It was March 27,1875 when a group of 32 Christian men and women united under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to lay the groundwork for Ferris Missionary Baptist Church. At the time, Ferris was a small farming community made up of hard working, dedicated people. This hard work and dedication carried over into the building of the church.

For a time meetings were held in homes every fourth Saturday and Sunday of each month. In 1879 the Baptists, Church of Christ (then called "Campbellites") and the Masons built a house of worship together at 5th & Baker. The Masons used the upper story and the churches used the main floor, meeting at different times. The first Sunday school was organized in 1882 with Bro. N. V. Lovett as superintendent.

In January 1887 a new building was planned and soon erected. FBC was now able to hold services on its own. Attendance began to increase as did the excitement of seeing God's hand move throughout the community. People from all over the area began to make the trip to Ferris to see first hand how the Lord had blessed the hard work of those faithful few. During the early 1900's another new church building was planned and with this new building came continued growth with attendance reaching 200-300 during the 20's & 30's. May 7, 1964 that building burned and saddened many hearts, but the church moved on. With insurance money and gifts from members a new building was erected with no indebtedness.

Over the years attendance had decline, but in the 1990s it began to increase once again.

AWANA Clubs (a program that teaches kids to memorize Scripture and let's them interact with one another during game time and classroom activities) were introduced in September 1992. Limited space sometimes forced them outside during game time. It soon became clear that something needed to be done and, as had been the history of the church, the people came together with a vision. Soon a new 100' x 100' multi-purpose Family Life Center was erected. The building housed 13 new Sunday school rooms, a spacious kitchen and a full size basketball/volleyball court. With this new facility the AWANA program grew tremendously and continues to be an effective means of ministry to area children.

The church entered a new building program in the late '90s. Before long dirt was being moved, concrete poured and walls erected for a new Worship Center at the corner of 5th and Wood.. One by one the members of First Baptist came out to work on the new church. Men, women and kids each gave of their time and effort. The Worship Center opened in January 1999 with a state of the art sound system, projection system and room for continued growth.

In January 2000 First Baptist stepped out on faith once again. Feeling our community was in need of a day care facility that taught Christian morals while teaching the kids their ABC's, the members of First Baptist Church voted to establish Ferris Christian Academy, a full service Christian Day Care/Pre-K facility expanding into a Christian Academy. In 2004 the Academy built it's own building with a capacity of almost 200 children.

The groundwork that was laid well over a century ago lives on in the hearts of First Baptist Church members.