History of the Mabank Church from 1926
In the early years of Mabank’s history, there were few members of the church of Christ in the Mabank community.
Due to the efforts of Dr. C.W. Pickle, a summer meeting was held under a tent, with brother J.D. Tant delivering the sermons.
Sometime later, about the year 1926, another meeting was held in the Baptist and Presbyterian buildings with brother Wilhite (probably J. Porter Wilhite) conducting the meeting.
Because of these meetings, more members were added to the church, and communion services were held each Lord’s Day in various homes and buildings.
The church purchased a house and lot at 306 Kempner Street in 1942. Partitions were taken out and rearranged to make an auditorium and three classrooms. The church began to meet there in 1943. At the beginning of 1943, the church had an average weekly attendance of 30, (mostly women and children) with a contribution of $8.00.
On May 13, 1950, the first 100 sacks of cement were purchased for a new building at 5th and Mount Vernon Streets, the site that was bought years before.
In 1951, the land adjacent to the property was donated by Donald & Hilah Gibbs, and a new building with an auditorium seating capacity of 475 and 8 classrooms was begun in 1972. The first meeting in the new building was Easter Sunday, 1973.
In 1982 and 1984, a busload of members went to Sundance, Wyoming to assist a small congregation with their Vacation Bible School.
In 1986, construction on the annex building was started, adding office space and more classrooms. The Mabank School of Bible Studies, a preacher training school, was conducted in the annex building from 1987 through 1989.
The Lord’s church in Mabank has been active in many works throughout the years. She has helped support mission fields in South Africa, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Tanzania, Hawaii, Indonesia, India, Jamaica, and Northern Ireland, of which we were the sponsoring congregation for 15 years.
Today, we help support the missionaries Samuel & Diana Ramirez.
We help support the work of Gospel Broadcast Network, World Video Bible School, Christian Courier, and men attending Southwest School of Bible Studies, Brown Trail school of Preaching and Texas School of Preaching.
We help support Tipton Children’s Home in Tipton, Oklahoma, and help the needy from our food pantry.