On Sunday, members of the First Baptist Church marked their church’s 179th year in Clinton, and they spent the day celebrating the event.

Guests included “The Old-Time Preachers Quartet,” and various memorabilia from the church’s history was out for people to reminisce about the past.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said senior pastor John Roberson.  “They’ve done a good job over the years with keeping up with a lot of that stuff.  We’ve got some stuff from way back.”

Roberson said those archives were important as the church continues to move into the future.

“People 20 years from now will like to see what we had planned,” he said.  “It’s fun to go back and look at minutes from business meetings from the 1920s and 30s.”

A member of the church, who passed away, even chronicled the construction of the Illini Drive church, built in 1967, creating a slide show of photos as work progressed.

“This is the fourth building in 179 years.”

Services began in the building in 1968.

The church had its best face on for this year’s anniversary activities, having undergone a main floor renovation over the summer 2017.

“The contractors gutted our auditorium and re-did everything,” Roberson said.  “New lighting, new platform …everything.”

For three months, services were held in the fellowship hall as work continued.

“We were packed in there like sardines.”

Roberson feels fortunate to be able to carry on with a thriving church as more than two churches a day close in the U.S.

“I commend this place; they’ve been at it a long time,” he said.

He said the church tries to not only benefit the Clinton community but to reach out with programs to reach the world.

“It’s one thing to sit inside and be comfortable, but there are people outside who we’ve been commanded to reach with the word of the gospel.”

The church continues to bus young people to the church each week.  Roberson’s son Jonathan is youth pastor.

One young person who was about age 7 when Roberson came to the church 15 years ago “has graduated from Bible college, and he preached for me on Wednesday.”

“We started picking him up on the bus when he was just a little boy.”

“The lord has given us a good youth ministry here,” said Jonathan Roberson.  “We average about 35-40 teenagers every week.”

Jonathan said he tries to keep the young people busy with monthly activities, including taking them to special conferences.

“That helps keep us on track,” he said.

“Whoever loves them the most will draw them the closest,” John Roberson said.  “And, we just try to love them.”

Roberson said the pastors and church members who came before were responsible for the church’s success and continuation.

“They felt the responsibility to keep the past before us and press on for the future, keeping going in the right direction and sticking to the truth of the word of God,” Roberson said.

CJ