In April Westhampton Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., celebrated its centennial in grand style and with a packed sanctuary. People were stretched around its narrow gallery peering down upon the floor below. The choir loft was full. Bill Hardison, the interim pastor, welcomed some worshippers who had returned from distant states and across Virginia. Even the church’s signature dogwood tree bloomed for the anniversary.
Fred Anderson
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Westhampton's first pastor, Lacy Foster Paulette.
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Westhampton occupies a handsome red brick Gothic church house along Three Chopt Road in the West End of Richmond. The neighborhood is upper crust with trendy shops, smart restaurants, expensive residences, private prep schools and the Country Club of Virginia. Down the hill from the church is the University of Richmond, founded by Virginia Baptists, which at different times provided the church with some students and faculty in its membership.
The area has changed dramatically from its rural character at the time of the church’s beginnings. In 1909 a Sunday school was started by Baptists who had moved further west of the city limits. Some of them were members of Tabernacle Baptist Church in the city. They pitched a tent for the school for the summer and used a small schoolhouse in the winter.
The school developed into a church. In April 1911 Westhampton Baptist Church was duly constituted with 29 charter members. The little band did it properly by adopting a covenant, articles of faith and even an operational manual which specified among other things that the janitor was to sweep away cobwebs.
By year’s end the church had 40 members; but because of its distance from the city, it was not listed among the 17 Richmond Baptist churches. While Westhampton had its 40 members, the city churches ranged in size from a low of 187 to a high of 1,876. The city churches paid their pastors from a low of $935 a year to a high of $5,400. The small new church was paying its pastor $10 a Sunday.
Westhampton Baptist Church
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The Westhampton area was known as Rio Vista; and in 1911 the village consisted of about a dozen houses, a post office and a country store. For a nickel Richmonders could take the streetcar to Rio Vista which was at the end of the line. Some well-to-do Richmonders built summer homes in Rio Vista. There was an amusement park with a lake; and by the time of the church’s founding, the talk of the city was the relocation of Richmond College, the Baptist school, from downtown to the site of the amusement park. The Baptists also were planning to build an entirely new college for women and to name it Westhampton. Land speculators were anxious to build new houses in an area which, with the opening of the colleges, held promise of growth and development.
George White McDaniel, the prominent pastor of First Baptist Church of Richmond, had given the message on the day of constituting the new church. He likely was the person responsible for suggesting the first pastor, a promising young ministerial student named Lacy Foster Paulette. A native of Charlotte County, Paulette had entered Richmond College later than most students. At 31, he was industrious, studious and serious. He was just what the new church needed. Westhampton ordained him; and although his pastorate was brief, Lacy Paulette set a standard and left an impression.
Paulette spent most of his ministry in southeastern Virginia and especially with Smithfield (Va.) Baptist Church. In August 1941 for Westhampton’s 30th anniversary, Paulette returned to renew old acquaintances and deliver a sermon. He chose the text of Acts 16:25 with its account of Paul and Silas in prison yet singing songs at midnight. It was a sermon about Christian hope.
“Depressions have come and men have seen the accumulations of a lifetime vanish,” said the church’s first pastor in his anniversary message. Of course, he was referring to the Great Depression. “Political bickerings have raised storm clouds to darken our vision and disturb our peace. And now the world is in upheaval.” Of course, he was speaking of the coming world war. “The world situation is one characterized to silence song. People say, ‘How can we sing at a time like this? How can I keep my trust when there is nothing left to trust. People think like that. How can we sing in a world like this? Yet it is at times like these that we need songs. We need to be such masters of ourselves that we can master circumstances and sing songs at midnight.”
The old sermon from Westhampton’s first pastor has meaning even for Westhampton members of today. Like any church which has survived for so long, there have been shadows as well as sunshine. The church has known ups and downs.
“How could Paul and Silas sing songs at midnight? There is no better answer to that question than the words of Paul: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me.’ He could sing songs at midnight because he had faith in God.
“Only God can put songs into the hearts of men and women in seasons of trial and affliction. The songs which God gives in the night of human experience are permanent things. They are the heart songs coming from the depth of man’s being and echoing from heaven itself. They must blossom from the bosom of the soul.
“The Christian religion really prepares one to sing songs at midnight. Some of the Christians most beautiful songs have come from the night. Read the lives of great souls and you will learn that they have had an inner sustaining power that enabled them to sing in the night. This is the victory that overcomes the world.
“The Christian can sing at midnight because he knows the dawn will come. Christianity gives men hope as never before. But it also gives power within the soul to overcome the night.
“Whether we desire it or not, the night will come upon us. Doubts will cast their shadows; sorrow will cause a dark cloud to envelop us. Death will seek to frighten us. But if we have faith like Paul and Silas, we can sing our songs at midnight. Though the way may at times seem dark, we will press on until we can see the Sun of Righteousness flooding the world with glory.”
Christians can sing songs even at midnight.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies, located on the campus of the University of Richmond. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.