremont Development
Corporation, ten lots at 8250 Ferguson Road at the corner of Ferguson
Road and Dorrington Drive, which is the church’s current
location.
Later that year the church’s first educational building and
chapel was
erected on the new site. The current worship center and additional
educational space was completed in September 1965.
Pastors
During the
first 30 years of existence the church had only four
pastors. The first pastor, Rev. M.D. Frank served the church from its
birth in 1950 until 1958. Rev. Jim Bowman was called and served as the
church’s second pastor from 1958 until 1966. Rev. Walter E.
Davidson
served for only a nine-month period from 1966 - 1967 when the Rev. John
L. Martin answered the church’s call to be its fourth pastor from
1968
until 1982.
From
1983
through 20013 the church had called six others as full-time pastors and
one as a bi-vocational pastor. Throughout the history of the church
there have also been several interim pastors.
The Goal Of The Church
In the
Membership Directory of
1968, then Ferguson Road Baptist Church pastor John L. Martin quoted
the words of B.H. Carroll, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
founder, to Dr. Lee Scarborough as Carroll lay on his death bed:
“Lee,
lash the Seminary to the Cross!” Succeeding Carroll as seminary
president, Dr. Scarborough did just that and that is the chief
distinction between that seminary and all others. This too is our
defining statement. In order to accomplish anything at all for
God’s
glory, we must first make sure that Ferguson Road Baptist Church is
“lashed to the Cross!”
Our goal is to lift the name of Jesus Christ higher than it
has ever been lifted and to be salt and light in the world in which we
live. We are committed to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 and
the Great Commandment in Mark 12:30-31. We aspire to glorify our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ by ministering to families of one or more by
meeting the physical, the emotional, and especially the spiritual needs
of our members and neighbors.
Affiliations
We are
affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern
Baptist of Texas Convention, and the Dallas Baptist Association. We
affirm the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000.
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