On Sunday, October 1, 1809, Mrs. Ann Taylor, a founding member of Columbia Baptist Church, now the First Baptist Church of Columbia, was baptized in the Congaree River by Rev. William B. Johnson, the first pastor of the new congregation. A large crowd witnessed the baptism and then marched from the river to the courthouse where a group of believers formally established the Columbia Baptist Church.
Present that day were Cinda, a female slave, Ben, a slave, Bellah, a free black woman, Mrs. Ann Taylor, Roling Williamson and his wife Elsey, Patience Williams, John Good, John Clark, Elizabeth Hood, Rev. William B. Johnson, his wife Henrietta, and their slave Ned.
Pastor William B. Johnson described in his Reminiscences, “I found not many Baptists in Columbia, but as it was a growing place, we succeeded in constituting a Baptist church of 13 members: nine whites and four colored on the first Lord’s Day in October 1809, the year of my removal to Columbia. Of this number I had the pleasure of baptizing five persons, the first of whom was Mrs. Ann Taylor…”
The South Carolina state legislature had moved the capital of the state from Charleston to Columbia in 1786 and built South Carolina’s first State House in 1789. The town of Columbia was incorporated in 1805. South Carolina College, now the University of South Carolina, was founded in 1801.
Dr. Jonathan Maxcy, its first president, was a Baptist preacher from Providence, Rhode Island. He held services in the South Carolina College chapel beginning in 1804 for Baptist believers for several months before his health caused him to appoint another preacher.
Dr. Maxcy continued to oversee the chapel services and brought Rev. William B. Johnson to Columbia in 1809 to study theology. Johnson began preaching in the South Carolina College chapel and then in the courthouse and in October, 1809, helped form the Columbia Baptist Church.
The original church building was a simple square building (40 feet by 40 feet) on the corner of Sumter and Hampton Street (then called Plain Street). It was dedicated on March 2, 1811. This building was the main meeting place for Columbia’s Baptists.
In the early 1850s a call was made for a new “meetinghouse” for this growing congregation. Dr. James B. Boyce was named pastor in 1851, and he began to travel the state raising money for a new sanctuary that would rival the beautiful cathedrals already in Columbia. He personally contributed $10,000 toward its construction. The new sanctuary was dedicated on October 1, 1859 and today is called Boyce Chapel.
The church was the host of the first Secession Convention that led to the Civil War. The South Carolina State Legislature assigned the Richland County delegation to find a meeting place for the Secession convention and they secured the auditorium of the church. The delegates met on December 17, 1860, but decided to move the meeting to Charleston, SC, due to the fear of a smallpox outbreak in Columbia.
They met again in Charleston and seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. The church was not spared Sherman’s march through Columbia as the original 1811 church building was burned to the ground on February 17, 1865, by Sherman’s armies. In 1865, at the end of the Civil War, the South Carolina Constitutional Convention met in the church sanctuary.
For many years a large majority of the church congregation were black slaves. In 1828, the membership was reported as 74 white and 235 black church members. In 1860, the church reported that of 582 members, 120 were white and 462 were black. Shortly after the Civil War ended, the former slaves left the church and joined new churches created by them.
At the end of its first century, First Baptist had developed from the “acorn” of 13 members into an acorn- bearing oak tree under the leadership of the earlier pastors and especially under the leadership of pastor William C. Lindsey after the Civil War, 1877- 1910.
During its second 100 years the church has grown to over 5,000 members of various ethnic groups including a mission for Burmese people and one for Spanish speaking people. Under pastors Charles Burtz, Thomas Skinner, John Webb, Robert Campbell, Robert Naylor, Dr. Archie Ellis, Edwin Young, Marshall Edward and presently Dr. Wendell Estep, the church has led thousands of believers to serve others and their God. There have been many church planting campaigns, missionaries sent abroad, members ordained as preachers, and a longstanding ministry to the deaf and for Special Education groups.
Dr. Wendell Estep, the church’s current pastor said First Baptist Church of Columbia and its leaders have been an integral part of South Carolina’s history and the development of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Men such as Dr. Jonathan Maxcy, Rev. William B. Johnson, and Dr. James Boyce permanently impacted the Baptist movement in Columbia and throughout the state and region.
In 1821 the South Carolina Baptist Convention was organized in the church. The church provided the offices for the convention for many years and Pastor William B. Johnson served the Convention as vice- president for two years (1822- 1824) and as president for 27 years (1825- 1852).
Other pastors have served as the South Carolina Baptist Convention as president (Dr. James Boyce) and vice-president (W.C. Allen, R.C. Campbell, and R.A. Ellis.) Dr. Boyce was the chief founder of the first Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of Furman University.
To celebrate this rich history, former pastors and church members who have become pastors will preach on selected Sundays. During this year of celebration, there will also be special outreach programs to reach out to the Columbia community.
A Family Ministry Day will be held on June 13, 2009. The schedule for the monthly speakers is as follows:
April 27, 2009- Eric Estep, the son of Dr. Wendall and Lynda Estep, will be speaking. He is currently the pastor of a church plant called the Village Church in Blythewood.
May 17, 2009- Marshall Edwards, a former pastor of First Baptist Church, will be speaking.
June 13, 2009- is the Family Ministry Day.
July, 2009- The date of the 200th Anniversary Church Cookout will be released.
August 2, 2009- Ron Milne who grew up at First Baptist Church will be speaking. He currently is a pastor in Texas.
September 20, 2009- Todd Braswell who also grew up at First Baptist Church will be speaking. He is currently the pastor of a church in North Carolina.
October 4, 2009- (The date closest to the formation of the church in 1809) will be Celebration Sunday. The church members will hold a special service and have dinner on the grounds.
November 8, 2009- Albert Allen will be speaking. He grew up at First Baptist Church and currently is serving overseas.
December 13, 2009- Dr. Rebekah Naylor will be speaking. Her father was a pastor of First Baptist Church, and she currently serves as a foreign missionary.
Visit the website at www.fbccola.com or call the church office at 256-4251.
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