Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

Richard F. Fancher

R. F. Fancher served as pastor of Homer Baptist Church from 1853 to 1859. He was believed to have come to Louisiana from the east, possibly Georgia and was one of the charter members of Rocky Springs Baptist Church in 1845 as well as its first pastor. He also served as pastor at Ballou's Ferry Baptist church, Antioch, Bayou Rouge, Evergreen, Saints Rest, Pilgrim's Rest and Bellevue. Under his leadership, the Homer Church sent delegates to the Louisiana Baptist Convention as well as cash offerings well above that which the financially struggling church could afford. Brother Fancher preached the associational address in 1850 and served as a missionary for the association for several years.

While he was pastor at Homer Baptist, the church accepted and sent membership letters to various Church of Christ congregations. This was during the time the two denominations had a great deal in common and, in fact, our church still carried the name Homer Baptist Church of Christ. Our church launched upon a building program during his tenure in order to build a new church house. At this time, the church occupied a building on the corner of East Second and North Third Street. Stories tell of a stream (Tanyard Branch) enlarged to form a baptismal pool there. This little log structure had served the needs of the church well, but membership had started to grow and now the cabin was beginning to be too small.

The property was sold to Mr. James A. Brown in February 1858 before the new structure was completed. Mr. Brown and the Methodist church kindly lent their facilities to the Baptists for worship, though some services were held in the grove near the site of the new building. Brother Fancher joined the church from Rocky Springs in 1855 though he continued to serve as the pastor of Rocky Springs when needed. It is certain he did not become a pastor for the money involved because the church continued to struggle to pay him and for the new building. In many cases, he bought the candles for the night service himself. Brother Fancher gave up his entire salary ($200) for the fiscal year 1856 so that the church building could be paid for. Of course, this was not only an immensely kind and generous gesture, but also a fairly inexpensive one, since the church had not yet fully paid his salary for any of the previous years. It might be noted the church soon regained its ability to pay him and did so.

Under Rev. Fancher's leadership, special offerings for missionary work were taken up and sent to the local association and to the Louisiana Baptist Convention. He led the congregation with a strong hand and even resigned at one point because of low attendance of church members. He was persuaded to withdraw his resignation when the congregation promised to do better. By the increased activity seen in the next month's minutes, his threat proved effective. He kept the resignation threat active for several months until he felt certain the congregation was indeed revived. Brother Fancher left Homer to go to Texas sometime after that, but was so loved and appreciated by his flock they collected a love offering of twenty dollars for him. He became the first pastor of the First Baptist Church of Newton, Texas in 1861. He appears to have had a difficult time while in Texas, for the Bethlehem association questioned his stoutly stated belief it was the right and duty of each Baptist congregation to choose its pastor and not have one chosen for it.

The association finally reluctantly accepted his statement, but his battles with associations and churches continued. In 1884, the Antioch church of the Central Baptist Association expelled him from the church for an unstated reason. The association reviewed the expulsion and agreed with it, recommending other churches refuse to allow him to preach. Whatever happened must have split the church, for Brother Fancher immediately after became pastor of Black Jack Church in the same town. It may be noted this association had continuing problems with what they considered to be unorthodox teaching and that Brother Fancher had a reputation as a moderate, often speaking against "churching" erring members in favor of counseling them. He also favored close ties with the Church of Christ while pastor in Homer and considered members of such congregations to be Baptists. It is certainly possible his often expressed opinions regarding these situations finally found an unpopular audience. He is buried in the cemetery at Watson's chapel in Magnolia Springs, Texas. 11

Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish | AHGP

Source: Author's Notice: I hereby give permission for the free dissemination of any and all material included within the book and permit any non profit use of that material. Should any agency wish to use the material in a profit context, permission must be secured from the church body of First Baptist Church, Homer, LA 71040.  By Barbara Smith, Homer, Louisiana.