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In 1892, in southern Jasper County, Beaumont Lumber Company established a logging camp that developed into a town, with the Buna post office opening the following year. The former logging camp survived after timber ran out and many jobs and businesses stayed, requiring a place for families to worship. The Kirby Lumber Company, a prominent sawmill in town, furnished a building in Bessmay for Baptist and Methodist services. By 1899, church minutes indicate that Baptists were meeting in Buna as a church and had been calling themselves by various names and meeting intermittently in the area for more than four decades. Meeting places were still shared with Methodist congregations until 1916. On December 8, 1918, with around 16 members, the Buna Missionary Baptist Church was founded. Members of the church constructed a small sanctuary in 1921. In the 1940s, the Richard Lyon house on Main Street was purchased as a parsonage to house ministers. During this time, the church was officially renamed First Baptist Church of Buna. Membership increased and by the mid-1940s, the church added a two-story building to their campus for classrooms, a nursery and modern amenities. In 1955, the church moved to a three-acre plot and expanded over the decades. The Women's Missionary Union led the focus on missions and service for the church. Members traveled to other states and countries to support missionaries in the field. Locally, radio church services were offered beginning in the 1960s. From community outreach and assistance to participation in the annual Buna Redbud Festival, First Baptist Church of Buna has served the community and region for more than a century. (2019) |
