Bethel Baptist grateful for 75 years
Bethel Baptist grateful for 75 years
RICH TROUT/NEWS-SUN
Bethel Baptist Church in Knowles is the No. 1 giving church in New Mexico for Mission Dignity, a charity to help retired pastors and their widows who don't receive Social Security, don't have a home, and belonged to a church with no pension.
"They don't have retirement or assets or a place to stay; they literally are having to start from scratch," said Carol Ann Thompson, 85, the only founding member of Bethel Baptist still alive on its 75th anniversary.
Bethel Baptist Deacon R.W. Norris, who died in June, was the only other.
And Bethel Baptist will celebrate it's 75 years from 1 – 4 p.m. Saturday at the church, six miles north of Hobbs on North Dal Paso Street.
"We're having a celebration of what the church has done in the community and around the United States, and around the world," Pastor Jimmy said said.
A terribly long trip
Forty-five minutes to an hour was the time required to travel from Knowles to Hobbs just after the founding of Bethel Baptist Church, Carol Ann said.
In 1945, Carol Ann's parents moved to Hobbs from Martin, Texas.
"No one was living here," she said about the Knowles area. "Today, I could leave Knowles and be in Hobbs in five minutes."
In 1949, the church started with 21 families who felt the Knowles community needed a church.
"Other families started coming in," Thompson said, "because they were interested and wanted a church. Over the next year, we started meeting at mom and dad's house."
Otis Edwards, a missionary from the Southern Baptist Convention, offered tremendous help to the baby church.
Edwards started working with other pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention, such as Mr. and Ms. Walter Lawrence, who donated the land the church sits on.
"Brother Edwards had all of the s we needed to establish a church," Carol Ann said
Pausing, voice cracking as she tried to continue, Carol Ann said the women of Bethel Baptist came up with the church's name. Bethel means "a sacred area or sanctuary."
"It means the house of God," Carol Ann said as she started to cry.
Edwards decided the 21 members were going to have an open-air revival, with a peddle organ Carol Ann's mom played.
"Everyone there joined the church and they and their families became the charter members," she said, after regaining her composure.
"And Carol is the only one left," Joyce said.
Nineteen builders
Nineteen men built the first Bethel Baptist Church. The congregation received the money from the WMU Women, a group of Southern Baptist women. The church voted to borrow $2,500, and to pay it back at $25 a month at 2 percent interest.
"They took that money and bought lumber and nails, and with that $2,500 built the built the floor of the church," Carol Ann said.
Unforgettable is the only word Carol Ann can muster to describe the earnestness and sincerity of the founding members.
"It is a loving church," she said.
"I cry," Carol Ann confessed, noting she's giving testimony Saturday during the 75th Anniversary celebration. "I'm giving testimony to the people who started this church and wanted a church to have a place to worship."
Longest-serving pastor
In 2004, R.W. Norris was the head deacon of Bethel Baptist Church, searching for a new pastor.
"He asked me to fill in to just help him out," Jimmy Crawford said in his jovial, best friend voice. "I said, sure I'd do that. I was teaching Sunday school class in Lovington at the time, and the Sunday school was larger than the Bethel congregation."
Crawford had been filling in off and on for Bethel with no reservation.
"Every time you go to a church," Jimmy said, warmly chuckling, "they ask you if you have time to be a pastor.
In 2004, Jimmy taught high school English at Lovington High School, coached the tennis team, and served as a Gideon.
"I just kept bringing a message Sunday after Sunday and Sunday nights as well," Jimmy said. "The deacon came up to me and asked if I prayed about being a pastor."
After listening to Jimmy's answer, Norris didn't let up.
"Have you really prayed about it," Norris said. "I think you need to; I think God may be leading you to it."
After going home, Jimmy thought about it again and came to the same conclusion.
He decided, as he was "just too busy" with his life.
Jimmy and his wife, Carolyn, of 31 years in 2024, prayed about it.
Carolyn described Bethel as a blessing to all the Crawfords.
"It has been wonderful to watch the church grow," Carolyn said. "From the time that my husband took over as pastor in 2004 up until today, the people of Bethel have become family to us. They have helped mold our three boys into the men of God that they have become today. They continue to pour out into our family as we pour into theirs. Bethel is truly a family of God. I'm glad that we serve in this loving church."
The Crawford's sons are Cameron, 29, who leads Bible studies at his church in Beaverton, Ore.; Christian, 25, the worship leader at his church in El Paso, Texas; and Jace, 23, an accountant in Phoenix.
Not all high notes
As a vacation Bible school teacher for five years, Jimmy felt confident he could lead Bethel's vacation Bible school.
"I figured we'd do a VBS and we'll have a good time with them, and we'll leave on a high note," he said.
Still, Jimmy knew being a pastor wasn't all high notes.
"No one sees the times you get called at any time of day, 24 hours a day, when the members have someone sick, when they need to talk to you about marriage difficulties and many other issues," he said. "All they see is, you stand up for an hour on Sunday."
Carolyn told Jimmy she thought he could accomplish being a pastor.
"She said, 'I think we can do this. My wife's words were confirmation from God, and ever since then it's been a family affair."
Jimmy told the deacons that night he wanted to be their pastor. They voted unanimously for him to take the role.
If a pastor in Hobbs is truly in love with his church, that pastor would be Jimmy.
"The people are so genuine, the people are just real people," he said. "Sometimes you go to churches and people seem to be preoccupied or have an agenda; they don't seem real. The thing that impressed me at Bethel was that the people were real people and they loved the Lord."
An average guy
A self-described normal guy who loves the Lord, Jimmy said he relishes the fact serves other normal people.
The first Sunday after Jimmy accepted the pastorship, he left the auditorium before service to go to the restroom. He approached a quiet young man sitting in the foyer with tattoos on every inch of his body.
"I sat next to him, and he said, 'I'm just struggling with a lot of stuff.' He said he'd rather sit outside the church. He told me, 'I can hear out here.'"
Nonetheless, Jimmy asked the man to come inside, as he had nothing to fear.
"As I walked him in, an older lady who sat at the back of the church walked up to the young man and said, 'I'd like you to sit here with me.' They worshipped together."
Jimmy emphasized Bethel Baptist Church members "are the real deal.
"They're looking at the heart," he said. "They know we're all looking for a savior. People come in with shorts, with T-shirts, with ties, we're all there worshiping the lord together. We're real Christians living in the real world, and we're to love God and love people. There's no need to over-complicate things."
Although when Jimmy first started preaching, the congregation had only 20 people. Over the years, Bethel grew to 120 active members. After Jimmy's "newness" wore off, the church returned to 80 members or so.
Modernizing Bethel
In recent years, Bethel has learned to modernize.
The church has an online presence with a Facebook page and YouTube channel, and people from across the country, including Florida, Houston, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona and California, correspond with Jimmy over Facebook and email.
"The people," Jimmy said, almost gasping. "There is a wonderful story on that."
A woman who's never physically attended Bethel Baptist said her daughter puts the church service on her personal Facebook page, so she can watch it every Sunday. The cool part about that is this lady and her mom have a family member who lives in Arizona who was recently diagnosed with cancer."
That male family member was an atheist, but because he kept seeing Bethel Baptist's service on his aunt's Facebook page, he watched it once, twice, then three times.
"He gave his life to Christ in one of our online services," Jimmy raved. "Our little church is changing lives for Christ around the world, and that is phenomenal, just phenomenal."
Southern Baptists believe being saved means to fully believe the Gospel's good news of eternal life through Jesus Christ, who lived, died and was resurrected for the world's sins.
"After the Arizona man accepted Christ," Jimmy said, "he began sharing Bethel's services on live video to family in Colorado, so they can learn more about Christ."
Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine.
American evangelist and missionary Franklin Graham became president of Samaritan's Purse in 1979.
"Last year, we distributed about 900 boxes around the world," Jimmy said. "We've been doing that now for about 10 years, and we're a large contributor to that.
"You can't outgive God, you can't outgive God," Jimmy said.
'Honk if You Love Jesus'
Carol Ann and Joyce had brought Bethel's 60th Anniversary album to a church office room.
As Carol Ann flipped a page, to October 1952, to a photograph of Bethel's parsonage, she said they needed a place for their preacher.
"They started it in 1955 with two rooms, and two rooms on the back. In 1958, they decided to build a fellowship hall. They called it the little church, but because the church was growing so fast, they had to build a new sanctuary with new pews, lighting and stained-glass windows.
In 1986, Bethel Baptist Church voted to erect the new sanctuary, while agreeing not to go in debt. In 1989, the sanctuary was completed, the dedication occurring in April that year.
For Phase 2, the church voted to build a new educational wing due to the increased enrollment. The south wing was completed in 1993, the long part in 2002.
Phase 3, a new fellowship hall, was finished in 2003.
"To build a new fellowship hall, the old church had to be torn down," Carol Ann said.
In 2007, Bethel Baptist erected its digital sign, on which they could change the message at will.
"Honk if you love Jesus" has been the long-term message to thousands of drivers heading down or up Denver City Highway.
"The church became what it is today is because every pastor and member contributed to it," Carol Ann said. "Deacons, Sunday school teachers, song leaders, it was the whole church that contributed up to the present day."
"We have five generations in the church," added Joyce.
As a modern congregation, they are carrying on the tradition of worship of the original Bible-based, family oriented, country church that has stood for God's word for 75 years, Carol Ann said.
Joyce said she reads the King James version of the Bible, though Jimmy uses the NIV version for church service.
"Jimmy has taught the scripture of the first five books, and it's word for word," Joyce emphasized.
Although she can't walk anymore, Joyce appears to be one of the happiest, most joyful women alive. Smiling always.
"The devil has taken a lot away from me, but he hasn't taken my memory," Joyce said. "I still have my mind."
The two women made a point about forgiveness they learned at Bethel.
"You have to forgive yourself first when you forgive someone," Joyce said.
Despite wanting to put one of her family members in the Space Shuttle on a mission to Mars, Joyce had to forgive.
"If we get into it, it's partly my fault, and I have to forgive myself before I forgive you," Joyce said to Carol Ann before they departed to other business.
"We love out pastor," Carol Ann said. "He's like a pastor, a son and a friend all wrapped up in one bundle."
"He's going to get Ricky a job at Walmart as a greeter," Joyce added. "It doesn't matter who you are. He will talk to you for an hour or two or three.
On a sad note, 40 church members have passed away since Jimmy became pastor.
"Every one of them is gone now except for me and RW Norris, who passed away three months ago. He was ordained as deacon in 1956 and passed in June."
The people who started Bethel Baptist Church wanted a church simply to have a place to worship.
Rich Trout's email is
