The First Baptist Church of Tyrone began in 1915 with 15 charter members and currently enjoys a membership of 550 persons.

Some of the last names of these early members are Whitlock, Farr, McEachern, Elder, Pollard, Slaton and Lanier. Many descendants still live in the area.

The first services were conducted on the upper floor of the Farr-Jackson store and in 1915 the church entered its first building, a two-story frame structure. For many years the upper floor was used by the Masonic Lodge during the week and for Sunday School classes on Sunday.

First Baptist built its second facility in 1955, about two blocks from the first one, and the third facility was built in 1969. The church has just completed an educational wing, which houses its K-4 pre-school and Sunday School classes.

The Rev. Dr. James R. Burdette serves as the senior pastor and has been on board since 1987.

Born and reared in Bremen, Ga., he first began to feel pulled into the ministry during high school, he said. He attended Mercer University for a year, served in the United States Air Force in Viet Nam, worked at Xerox for five years and then attended the Immanuel Baptist Seminary in Atlanta. He received his master's in Bible at Luther Rice Baptist Seminary in Jacksonville, Fla. and his doctorate in divinity at the Trinity Baptist Seminary in Atlanta.

He served a church in Harrelson County and Douglasville before coming to Tyrone.

In 1968 he married Nita, and they are the parents of two daughters, Sherri (Brown), and Cristy, who is a senior at Valdosta State University. They have two grandchildren.

His personal goal is to prepare members through teaching and studying the Bible to be able to meet the future in a confident manner, said Burdette.

One of the changes he sees since he began in the ministry is the need for professional counseling. The associate pastor, the Rev. Keith Stell, is a licensed therapist in both marriage and compulsive addictive disorders. Burdette sees as one of the long range goals at Tyrone Baptist to have a separate counseling facility.

One of his other goals, Burdette said, is to establish a senior adult day care center.

"I have had an enjoyable and exciting pastoral experience," he said. "It is very satisfying to now be baptizing children of children I first baptized many years ago."

Sunday School is at 9:45 a.m., morning worship is at 11 a.m. and evening worship is at 6 p.m.