In 1886, Thomas Coker and his wife, Matilda, and family moved to Powelton, a community about twelve miles north of Pensacola.  They were  Baptists but had no church to attend so they worshiped with their neighbors at the Powelton Methodist Church. On January 8, 1896, eight people met in the Coker home and established the Powelton Missionary  Baptist Church. Signing were: Thomas, Matilda, John T.,  Allie and  Mamie Coker,  Henry F. Hurst, Solon R. Tate and Mary Cobb.  The group began meeting at the Coker home but they soon built a church at a cost of $500.00 plus gifts of lumber and land.  S. L. Lambert was called as the first pastor in 1897. In 1898,  the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association held an assembly at the Powelton church. Travel was done by horseback and wagons making it impossible for those attending to go home each day so the entire community accepted house guests. A hurricane damaged the church in 1906 so it was rebuilt in the present location by 1908.  The  church was renamed Gonzalez Baptist Church around 1907 when the community changed its name. The church persevered and grew in number through hurricanes, depression, and wars, through good times and bad, and are still  meeting the challenge to spread the Gospel just as the charter members did  so many years ago. Present members that are descendants of some of the earliest members include the following families: Jennings, Hardy, White, Smith, Myrick, Webb, Campbell, Bardin, Oswald, Richburg.