“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.  For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.”  Psalms 95:1-3

Our God is so good and has been so good to us here at First Baptist Keithville. I love this church and I am so thankful to have been the pastor here for almost 38 years!  Time has flown by and yet, all through the years and the history of this church, God has blessed. Let me just hit some high spots when it comes to our history here at First Baptist.

• July 3, 1936 – the good folks out here in Keithville prayed and sought the Lord’s guidance in starting a church and after building it themselves, they named it Washington Baptist Church! At that time, it was on the north side of Williams Road.  Later, they lifted the church up on some logs and moved across Williams Road to where our present day campus resides.
• March 10, 1946 – motorcycle riding Claude Spearman became the first pastor and the congregation planted two acres of cotton to establish the first building fund. A well was dug and lumber was cut for new Sunday School rooms.  One thing about it, First Baptist Keithville, even from its early beginnings, has always been a giving church – giving to the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program, missions and an orphans home.
• 1948 – George Mitchell was the pastor and under his leadership, new benches, a piano and a rug were purchased to the glory of our loving Lord Jesus Christ.
• 1949 – W.A. Batey was called as pastor and attendance was growing!
• July, 1951 – Our church had a High Attendance Goal of 125 and almost reached it with an attendance of 95!!
• November, 1951 – Sherman Bridgeman was the new pastor and a groundbreaking ceremony was held to build a new building.
• December, 1952 – the first service was held in the new building and in that day – it was awesome! There were new folding chairs, air-cooled fans, frosted windows with screens, heaters and everything was insured!  It was a great day of God’s blessings!
• 1955 – the first parsonage was completed!
• 1956 – Leslie Creel was called as pastor!
• 1961 – a new education building was built as well as an upgrade and modernization of all the existing buildings, furnishings and grounds!
• October 4, 1967 – the name Washington Baptist Church was changed to First Baptist Church Keithville. And in …
• 1969 – our church joined the Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association and continues to be a member to this very day.
• During the 1970’s and the 1980’s – our church was led by Jack Byrd and later Cecil Marr and First Baptist Keithville continued to grow not only spiritually, but by the purchase of more land and a new parsonage was built by our members.
• The First Sunday of May, 1987 – I, Mike Stowell, became your pastor!! And oh, how the Lord has blessed – not because of anything that I have done, but all of what God has done!!  He has been so good to First Baptist Church Keithville!

To be honest, I don’t even know where to start but I do know this, that through the good times and even through the bad times, God has ALWAYS BEEN FOUND FAITHFUL!  Why?  Because I believe with all of my heart that the emphasis here at our church has always been JESUS!  And if it ever quits being about JESUS, I really believe that the blessings of God will stop.

I love this church!  I love the people of this church!  And I love the spirit of this church! You can feel the love of Christ in this place!  Our people are warm, forgiving, loving, kind and generous.  Time and time again, the people here have loved, worshipped and served God and they have done the same for one another and others!

I can’t say thank you enough to God for leading me here almost 38 years ago as pastor and I can’t say thank you enough to this church family for being so kind and loving to me and my family through the years.  Your support and prayers mean more than you will ever know.  As we continue this spiritual journey of life together, may we always remember that it is always all about Jesus and it must be, always be, all about Jesus!  See you Sunday!