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==History==
[[Image:FirstBaptistMarker.jpg|thumb|120px|left|A sign marks the original site of First Baptist Church on [[Government Street]].]]
First Baptist Church was organized as the '''Pensacola Baptist Church of Christ''' on [[May 2]], [[1847]] by [[Alexander Travis]] and [[Joseph Mitchell]]. The first congregation included "fifty white men and seventy-three white women as well as one hundred and twenty-four Negro men and ninety-eight Negro women."<ref>Abercrombie, Lelia (January 1959). [http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/DLData/SN/SN00154113/0037_003/37no3.pdf "Early Churches of Pensacola"]. ''Florida Historical Quarterly'', p. 458.</ref> Early church leaders had difficulty establishing a foothold in the area — records from the time repeatedly say the "Lord's Day service was a disappointment"<ref name="history">[http://www.fbcp.org/Uploaded/History.pdf A Brief History]</ref> — but in [[1852]] the congregation built its first building on [[Government Street]], just west of [[Seville Square]]. A branch was established at the [[Pensacola Navy Yard|Navy Yard]] in [[1850]].
[[Image:FirstBaptistOld.jpg|thumb|200px|left|The previous First Baptist Church building at [[Palafox Street]] and [[La Rua Street|La Rua]].]]
==Leadership==
The current senior pastor of First Baptist Church is Dr. [[Barry Howard]], who gave his first sermon on [[July 10]], [[2005]] — the morning that [[Hurricane Dennis]] made landfall near [[Navarre Beach]] — to a crowd seeking shelter from the storm.<ref>[http://www.abpnews.com/436.article "Weakened Hurricane Dennis 'welcomes' pastor to Pensacola."] ''Associated Baptist Press'', July 11, 2005.</ref>
===Past leaders===
*Rev. [[Alexander Travis]]
*Rev. [[John Beck]]
*Rev. [[J. H. Curry]]
*Rev. [[A. P. Pugh]]
==References==
<referencessmall>{{reflist}}</small>
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