SAN ANTONIO – A local church that is historic in and of itself also played a big role in a piece of San Antonio’s history.
New Light Baptist Church has been a beacon of hope to African Americans in the city since the years just after slavery ended.
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First formed in 1870, the congregation — many of them former slaves themselves —initially gathered under a brush arbor on what is now Alamo Street.
Throughout those early years, New Light members relocated to several different locations and buildings.
The current church, located on Piedmont Avenue near Martin Luther King Drive, has been home to the congregation since 1941.
“I was baptized in that same pool,” said Rev. Paul G. Wilkinson, Sr., the current pastor, pointing to the glass-enclosed area behind the pulpit.
Wilkinson has been attending the Denver Heights church, himself, since childhood.
He recalled listening to Pascal Wilkinson, his late grandfather and former pastor of the church, preach his Sunday sermons.
“He was a great guy,” Wilkinson said. “I’m not such a great preacher as he was, but I’m doing my best to follow his footsteps.”
Wilkinson is not the only person who thought highly of his grandfather’s preaching.
His messages seemed to change the life of an unlikely follower, the first woman in Texas who was sent to death row.
Convicted murderer Emma Oliver, nicknamed “Straight Eight,” credited Pascal Wilkinson’s preaching for changing her life.
“Supposedly, she had killed or murdered eight individuals with a straight razor,” Paul Wilkinson said. “She heard the broadcast of New Light, “Wings over Jordan,” and she accepted Christ.”
In an unusual move, the State of Texas granted the condemned killer a one-day pass in 1950. Oliver was allowed to leave her jail cell and travel to New Light Baptist Church so she could be baptized.
Pascal Wilkinson performed the ceremony in the same baptismal pool where his grandson would later be baptized.
“Real interesting, real interesting story, and it’s part of the history of this church,” said Rev. John Allen, a New Light member.
Allen is set to be a part of the church’s future when he takes over as pastor when Paul Wilkinson retires in May.
“I stand on some strong shoulders,” Allen said. “I’m just trying to continue and follow in those footsteps.”
Paul Wilkinson often thinks about what next steps Oliver might have taken after her baptism.
“In my heart, I think she might be somewhere around the throne of God,” he said.
Oliver died in prison several years after her change of heart but not by execution because her death sentence was commuted.
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