Bro. Lonnie Erwin became our Pastor in February of 1990. Until 2010 he served as a bi-vocational pastor. His secular Job was with the City of Dallas as the Chief Plumbing and Mechanical inspector. His calling to the ministry has spanned more than 40 years.
Bro. Lonnie to his wife of fifty-six (56) years and have seven children. He has two biological children (2 girls) and he has adopted 5 other children. Four girls and 1 boy. His children range in ages 53 to 12 with the only boy who is twelve (12 years).
He retired from the City of Dallas and now serves First Baptist Church West Tawakoni as our Pastor. He enjoys pastoring the church, traveling in the family RV, he and his wife Kathy have traveled to many places in Europe. They have visited the Holy Land, Germany, France, England, Switzerland and Norway. Besides traveling he also enjoys to deer hunting with his son Lane.
His children include Tammy Bryant, Rebecca Phillips, Tiffany, Brittany, Makenzie Erwin and Lane.
In March, 1983, our church building was started. As God provided the money, the building began.
Building was going great until July 4, 1983, when a storm tore down the west wall and most of the rafters.The storm left three rafters in tact. A group of men from Ridgecrest Baptist in Greenville came and;helped put the rafters back.
July 22, 1984, the children had their first class in the new building, even though it was not finished. We had twelve children and Corinne was the teacher. The children were Jeffrey; Bobby Pierce, Christy; Kyle Foster, Richard Crow, Dawn David, Misty Jennings, Jeanna, Jonathan and Jackie Nichol, and Cathy & Allen York.On September 22, 1984, Dave, Della; Richard Crow, Charles, Jan; Charlie Peters, Gary Braziel, Brenda ; Lola Tullos,;Renee Jenkins and John & Corinne Davignon. At this time, the building was still not complete. We still had to finish the rest rooms, plumbing, trim on the outside and some of the electrical work.
We were waiting for God to provide the money before the work could be done. In 1987, we needed to expand so the next phase of Lord's work was begun. The church added more classrooms, restrooms, office, kitchen and a baptistery. Our first baptism in our baptistery was on August 30, 1987. Those baptized were Jeffrey Nicholson and Randall Gentry. At this time, our resident membership was 46. Bro. Bernie Payne, Bro. John Davignon and Bro. Cecil Cole from our church also took part in the service.
The offical organization service for the church the following churches were represented: First Baptist, Cash; Paradise Baptist; Faith Baptist, Quinlan, Faith Temple Baptist, East Tawakoni Baptist; Lone Oak Christian; Muddy Creek Baptist; First Baptist, Quinlan, Elmwood Baptist, Como; and First Baptist of Dallas. The congregation sang, "To God Be the Glory" and "Victory in Jesus". Bro. Reisor read from Acts 16:4-5. John Davignon made motion to constitute as a church. Bro. Bernie Payne brought church covenant. Bro. J.B. Harlin had the prayer and talked on "Heaven Will Move". Bro. John Davignon brought the motion that the church adopts the "Complete Bible as the Truth". Bro. Bernie Payne made motion for Bro. Cecil Cole to be called as pastor of West Tawakoni Baptist Church. Bro. Cole brought the "History of the church and Practices and Belief"
Written by: John and Corinne Davignon