FBC Saints

by Virginia Darnell

Those attending Richmond’s First Baptist Church (FBC) enjoy the many programs, classes and facilities that the church offers, and it’s easy to assume it has always been the way it is today. But much of what can be enjoyed today is the result of the work and donations of long-gone saints. The Pusey House is a prime example.

Pusey House

This facility is the beautiful three-story brick home with gardens and a small preschool playground surrounded by a stone wall, located across from the church on Park Avenue. Over the years, the house has been used as a place for Sunday morning classes to meet; FBC groups to host get-togethers and celebrations; and committee meetings to be held. Few people know that the Pusey House was the result of a donation from faithful members.

Paul Pusey was in the automobile business in Richmond, and his wife, Nell, was involved in Richmond politics, serving on City Council at one time. They were also long-time members of FBC. Paul was a deacon, and both he and Nell served on many committees over the years. In 1985 they notified the church that they were giving a gift of $275,000 to the church with the understanding that the church would purchase the Page House across the street. The house was built in the early part of the century by the well-known Page family and was owned for many years by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The house was for sale and the Puseys had the idea that the house could be used for general church purposes such as small functions and receptions, for educational purposes, and as a private study for the pastor. The church graciously accepted the gift and bought the house. The cost of renovations at that time was $100,000. The name of the house was changed to the Pusey House in honor of Paul and Nell Pusey whose generous donation had made the purchase possible.

Sanctuary chancel pre-1986

Sanctuary chancel pre-1986

Another saint of the past was James (Jim) R. Shearon. Jim was a deacon and served on many committees during his lifetime. He left a legacy which all of us enjoy every time we enter the sanctuary. Jim chaired a committee in 1985 to renovate the chancel area. This is the area where the choir sits each Sunday during the worship service. Prior to renovation, the organ was in the middle of the choir loft and the entire area was enclosed with white paneling. (Larger pictures of the area before the renovation can be seen on pages 349 and 353 of The Open Door, which presents the church history.) Jim worked with the architectural firm of Marcellus, Wright, Cox and Smith, and with their suggested design changes, the entire chancel was changed. The organ was moved to the floor on the right of the pulpit and the piano to the left. A pediment was added over the baptistery which replicated the baptistery from the original First Baptist Church at Twelfth and Broad streets. All partitions were removed and the entire area was opened as we see it today. The construction was completed in 1986. The area that we now know as the choir loft is the result of the renovation efforts of Jim Shearon and the committee he chaired.

These are but two stories of the many saints that have provided a way for us to enjoy the FBC buildings we have today. The next time you’re at church, look around and say a prayer of thanks for those who made what we have today possible.

Sanctuary chancel today

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Soul Food

By Jeannie Dortch.

At least once a year, one or more members from Richmond’s First Baptist Church family gives his or her testimony of tithing, a habit of giving 10% of one’s annual income, usually patterned after an example set in their homes as children. My desire to tithe, however, grew out of a rich association with members of FBC and an appreciation for the Bible’s teachings that I had never learned at home. This is my story:

My mother grew up on the only road that led to the town cemetery. It was common for her to watch the hearse drive past her door taking a corpse to the graveyard. As a result, she developed a fear of death that grew to extend to a distrust of the Bible because of its many references to death.

My father’s religion was golf. So, attending Sunday school and church was a winter activity for our family because our car was driven to the links on fair weather weekends. We never read or discussed the Bible at home, and prayers were only offered at our annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Suffice it to say that in our home, the idea of tithing was never taught and certainly not caught by example. I am thankful that my formative years were spent in the 1950s and 60s, a time when children were exposed to church because it was expected. Very few things vied for families’ attention on Sundays with businesses closed. I can remember enjoying the services, and even walking to church by myself as a teenager. I have always had a curiosity and yearning to learn more about the Bible.

My husband’s religious training started on FBC’s cradle roll, but he hadn’t attended in years when we married in 1968. FBC never lost track of him, however, so when our daughter was four years old, we received a home visit from Katie’s Sunday school teacher inviting her to visit Sunday school. She was thrilled. The Sunday morning I took her, I decided to visit an adult class while waiting for Katie’s class to finish, and, that was where I met Buddy Hamilton and his small class of Christians. They embraced me as one of their own, becoming Jesus with skin on for the next many years! Each week, I would tell Jeff what I had learned to his skepticism and retorts, but his questions propelled me back to Buddy’s class to gather more answers to take home to share. Eight years passed before Jeff decided to attend church, and two more before he visited Sunday school.

While slowly learning to give our hearts to Jesus, we gained mentors in the faith whose example we wanted to follow. There have been so many FBC saints who helped us learn to pray, to volunteer, to lead, to teach, to give back with our bodies, minds, and souls and also with our money. We are grateful for each and every one of them and have been richly blessed by their presence in our lives.

Recently, Jim Somerville commented that we all need a faith that we can live with and die with. For me, that directive indicates a need to tithe. Some people emphasize the tangible rewards gained from tithing, but I believe the beauty of tithing is found in the giving itself. Tithing is like one-stop-shopping with the comfort of knowing that so many worthy causes that the church supports are covered by my gift with no need for me to research or worry about the legitimacy of the cause. Each week after the offering plates are passed, one of the ministers reminds us of yet another wonderful event, ministry, mission trip, organization, or association to which my dollars have been applied. More satisfying than the finest meal, I like to think of tithing as soul food!

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