New Light Missionary Baptist Church

New Light marked its hundredth year with a Texas historical marker unveiled on February 22, 2025, after the Taylor County Historical Commission sought approval. The keynote speaker, the Rev. Andrew Penns, now pastor of Valley View Missionary Baptist Church, was baptized at New Light at age twelve, and his parents belonged to the congregation. In Abilene's line of Black Baptist churches, New Light is the third, after Mount Zion in 1885 and Macedonia in 1898, and it began with members who left Macedonia.

What the plaque says

New Light Missionary Baptist Church The initial Baptist church to serve African American residents of Abilene was founded in 1885, four years after the town was established by cattlemen as a stock shipping point. New Light Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1923 by Mary Yates, Mariah Bennett, Lillian Wells and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Weir after separating from Macedonia Baptist Church, which had been established in 1898. The Rev. S.H. Hubbard was the first pastor. The newly formed congregation held worship in a small house located on Magnolia Street (now known as N. Treadway). The Rev. R. F. Bonner served as pastor of New Light from 1927 through 1948. He led efforts in fundraising and construction of a new church building, erected across the street facing the original home where services were first held. This new facility was affectionately referred to as "the Little Cobblestone Church." Due to the growing congregation, a new building was completed in 1958 under the leadership of the Rev. Alton Hurd. Through its long-serving leadership, New Light is also known for its contribution to community efforts, education and the arts in the city. The church sponsored a daycare center, adult education classes, a young men's mentoring program and a church choir which was featured on the radio and in the community. The choir was also the special guest of Governor Ann Richards at the Texas Capitol. The Rev. Dr. Leo F. Scott was the first African American to serve on the Abilene City Council. Pastors and the congregation have participated in the progressive West Texas Baptist District Association, Abilene Negro Ministerial Alliance, and the General Baptist State Convention. New Light Missionary Baptist Church continued to be an integral part of the Abilene community. (2023)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Frontier Texas! — 0.3 mi
  Abilene's multimedia museum of the frontier as the settlers told it, beside the Texas and Pacific tracks the town was built on, and the official visitor center for the Texas Forts Trail.
• Buffalo Gap Historic Village — 13 mi
  The 1880 stone courthouse and jail of the county seat Abilene took away, with about twenty old buildings from around West Texas gathered around it since 1956.
• Fort Phantom Hill — 13 mi
  A field of lone stone chimneys north of Abilene, left by the fire after the Army left in 1854, later a stage stop and a buffalo-hide town of more than 500 people.
• Abilene State Park — 18 mi
  A pecan-shaded park on Elm Creek in the Callahan Divide south of Abilene, with red sandstone CCC buildings, a summer pool, a bird blind and yurts under the trees.

More markers nearby

• Macedonia Baptist Church — steps away
• Mexican-American / Americanization School — steps away
• Mount Zion Baptist Church — 0.3 mi
• Claiborne Walker Merchant — 0.3 mi