Tiny Fort Worth church celebrates 111th year

In 1903, a small church called Trinity Baptist opened near Fort Worth’s Riverside neighborhood.

At the time, the surrounding neighborhood was mostly white, and the church served as a gathering spot for the area’s small but growing African-American population.

On Sunday, the same church, now called Paradise Missionary Baptist Church, celebrated its 111th year.

“It was not always an easy road,” Pastor B.R. Baker said. “The church had to fight for acceptance in the neighborhood.”

Paradise has undergone many changes. In 1944, it moved to Fourth Street and changed its name to Fourth Street Baptist Church. There, it survived the Fort Worth flood of 1949.

In 1955, construction of Airport Freeway forced the church to move again, this time to Paradise Street, east of downtown. There, the church took on its current name.

Membership has fluctuated, Baker said, as many residents have moved out of the city. The congregation now has roughly 200 members, many of whom commute from the suburbs.

“It is truly a blessing to even be standing here,” Baker said. “Inner-city churches all over are hurting and struggling for members. Our members have faithful, dedicated hearts, and they refuse to go anywhere else. They keep this church going.”

Sunday, the congregation belted the lyrics to Go Tell It on the Mountain and Shine on Me, while old and new members embraced.

The Rev. Lloyd Austin, the 91-year-old pastor emeritus of St. John Baptist Church in Mosier Valley — the oldest black community in Tarrant County — gave a guest sermon. It was his first at Paradise since the early 1950s.

Times have changed, Austin said, but much remains the same.

“Somebody recently told me it’s a new day,” Austin said during his sermon. “I wonder what that means. The sun still goes down in the west and rises in the east.”

Austin urged congregation members to push aside daily distractions.

“Take that thing out of your pocket. Take that thing away from your ear,” he said. “How are you going to hear the Lord?”

The Rev. David Ferrell, who began attending Paradise in the 1950s and is now pastor of Galilee Baptist Church, said returning to this church felt like coming home.

“And I don’t forget where I come from,” he added. “You never know when you’ll come back. Life is funny.”

Member Kimily Peyton said founders and members alike have worked hard to keep the church alive.

“We have to keep working for the Lord. We have to build up,” Peyton said. “We have to keep doing what we’re doing for another 111 years.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2014 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Tiny Fort Worth church celebrates 111th year."