House Bill 9085

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9085

        By Representative Kilmer






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution congratulating the First Baptist

  3         Church of Campbellton on the occasion of its

  4         175th anniversary.

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  6         WHEREAS, three months after John Quincy Adams had begun

  7  his presidency and 20 years before Florida would attain

  8  statehood, First Baptist Church of Campbellton was established

  9  on March 12, 1825, as Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church,

10  today the oldest Baptist church in the state, and

11         WHEREAS, holding their first service on March 13, the

12  19 charter members immediately called the Reverend E. W.

13  Callaway to serve as pastor of the eager congregation, and

14         WHEREAS, as early as 1826, a search was begun for a

15  site on which to locate a meetinghouse, but it was not until

16  1852 that 10 acres of land were purchased for the sum of $50,

17  with a provision being made for a public school to be erected

18  on the property, and

19         WHEREAS, the first meetinghouse was made of logs and

20  the congregation was segregated by gender, with women on one

21  side and men on the other, but the fellowship was diverse,

22  comprised of landowners, slaves, and the poor, and

23         WHEREAS, the rich history of the church includes many

24  notable "firsts" which exemplify its zeal for outreach, as

25  evidenced by the November 12, 1825, establishment of its first

26  mission on the bluff of the Apalachicola River at

27  Chattahoochee; formation of the first female missionary

28  society in Florida in 1848; sponsorship in 1865 of the First

29  Graceville Mission, a fellowship which continues today as

30  Damascus Baptist Church; and, a milestone in the life of the

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9085

    718-120A-00






  1  church, the change from monthly services to full-time services

  2  in 1953, and

  3         WHEREAS, on March 12, 2000, First Baptist Church of

  4  Campbellton celebrated the 175th anniversary of its existence,

  5  NOW, THEREFORE,

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  7  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

  8  Florida:

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10         That the House of Representatives pauses in its

11  deliberations to congratulate the members of the oldest

12  Baptist Church in Florida, the First Baptist Church of

13  Campbellton, on the occasion of its 175th anniversary and to

14  express its sincere appreciation for the continued commitment

15  of the congregation to a ministry initiated in 1825 by 19

16  stalwart members of the community.

17         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution

18  be presented to the Reverend Luther Pumphrey as a tangible

19  token of the sentiments expressed herein.

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