One hundred fifty-four years is a long time. Over the last 156 years, the United States has grown from a small nation to a great world power.
Over the last 156 years, the automobile, television, radio, motion pictures the airplane, telephones, electric and electronic machines and devices and virtually every thing we use in daily life has been invented or developed.
And over the last 156 years, Mount Gilead Baptist Church has steadfastly served the Lord, despite wars, financial setbacks, Indian raids and a host of other roadblocks.
Mount Gilead was the first church of any denomination founded after the county in which it is located, Tarrant County, Texas, was organized in 1850. It is now the second oldest church in the county (one church was in existence before the county was organized).
Mount Gilead is believed to be the only church in the area which arose from the ashes of its own building, burned to the ground in an Indian raid in 1858.
The church was founded in 1850 by 13 dedicated Christians, including two slaves, who found themselves in a wild and rugged wilderness area, too far from any other church to regularly attend. It was organized in the home of Daniel Barcroft in what is now Keller, but then was a farm far from civilization.
Of the 13 original members, one, Parmelia (Milly) Allen had been born before the American Revolution; another, Iraneous Neace, was a landholder who donated the first land for the church and and two others, Ambrose and Caroline Collard, were slaves of Milly Allen, who, nevertheless, were considered full and founding members of Mount Gilead.
Barcroft is the first known deacon in the church, and the man who provided a place for the church to meet in its earliest days. The first minister was a remarkable man of God, Rev. John Allen Freeman, who preached the Gospel in various parts of the nation for more than 60 years. Rev. Freeman was a member of Lonesome Dove Baptist Church of Grapevine Springs (now Southlake) when it became evident that more churches were needed in the area. Three missions were founded, of which only Mount Gilead survived. From the original 13 members, the church has grown to a membership of more than 850 today.
Rev. Freeman, who later moved to California and organized churches there, preached the first sermon ever delivered in Fort Worth (then Camp Worth) to the soldiers stationed there. This was prior to 1854. He later returned to the area and preached his last sermon in Grapevine 1907.
Of the original 13 founders, five are thought to be buried in the Mount Gilead Cemetery, adjacent to the church, although the exact location of all the graves is not now known.
One of the most dramatic events in Mount Gilead's history was the burning of the church's original log building during an Indian raid in 1858. Such raids were common during the period, but only this one, so far as is known, resulted in any damage to the church. The destruction of the church building did not slow Mount Gilead's growth, although there were periods in which the church suffered. One of these was the Civil War, during which the church's membership dropped from more than 75 to less than 20. Largely through the efforts of Daniel Barcroft, who returned from service with the Confederate Army, was the church able to continue and resume its growth in the period after the war.
For more than 40 years after the end of the Civil War, Mount Gilead prospered and grew, becoming one of the founding churches of the Tarrant Baptist Association.
Shortly before the First World War, however, for reasons not now recalled, the church went into a period of decline, from which it did not fully recover until after 1930.
The oldest of Mount Gilead's existing buildings dates from 1882 and is located on the site of the original 1850 building which was burned. Four other structures, built from the 1950s to the 1980s, also are used by the church and a new and much larger church is in the early stages of construction.
Mount Gilead has been served by 48 pastors during its history. Membership has, over the years, fluctuated a bit, but since the end of World War 2 in 1945, there has been consistent and steady growth.
For a more detailed history of Mount Gilead Baptist Church, please telephone the church office at 817-431-1410.