Historic Black Waco congregation, growing Hispanic church swap buildings – Waco Tribune-Herald

God sometimes opens a window after closing a door, the adage goes. But in the case of two Waco churches, its more of a case of windows, doors and a whole building.

First Baptist Church of Waco N.B.C. is a historically Black congregation that has worshipped together the past 94 years in a building on the edge of downtown at 611 Jefferson Ave. Templo Nueva Vida is a younger, mostly Hispanic congregation that met at 3300 N. 22nd St.

Templo Nueva Vida pastor Jose Gutierrez Jr., left, shakes hands with the Rev. George Harrison of First Baptist Church N.B.C. inside the sanctuary on Jefferson Avenue. The two churches have swapped buildings.

Templo Nuevo Vida has moved into the former First Baptist Church N.B.C. building on Jefferson Avenue.

Now they are trading spaces for futures more aligned with their congregations needs.

For Templo Nueva Vida, its a swap that means more space for a growing Spanish-speaking congregation. It is trading up to a building with two stories and a basement, complete with a sanctuary, dining space and classrooms, plus parking.

First Baptist Church gets a single-floor facility that is easier to maintain and easier for the churchs older members to navigate.

Pastors Jose Gutierrez Jr., left, of Templo Nuevo Vida and George Harrison of First Baptist Church N.B.C. both held services Sunday at the Jefferson Avenue church building.

inside their church on Jefferson Ave. The two churches have swapped building with Harrison holding their last service at the building.

The transition of the old year to the new had extra meaning for members of both churches who found the Sundays in December a time to say goodbye to their previous homes and a 2024 beginning in a new space.

Its been bittersweet for both congregations, but this keeps both facilities in the hands of churches, Templo Nueva Vida pastor Jose Gutierrez Jr. said.

Gutierrez founded the church in 2010, soon after he finished his studies at Pensacola Christian College.

After six years, the church needed more space and bought its current facility, the former Waco Bible Chapel. Another six years later, Templo Nueva Vida and its approximately 60 members were looking for larger quarters.

Templo Nueva Vida Pastor Jose Gutierrez Jr., shakes hands with members following the Sunday worship service at the former First Baptist Church N.B.C. building.

Gutierrez described Templo Nueva Vida, many of whose members are first-generation Mexican-Americans, as a fellowshipping church that prizes meeting together as part of the churchs identity and ministry.

The church struggled to find a larger space in its former neighborhood.

Templo Nueva Vida Pastor Jose Gutierrez Jr., leads a service at his congregation's new location on Jefferson Ave.

We love the North Waco area, but there are few facilities conducive to churches in this area, Gutierrez said.

Three miles to the south, members of First Baptist Church of Waco, affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA Inc., were looking to move as well. The Black Baptist church began in 1901 as North Eighth Street Church and built its permanent building in 1928.

George Harrison has served as pastor for 38 years, longer than any of his predecessors. Harrison said the 40,000-square-foot building was becoming increasingly difficult to use and maintain.

COVID almost killed us, he said.

Members of First Baptist Church N.B.C. hold their last service at their historic Jefferson Avenue location.

Harrison said the churchs average Sunday attendance of 300 to 400 people had dropped to 100 or fewer, due in part to the pause in Sunday services during COVID-19 surges and several members deaths during the pandemic.

The faithful families at the heart of First Baptists membership have kept it going, but older members were having trouble navigating the churchs steps and stairs. Keeping up with the maintenance of a facility built in 1928 also proved an increasing financial strain on the church, Harrison noted.

Church leadership decided to put their building on the market, but although its downtown location attracted attention, the price or the purpose of potential buyers proved sticking points.

I couldnt in good faith sell our church to a business that would sell alcohol, Harrison said.

And though the neighborhood where the church began had changed markedly over the last century, the longtime pastor also had trouble seeing yet another church leave downtown.

Gutierrez initially had approached Harrison when he first heard First Baptist Church might be selling its building, the Templo Nueva Vida pastor recalled, but the price and timing werent right. By fall, however, the two pastors picked up their earlier conversations, but over a different option: a straight-up trade of their buildings. As the two pastors and their church leaders discussed the issue, details began to fall into place. On Dec. 8, the churches filed the necessary paperwork to transfer their property deeds to each other.

The weeks since then have seen members moving furniture, repainting rooms and doing some light construction to prepare the church buildings for their new congregations. On Christmas Eve, Gutierrez preached his last sermon in Templos former home. On New Years Eve, a Sunday that saw both congregations worshipping in the First Baptist sanctuary at different times, Harrison preached his last sermon from what had been his home pulpit for nearly 40 years.

His sermon was Where Do We Go From Here, from a text in the book of Exodus about Moses leading the Israelites from Egypt through the Sinai wilderness. Moses followers had three options, Harrison noted: return to Egypt, stay in the wilderness or move forward.

Thats what were doing. Were moving forward, he said.

Templo Nueva Vidas new home keeps a church light burning at the Jefferson Avenue location, where it has been aglow for more than a century.

North Eighth Street Baptist Church was organized in 1901, then moved to Jefferson Street with a new frame building erected in 1928, according to The History of the Black Man in Waco, by former Waco City Council Member Garry Radford. A membership split shortly afterward saw the churchs name changed to First Baptist Church.

First Baptist Church N.B.C. built its house of worship in 1928 and renovated it in the 1950s.

Under the Rev. L.F. Hardee, who served as pastor for 32 years, the church bricked and renovated its building in 1952, with the renovation including an electric organ, grand piano and new pulpit. Nine years later, the church expanded again, converting basement space into classrooms, overhauling the church sanctuary and adding refrigerated air air conditioning.

Waco architectural historian Kenneth Hafertepe noted that North Eighth Street Baptist Church was founded at the southern end of an established Black community, a block from the North Seventh Street School, a Black school later known as Barron Springs Elementary School. It was a few blocks south of New Hope Baptist Church and a nearby Central Texas College for Black students, before New Hope moved to its current building in 1922.

Hafertepes Historic Homes of Waco, Texas profiles several small shotgun houses located in the 500 block of Sixth Street that indicate an adjacent neighborhood was a working class one with immigrants among its residents. Celebrated Waco singer Jules Bledsoe, incidentally, lived in the 800 block of Sixth Street in 1913.

A 1926 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of the area around North Eighth Street Baptist Church shows it a residential area, with clusters of small frame homes and boarding houses. The construction and expansion of Waco Drive to its immediate north, however, severed that part of the Black neighborhood and over time, its working class population moved elsewhere in Waco.

First Baptists beige brick exterior and its cathedral glass windows suggest the church was a middle-class congregation wanting to present a modern face to Waco, Hafertepe said.

Historic Buildings of Waco, Texas, doesnt profile the the Jefferson Avenue church building but highlights several downtown churches also built in the 1920s. Those include New Hope Baptist Church at 915 N. Sixth Street in 1922 and St. James Methodist Episcopal Church at Second Avenue and Clay Avenue in 1924, both substantial structures built by growing Black congregations.

Also from that era are Austin Avenue Methodist Church (1924), Waco Central Christian Church (1924), St. Francis on the Brazos Catholic Church (1928) and First Church of Christ, Scientist (1924).

The Rev. George Harrison of First Baptist Church N.B.C. preaches Sunday at thechurch's last service on Jefferson Avenue. The church has swapped buildings with Templo Nueva Vida.

Im glad it will have a new use with a new congregation, said Hafertepe, a Baylor museum studies professor and a leading advocate for historic preservation in Waco. The best possible use (of a historic church building) is by a church congregation.

Both Templo Nueva Vida and First Baptist are looking forward to continuing their own histories in a new place where they feel God has put them.

Harrison and his church already are planning to survey their new neighborhood about interest in continuing a youth feeding ministry the church has had for years. He added that when First Baptist needed chairs for its North 22nd Street building, Antioch Community Church stepped up to meet that need.

I know thats where we should be, he said.

Gutierrez, too, sees providential fingerprints steering his church in its new direction.

God always has a way of surprising us. When you need it, the door opens, he said.

Members of Templo Nueva Vida gather for their Sunday worship service at their location on Jefferson Avenue.

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Historic Black Waco congregation, growing Hispanic church swap buildings - Waco Tribune-Herald