Pastor Mike Rippy knew First Baptist Church Midway had a long, storied history in the Plant City community, as he’s been with the church for a total of 14 and a half years. What he didn’t know was that history was recorded and stashed away right under the church staff’s noses.
A big, beautiful scrapbook bound by two pieces of wood, one with the church’s front and “Midway” etched onto the front cover, containing photos and clippings and writings, dating from 1899 to approximately 1979, was hidden in Rippy’s office. He found it by accident one day while cleaning and reorganizing his office, and more scrapbook discoveries soon followed. The original deed to the building — since demolished to make way for the current structures — was found in an unassuming manila folder tucked away in a filing cabinet in the front office. No one could believe it wasn’t framed and hung somewhere on the campus. Dozens of photographs from the black-and-white days of old to the 1980s and 1990s have lived in an unassuming cardboard box.
Though the church staff isn’t sure exactly who spent so much time and effort chronicling FBC Midway’s history several decades ago, their work isn’t going unappreciated.
“We’re trying to preserve the history of it,” Rippy said. “To reach this milestone of 120 years of being here on this property, it’s pretty unique.”
FBC Midway is getting ready to celebrate its 120th anniversary on May 19 and the entire Plant City community is invited to join one of its oldest churches for a day of special worship during its regular service time, good eating after the service and a look back at the past.
The church’s theme for 2019, Rippy said, is “Welcome Home: The Story Continues.” The May 19 celebration will be a prime example of that as all in attendance are invited to look through the scrapbooks and photos and take a deep dive into the history of this home. You can learn something about nearly every pastor the church has ever had and, in many cases, even see photographs for Todd and other pastors as far back as the early 1900s. You can learn about the Wilder family’s decision to donate the land and read about the 1958 expansion as was written 61 years ago.
Back in 1899, the land on which the church was built (and still uses) was owned by the Wilder family, who donated it to Frank Martin and C.A. Kendrick with the intent of building a Baptist church in a convenient location for Plant City-area residents who otherwise made long treks for church service. The “Midway” name was given because the church was located at the midpoint of two Southern Baptist churches most in the area attended. The church had 16 charter members when the building was completed and was led by Rev. Edward Livingston Todd, who was paid 25 cents per member per month. Todd served until 1901 and left the post due to poor health.
Midway Baptist Church hit a milestone in 1930 when ministry services expanded from twice monthly to full-time under the leadership of Rev. W.D. Cowart. Its first in-house baptism took place in 1944 and the first couple to be wed in the church — Eddie B. Williams and Ruby Bailey — did so in 1926, one year before a storm caused major damage to the building and prompted repairs. The church underwent numerous additions and tweaks to its campus from the 1940s through the 1960s and in one of the biggest moves, the original wooden building became in 1958 what is now the chapel. The church’s youth building was constructed in the early 2000s and its most recent project, the sanctuary, was completed in 2010.
Rippy is the most recent of a long line of 29 men to have pastored at FBC Midway throughout its 120 years on the old Wilder property. Many of its pastors served for just one year at a time before leaving the post to allow someone else to take over, so it wasn’t until Rev. John Odom took over in 1977 that anyone lasted longer than Rev. J.W. Johnson’s eight-year run from 1902 to 1910. Odom held the post for 13 years, leaving in 1990.
The longest-tenured pastor was Rev. Mitch Weissman, who led the church from 1996 to 2013. Rippy was the church’s youth pastor for 10 of those years, left to lead Turning Point Baptist Church in Mulberry and returned to Plant City with his family to lead FBC Midway in October 2014. He’s hoping to keep memories of the church’s past alive and to keep the foundation of its culture solid so he and those who will eventually follow him as senior pastor will have many more anniversaries to celebrate in the future.
“It’s really the best church I could ever ask to pastor,” Rippy said. “Great people, great heart. Love each other, love God… it’s just great folks.”