Community outreach, strong roots mark First Baptist Church of Greensburg's 150 years

Sep. 15—Bill Hodge, a member of First Baptist Church of Greensburg for 93 years, has a reserved seat at every service.

It's on a raised platform in a rear corner of the church sanctuary, where Hodge operates the camera that streams the sermons of his pastor, the Rev. Scott Jones, and the music of the Sunday morning praise team to video screens in the three-story church and to congregation members watching from home.

DVD recordings of each of the services join more than 2,000 books in the church library, also under Hodge's supervision. He has updated the digital library catalog and relabeled all of the volumes.

"We started out with the DVDs, and then, during the (covid-19) pandemic, we started doing the streaming," Hodge said. "I run two cameras at a time, one for streaming and one for making DVDs. I zoom it in and out and cover the whole area."

Like his church, which will celebrate its 150th anniversary this weekend, Hodge has kept up with the changing times.

"I've held just about every office in the church through the years," Hodge said, including a 25-year stint as treasurer. "I was a junior usher and then a junior deacon. Then I got old enough to be an elected officer."

His roots run back to the church's beginning, as do those of many fellow worshipers.

"About a third of our congregation is related to Bill in some fashion," said Larry Newlon, 81, who sings with the praise team and has helped to update the written history of the church.

Hodge's great-grandfather, William F. Weaver, and Weaver's father-in-law, John Mensch, were among the founders of the congregation in 1873.

First Baptist Church resulted when members of Big Sewickley Baptist Church in Hunker, now known as Hilltop Baptist Church, began conducting Bible study sessions in Greensburg during the Civil War.

"Today, it's a rather insignificant trip, but getting between Greensburg and Hunker in the 1860s was quite an accomplishment," Newlon said.

The church attracted much attention when it was established in the Ludwick neighborhood, at the west end of Greensburg. It's believed as many as 1,500 people showed up to observe the first pastor, the Rev. R.C. Morgan, conduct a baptismal service for 14 new members in Zeller's Pond, which has since disappeared from the western Greensburg landscape.

"Baptism by immersion was such a unique thing that people in Greensburg had never seen before," Newlon said.

For a time, the congregation shared use of part of a downtown Greensburg building with the local YMCA. In 1896, First Baptist dedicated a new church at Pennsylvania Avenue and Third Street, where it remained for nearly 80 years.

In 1975, the congregation moved into its current home on six acres of land along Brinkerton Road in Hempfield, near the Pitt-Greensburg campus. The congregation was able to hold a mortgage-burning ceremony just three years later after a longtime member, Anna Mary Pollins McGovern of Jeannette, bequeathed her entire estate to the church.

"She was a very unassuming lady," said Donna Marshall, a member of the church for 66 years who serves on its history committee. "This was a miracle."

Since then, the church has been remodeled, adding a lift for handicapped accessibility. It also has gained two side-by-side boccie courts, upgraded as part of an Eagle Scout project, where 20-some players gather every Monday evening from June through August.

"We come to play and associate with each other," said Newlon. "It's a pleasant time."

A pavilion constructed in 2012 will host some of the activities Saturday, when about 100 people are expected to gather for the church's weekend anniversary celebration. Children's activities, a bonfire and dedication of a recently planted Japanese maple are planned, followed by a church service and banquet on Sunday.

"Community outreach is really important to the church," said Marshall.

A "trash and treasure" sale held at the church each May raises money that is donated to the Christian Layman Corps. That Greensburg nonprofit provides those in need with assistance including emergency food, clothing and household items.

The church also collects and donates children's clothing, including garments created by members of its Quarterly Quilters group. "We have a lot of seamstresses," Marshall said.

With the arrival of the new millennium, First Baptist initiated a series of annual "Be Our Guest" events open to the public. For the 2001 event, the church constructed a temporary wooden half pipe on its front lawn for use by visiting evangelist and professional skateboarder Eddie "El Gato" Elguera.

"He had a wireless mike and was talking to the crowd as he was skating back and forth," Newlon recalled. "We had seating for a couple hundred people.

"About 45 young men came forward. They didn't join our church, but at least they responded to what Eddie was proposing."

The church rents its fellowship hall for five weekly meetings of local Narcotics Anonymous groups. With financial donations from church members, a First Baptist women's Bible study group, Sisters of Light, ensures that "Recovery Bibles," prepared with those recovering from addiction in mind, are kept in stock and are displayed for any who want to take one home.

"We've gone through well over 100 of them," Newlon said.

The Irwin Male Chorus holds its rehearsals and stores equipment at First Baptist Church. "We've adopted them as an auxiliary organization," said Newlon, who is among five congregation members who also sing in the chorus. "That saves the chorus some expense because our church liability insurance covers them."

First Baptist also serves a Young at Heart luncheon for seniors that is open to the community on the third Thursday of each month. A guest speaker and musical entertainment typically are featured, but food is the main draw, Marshall noted.

"We have 60 or 70 people come," Newlon said of the luncheons. "It's roughly half members of the church and half nonmembers. Our motto is 'Young at heart — slightly older in other parts.' "

The arrival of the pandemic in 2020 was a severe challenge for many churches, with restrictions on in-person attendance. Marshall credits the Rev. Bramwell Kjellgren, then the interim pastor, for helping to see First Baptist through the crisis, streaming sermons from his Hempfield home.

Participation has rebounded since then. About 60% of the church's roughly 125 members regularly attend in-person services, according to Newlon.

Still, there is a need to attract younger members and families in order to add more chapters to the church's history.

Marshall estimated the average age of church members is about 50.

"It is a wonderful church family," she said. "We take care of each other.

"We just need more people. We need young people in our church."

Visit fbcgreensburg.com for more information about the church.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .