Bethesda Baptist Church was organized on August 13, 1855 in the home of J. W. Rawls. The new church met in a log cabin on the farm of Pleasant Inman (approximately 1/2 mile south of the present church). Originally called Cross Timbers Bethesda Baptist Church, it was the first Baptist church organized in Johnson County.
Circuit riders originally pastored the church. By 1856 William "Choctaw Bill" Robinson, who traveled some sixty miles from Erath county, conducted monthly meetings.
In 1887 Sunday School classes began to meet for Bible study on Sunday afternoons. Mid-week prayer meetings were started in 1932. Monthly meetings were conducted at Bethesda until 1944 when it became a full-time church with a full-time pastor.
The original log cabin in which the church met burned in 1878. A new building, which cost $527, was built on property adjacent to the cemetery on land donated by David Jackson (who had also donated the land for the cemetery). Other buildings have been built since at the same location.
The cemetery is operated by a separate cemetery organization, and is not affiliated with the church.
Pastors of Bethesda Baptist Church 1855-Present
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