Bay City, Matagorda County
First Berean Missionary Baptist Church The congregation of the First Berean Missionary Baptist Church began formally meeting after emancipation in 1865. Members held worship services in homes, under trees and in a local school before building their first house of worship. The church grew around the community known as Van, African, King Vann and Vann Settlement, located in Buckner's Prairie, which was named for Aylett C. "Strap" Buckner (d. 1832), an old three hundred colonist and Texas folklore hero. Church members also came from the nearby sugar land community on Buckner's Prairie. The congregation built its first sanctuary in 1896 on land sold for five dollars by Odo and Fatuma Van (Vann), both born in Africa before being captured and sold into slavery. The church's first pastor was the Rev. Anthony Martin. At this same time, congregational members named themselves Berean Missionary Baptist Church for a mission site in Greece. After purchasing an acre of land for a new sanctuary in 1951, the Berean Baptist Church, as it was often known, held its first service in the new structure in 1953. The congregation incorporated in 1993 as the First Berean Missionary Baptist Church. For more than 100 years, the church has provided the area with an assembly site, a school and a place for community communications. At the turn of the 20th century, the congregation had new facilities and continued its mission through its outreach, educational programs and music ministries. (2002)