FORT BEND COUNTY, TX – One historic Fort Bend County church is moving closer to having services at a new building.
Wilderness Branch Baptist Church, a 122-year-old church in Richmond, is receiving some much-needed help after KPRC 2′s Keith Garvin featured their struggle to complete construction on their new building.
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The church sits on FM 359, just north of Richmond in Fort Bend County.
In that time, they have had thousands of members led by eight different pastors.
Despite a cancer diagnosis and mistreatment from several dishonest contractors, their current pastor has put his faith in a brand new church for his congregation.
For the past six years, they have been a church without a home.
In that time, they’ve been hosting worship at a nearby congregation, that has graciously allowed them to hold one service each Sunday morning at 8:30.
They have a new, partially-built facility on FM 359.
THE HISTORY CONNECTING THE OLD AND NEW CHURCH
Down the road -- just a few miles away at the Old Foster Community Museum -- sits the original building. When you see it you can tell time took its toll. The old church is in the same condition as when they moved it from the church property in 2017.
For years, the Wilderness Branch congregation worshipped in a structure that leaned, had a bad foundation, and a leaky roof. Generations of families called the church “home” until it became unsafe to hold services.
“It’s been a long journey, but God answers prayers,” said Pastor Bobby Lockridge in 2022.
Lockridge spearheaded a fundraising effort to build a new place of worship to help reach more souls in this part of fast-growing Fort Bend County.
“Our thoughts are this... If we get this place up and running, it will draw some lookie-lous,” said Lockridge. “Somebody is gonna come just to see what it looks like, and prayerfully, the word of God will touch hearts and hold them here as members.”
Since 2017, Pastor Lockridge says his small congregation has raised $350,000. It has been a combination of bake sales, donations, and other means.
“They’ve done all kinds of sacrificial giving and fundraisers, and meeting in other locations while they’re trying to get this new building up and running,” said Scott Aulds, who lives near the church and helped raise money to repair the old church’s roof several years ago. “So, they’ve sacrificed a lot.”
The congregation’s goal is to grow and give the next generation a debt-free church.
“So that when we pass on, the next group that inherits this church will inherit a paid-for church,” Lockridge said. “They just have to get in and start working and serving.”
Their plans for financial freedom hit a road bump. Pastor Lockridge says they’ve lost close to $50,000 to contractors who never finished the job or took the money and ran. One situation includes an architect whom they paid upfront.
“In good faith, we paid her $12,000 and she has yet to produce a blueprint,” said Lockridge. “So, we lost $11,000 on that.”
In the months since our initial story in December various entities and organizations in the Houston area have pitched in to help.