First Baptist Church | Our History

Our History

First Baptist Church of Punta Gorda

1889 – 2006

The First Baptist Church of Punta Gorda was established in 1889 and is the

oldest Baptist church in Charlotte County in continuous service. The First

Baptist Church of Charlotte Harbor was established in 1886, but it was

disbanded four years later for a number of years.

Rev. T. J. Sparkman served as the first Pastor of the Church. Services were held

in a skating rink over a downtown livery stable. The congregation began with

nine members. Among the charter members were Mrs. J. L. Sandlin and Mrs.

Nancy Linquish. The first building site was purchased in 1891, and the first

building was completed in 1895 at the corner of Cross Street (now Highway 41

SB) and Olympia Avenue.

The year 1910 saw the adoption of tithing, the formation of the first “Women’s

Missionary Society” and the construction of a concrete baptismal pool. The

facilities were continually expanded with a pastorium costing $3,500 built in

1922 and Sunday School additions in 1927 and 1929. Property was acquired on

Retta Esplanade in the early 1940s, and a building program began in the mid-

1940s. During this period, Sunday School was held at both the Cross Street and

Retta Esplanade facilities, with worship services being held in the Cross Street

sanctuary.

In 1959, the present site was acquired. The Crosland Chapel and Sunday School

facilities were dedicated on January 28, 1962. The pastorium was moved to the

present site and later torn down. With the completion of the aforementioned

facilities, the other properties on Cross Street and Retta Esplanade were sold.

First Baptist Church of Punta Gorda began her greatest outreach effort in the late 1950s with

the establishment of the Port Charlotte Mission. The first Mission service was held in the

Port Charlotte Community Center on Mother’s Day, May 8, 1960, with Dr. John H. Witt

preaching the sermon. Dedication services for the Mission site were held January 1, 1961,

with the first building being dedicated July 16, 1961. The initial Mission effort has seen many

people reached and won for Jesus Christ. The Mission became the First Baptist Church of

Port Charlotte, and she outgrew her mother church! She later sponsored a mission now

known as South Biscayne Baptist Church, and she is even larger than her mother church

and now meets in a renovated mall! South Biscayne later sponsored the Murdock Mission,

which has now constituted into Murdock Baptist Church.

Early in 1974, planning began for another expansion program. First Baptist Church of Punta

Gorda voted on January 26, 1975, to begin a comprehensive building program. This program

would be accomplished in three phases at an estimated cost of a million dollars! Phase one

began with an addition to the Crosland Chapel starting in June 1975, and it was completed

in September 1975. The educational building expansion began in August 1975 and was

completed in January 1976. Site drainage, sidewalks, paving and landscaping, planned as

part of Phase three, were completed in later years.

While in the middle of this building program in 1975, First Baptist Church of Punta Gorda

undertook the sponsorship of the South Punta Gorda Baptist Mission. Rev. Jack Otis was

the Mission’s first Pastor. The Mission was later named Southside Baptist Mission.

Southside later disbanded for a time and was reestablished later as a Mission under the

sponsorship of the First Baptist Church of Port Charlotte with a new name: Trinity Baptist

Chapel. The Mission was later constituted as Trinity Baptist Church and is now led by Pastor

Steve Thompson.

In 1983, First Baptist Church of Punta Gorda again began looking to the future, realizing a

need to expand her facilities. New ordinances and codes required additional land for parking

and storm water retention. The Church purchased property contiguous to her site on which

stood three residences. These residences were marked as rental housing until the building

expansion program should require their removal. In 1987, a minor addition and renovation

was done to the sanctuary to enlarge the stage area, build a new baptistery and add new

lighting, new paint and new carpeting.

In February 1986, the Church called her 49th Pastor, Rev. Charles M. (“Mack”) Hutson. Ken

Keely was called as Minister of Youth and Music in July 1987. Under Brother Mack’s

leadership, the Church excelled in discipleship, as demonstrated by the number of Church

Study Course awards earned by her members in various areas of leadership. Brother Mack

and Ken served well together until 1998, when Brother Mack retired and Ken followed the

Lord’s leadership to another place of service.

In the mid-1990s, the Church elected a building committee and launched a master planning

process that culminated in December 1997 with a vote to build a new Worship Center to seat

more than 650 people. In 1998, the Church embarked on a three-year fund-raising drive to

help raise the estimated cost of $775,000 to build the new building. In 2000, the Church

voted to expand on the initial plans and to enter into a new fund-raising program (at the

conclusion of the first one) to provide additional funds to renovate the existing sanctuary

into a Fellowship Hall. The first program was successfully completed in April 2001, and a

second program began immediately to raise the additional funds needed.

In mid-2000, the Church called Dr. Tom Moore as her 50th Pastor. Tom came to the Church

with direction from the Pastor Search Committee and an urgent personal desire to lead the

church to continued growth, especially reaching out to younger families in the community

who had yet to be reached. A difference in ministry philosophy between the Pastor and

church leaders led to Tom’s early departure in mid-2001.

The Church had called Joe T. Odum as Minister of Music and Education just prior to Brother

Tom’s resignation, and Joe served faithfully, holding the church together during a difficult

period. He was a retired Air Force Officer who had recently graduated from the Baptist

College of Florida with dual Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Education and was perfectly

suited for this staff position. During the interim period without a full-time Pastor, Dr. Jim

Davis served as Interim Pastor. The church borrowed the remaining funds needed to

complete the construction of the new Worship Center. Construction began in April 2001, and

it was completed and dedicated in November 2001.

In July 2002, Rev. Paul H. Russell was called to lead First Baptist Church of Punta Gorda as

Pastor, and Joe Odum was ordained to the Gospel Ministry shortly after Pastor Paul’s

arrival. Joe established an orchestra soon after Paul came, including keyboard, violins,

trumpets, trombones, baritone, saxophone, flute, guitar, bass guitar and drums. Joe’s son,

Rev. Brian J. Odum, was called as Minister to Students in February 2003, completing the

ministerial staff of three and poising the Church for what we expect will be systematic and

steady growth in the coming years as God pours out His blessing on His church here in

Punta Gorda!

The former sanctuary was renovated early in 2003, with the addition of a commercial

kitchen, two large bathrooms and two large storage closets. Following three hurricanes in

2004 that devastated Charlotte County and did significant damage to the Church’s facilities,

additional renovations were completed, including a new steeple to replace the one Hurricane

Charley blew off the building, and more improvements are in progress even now.

Rev. Joe Odum resigned in May 2005 to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in

Louisville, KY, to prepare himself for even greater future ministry, and the Church elected a

Search Committee to locate another staff member. Mr. Brad Duckworth directed our choir

and led us in worship in the interim period, having served as a choir and orchestra member

under Joe. Brad’s wife, Sylvia, has been our organist since 1999. In July 2006, Rev. John

McDonald came to be our new Minister of Music and Families, a new focus for reaching a

new generation of worshippers for God. He and his family moved to Punta Gorda from

Lafayette, Georgia, after serving a church there for five years.

Rev. Brian Odum resigned in January 2006 to be part of a team planting a new church in a

fast-growing area of Pasco County (north of Tampa, near New Port Richey), and the Church

elected another Search Committee to recruit a godly man for that position. In March 2007,

we called Scott Doran as our bi-vocational Director of Youth Ministries. His evangelistic

passion has ignited a new level of excitement in our youth ministry.

We look forward to what God has in store for us as we continue to worship and serve Him in

the years to come!

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