It started at a campfire. In 1910 Rev. Joe P. Jacobs sat watching the embers at Maurice Williams elk hunting camp north of Jackson, and the idea would not leave him: a church in this valley, one that would minister to the people who live here and stay open to the visitors who funnel through every summer and autumn. That was the whole dream, and it still describes this town.
The church was organized on Thursday, March 16, 1911, with nine charter members, in a little chapel rented from E.C. Steele.
That same first week a young woman named Mary McGuire asked to be baptized. They held the service at the ice-fringed Snake River on a Sunday afternoon in late March, with four feet of snow on the ground. Worried the pastor might slip on the river bottom, Rev. George White asked the tallest cowboy in the crowd for help. The cowpoke pulled off his big hat and said, Well, that's a bit out of my line, Mister, but I'll help if I can. He walked her out to midstream in his boots and spurs and chaps, with six-shooters on his hips, and wrapped her in a blanket after. The other cowboys lined the riverside, standing quietly with bowed heads through the whole service.
What followed was not a straight line. There was a decade of decline, six short pastorates, services canceled through the Depression while the Sunday school kept meeting anyway. The 1913 building was jacked up and hauled to Glenwood and Kelly between 1953 and 1956. The cedar sanctuary went up in 1979 with a stained glass cross designed by Kay Northup. Then in 1985 the old building was moved off one last time, out to East Broadway by the hospital, and the fellowship hall was built on the ground it left.
Over a hundred years on, First Baptist is still a place where people from all backgrounds can come to learn about the Lord. Wide variety of ages and interests, same God.
Ray and Tanya have been married over twenty five years and have served the Lord as their primary work for the last twelve, seven of those in Latin America. Six years in northeastern Mexico and a year in central Costa Rica, first as construction missionaries and then as directors over the only school for the deaf in their area. Their daughter Paschall Grace was born in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas. They trained the staff there, handed leadership to national Mexican Christians, and returned to the southeastern US for seminary at Columbia International University. Every summer break from graduate school they drove to Jackson to minister bi-vocationally in this valley. Being here full time, in Ray's words, is an amazing blessing and unbelievably perfect timing.
Every picture below is one First B has kept. The church has been in this valley since 1911, and the photographs go back further than that.
June 1910
Rev. T.H. Baxter's wagon, photographed in Converse County. A colporteur, he reached Jackson on July 10 after ten days on the road from Evanston.
March 16, 1911
Organized on a Thursday, in a little chapel rented from E.C. Steele. Nine charter members.
1913
The building the congregation would meet in for the next forty years.
A local man wanted the lot the church stood on, so he traded the congregation two lots at Glenwood and Kelly, dug the basement and paid to move the building. The deal was signed in 1953 and the church rolled to its present corner by the spring of 1956.
1979
The cedar sanctuary going up. Kay Northup designed the stained glass cross.
1985
The 1913 building came off its foundation one last time and was given to the Jackson Hole Baptist Church, who took it out to East Broadway by the hospital. The fellowship hall was built on the ground it left.
June 2026
The church BBQ on the lawn between services. Free food, games, and everybody stays late to clean up.
First Baptist's statement of faith, in the church's own words.
Both Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.
One God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus is true God and true man, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He gave His life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, according to the Scriptures. He arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where at the right hand of God the Father He is now our King, High Priest and Mediator.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and during this age to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, and indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.
Man was created in the image of God. After being given the choice, man fell into sin and is therefore lost and in need of salvation.
God has provided salvation through offering His Son on the cross of Calvary, who freely shed His blood as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. We are saved and justified when we recognize ourselves as sinners through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, repent and receive God's forgiveness, and put our trust in Christ as our Savior.
Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church. They are not, however, to be regarded as a means of salvation.
Marriage was established by God at creation as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman. It is the foundation of the family and a living picture of the love between Christ and His Church. God designed sexual intimacy for marriage alone, and husbands and wives are to love, honor and serve one another as unto the Lord.
We believe in the personal and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that this Blessed Hope has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of a believer. Jesus will someday return for His Church. All the dead will be resurrected, the believer to everlasting joy and the unbeliever to everlasting punishment.
The true Church is composed of all who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and united together in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head.
Only those who are members of the true Church are eligible for membership in the local church.
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