Before 1856, settlers around Gallinas gathered on Sundays in one another's homes for worship, and as their numbers grew they met at Shiloh in a log building on Borrego Creek that served as both school and church. Seminary student William Dycks Johnson (1838-1885), during a hiatus from Baylor University, is credited with starting Shiloh Baptist Church, which organized in June 1856 with ten members, and Samuel Ellis Pearce was pastor in 1859. By the early 1900s, Shiloh Baptist Church had outgrown its building and sought a larger facility for Sunday School classes, leading a committee to meet with Gates Valley Baptist Church about merging. In Jan. 1913, the churches agreed, and the Gates Valley building was moved to Poteet and placed on a corner lot on Avenue E donated by the Town Site Company of Poteet. Its large sanctuary was divided into rooms with hanging quilts made by women of the church. James Wesley Yow became the first pastor to lead First Baptist Church of Poteet in late 1913, and the church grew in its early years through a Baptist training union directed by Mrs. T.F Bledsoe and Sunday School led by Brother O.N. Crouch. In 1936, members voted to relocate to a larger building, purchasing six lots at 4th Street and Avenue D and using some lumber from the former church in the new building. In 1943, the church bought the home of Mrs. Katy L. Bevins for a parsonage. Expansions and renovations later updated the campus, and First Baptist Church of Poteet fostered the spiritual development of members and neighbors through community outreach and church planting, including a Spanish speaking mission program that started Hosanna Baptist Church.