Combined Palm Sunday worship service
Seven decades of Christ-centered innovation and caring:
Trinity Baptist Church celebrates 70th anniversary
BY JENNIE ROSIO
B E A CON E D I TO R
When 94 people gather to pray
fervently, more than seven decades can
feel the ripple effect.
The birthing
In June 1949 — just a year after
Israel became a nation, and seven
years after the San Antonio airport
opened — some prayers started
moving mountains in the Alamo City.
Marjorie Brake, charter member of
Trinity Baptist Church, was 10 at the
time. “I was sitting on a stool in front
of the sofa where my parents were
praying. All I could think was,
‘Something special is happening.
I know it is the Spirit of God moving.'
“On Friday night, June 24,” says
Marjorie, “we became chartered by the
State of Texas Baptist Church. Our first
worship service at the church was
Sunday, June 26.”
Soon, they were breaking ground on
a plot that’s a little over five acres,
located on a gently rising hill at the
corner of Shook and East Mulberry
Avenues. They built a beautiful little
building. San Antonio’s population at
the time was 400,000.
Trinity Baptist Church casts a vision
The pastor they called in August of
that year, the Rev. W.S. McBirnie, affectionately
called “Brother Mac,” was
innovative and persuasive. This north
edge of San Antonio did not offer much
in the way of community gathering
places in the 1950s, so Trinity provided
it. They built a college-size gym, a
roller skating rink, four bowling lanes,
a kitchen and several classrooms. In
1951, TIME called this gathering a
“boom church.” Within two years, it
had grown to 1,000 members and was
the fastest growing church in America.
Jesus fans the pioneering flame
Ten years later, Buckner Fanning,
a U.S. Marine turned evangelist, was
called to Trinity Baptist. In 1957,
Newsweek had compared Buckner to
Billy Graham. While he pastored
Trinity Baptist for over four decades
the membership grew. At one time,
there were more 10,000 on its rolls.
Trinity Baptist Church is pictured here in a 1950 aerial photo.
Charter members
Joe and Marjorie Brake,
sharing memories
during Trinity's
70th Anniversary
Founding Members
luncheon.
July 2019 www.saBeacon.com 3
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