History of First Baptist Church of Reeltown

 

The following document was prepared by the Historical Committee of FBC Reeltown for the 100th Anniversary in 1983 and covers the first hundred years of the church’s history. If you would like to contribute to the history since 1983, have corrections or additions to this essay, please email us.

Reeltown Baptist Church

In 1883, H. C. Sanders, a missionary from Opelika, came to Reeltown. Sanders had been sent by the State Home Mission Board to ascertain the need for Baptist preaching in the community. He stopped along the road to ask a farmer if he knew where he could find a Baptist. After a moment’s reflection, the farmer said that he did not know of a single Baptist anywhere in the county. Sanders went on to the general store where he asked the same question. The local merchant told Sanders to contact the only Baptist he knew, J. B. Segrest. Segrest was very anxious to have preaching in the area and arranged for Sanders to preach in the school house. Beginning in late July, Sanders preached every night for a week and searched for “stray Baptists” during the day. Because so much interest was apparent during these meetings, Sanders asked J.H. Norton, W.G. Gregory and J. L. Thompson to help him organize a church in the community.

Following an introductory sermon by W.G. Gregory, the Church of Christ at Mt. Pleasant was organized and constituted in September, 1883, with twelve members. R.B. Boles, Ann Boles, Jenney Boles, Nancy Boles, Jan Evans, Elizabeth Evans, G.W. Evans, Martha Evans, J.B. Segrest, Elizabeth Poole, A.J. Weldon, and Nancy Segrest signed the original church covenant. The original church covenant served the church until a new constitution and set of by-laws was adopted by the church in 1972. The original church covenant read as follows:

                “As we trust we have been brought by divine grace to receive the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up ourselves we do now, relying on his grace, solemnly covenant with each other and promise that we will walk together in brotherly love as becomes the  members of a Christian church; that we will exercise affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and instruct each other as brethren; that we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, not neglect to pray for ours and each others; that we will endeavor to bring up such as may be at any time under our care in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and by a pure and lovely example to win our kindred and acquaintances to the Savior, to Holiness, and to Eternal Life; that we will rejoice at each other’s happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bare each other’s burdens and sorrows; that we will love circumspectly in the world, denying all ungodliness and worldly lust; setting a Holy example; that we have been voluntarily buried by Baptist and have raised up from the emblematic grave, there is on us a special obligation henceforth to lead new and Holy lives; that we will strive together for the support of a faithful evangelical ministry among us; that according to our abilities and opportunities we will serve as faithful stewards of the Lord, do good to all men, and especially to those of the households of faith and that through life amidst evil as well as good reports, we will earnestly seek to live to the glory of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His Marvelous light.”

In the week following the organization of the church, Gregory Norton, and Thompson preached day and night to large congregations. In reporting the attendance of the revival, Sanders told the Alabama Baptist that the “house was full and many were about the doors.” By the end of the week, the church roll had grown to fifty-six. Of the forty-four new church members, thirty-two made professions of faith during the revival.

The First Fifty Years (1883-1932)

From the founding of Mt. Pleasant through the first fifty years, the church followed some practices which seem quaint to modern Baptists. Yet protracted meetings, acknowledgements, and Saturday meetings were common exercises among many missionary Baptists in the late nineteenth century.

                The protracted meeting which began Mt. Pleasant was only the first of many extended revivals to be held by the church. Meetings were usually held in the late summer, when they would continue from day to day and night to night. This intensive style of evangelism was very successful for Mt. Pleasant. As early as 1907, a nine day meeting resulted in the addition of twenty-three new members to the church roll. Then in a revival of 1911, twenty-seven more people joined the church. Later, in 1932, Pastor R. Martin Stuckey conducted his own revival and brought in twenty-five new members into the church. The Stuckey revival was probably the last one held at the church to continue day and night.

                Early conferences were more concerned with personal salvation and conduct that with the meager financial matters of the church. Along with revival reports and baptismal lists, the early church minutes are filled with “acknowledgments” and “matters gospelly treated”. None of these items on the conference agenda provided the church with opportunities to deal with the unchristian personal conduct of its members.

                Acknowledgments were the voluntary confession of misconduct by individuals seeking the aid and prayers of the church. Generally the church accepted the acknowledgment as repentance and the individual retained full church fellowship. In 1911, a permanent absentee committee was formed to visit those who had missed church meetings, after six absences of three consecutive absences the committee would visit errant members. In most cases, the member was present at the next conference and asked the church to forgive his lack of support. Usually the person was freely forgiven, but continued absence could result in withdrawal of church fellowship. Altogether, seventy people were excluded or erased from the church roll between 1883 and 1929.

                Matters gospelly treated often had more serious consequences. Under this heading, misconduct was brought to the notice of the church by an uninvolved party. A committee was then formed to investigate the charges and ascertain the repentance of the individual. The committee would recommend punishment from temporary withdrawal of church fellowship to permanent erasure from the church roll. Most matters treated gospelly were church members using profanity of becoming intoxicated. In 1886, one of the brethren asked the church to temporarily withdraw fellowship from himself rather than continue a length and troublesome investigation into the causes of strife between himself and another church member.

                From the first sermon until 1932, Mt. Pleasant held conference on Saturday as well as their regular Sunday service. That way, no business had to be conducted on Sunday. Since preaching was held before conference, the church asked local businessmen to close during preaching hours. By 1932, lack of attendance and schedule difficulties with part time pastors forced the church to discontinue the Saturday meetings.

                Fifty years is not only a logical mathematical division of the church’s history, it seems to be a major dividing point in terms of the church’s attitude. Around its fiftieth anniversary, the church discontinued many of the practices which characterized nineteenth century rural churches. Acknowledgements, protracted meetings, and Saturday services had virtually disappeared by 1932.

                In some imperceptible way, the church had experienced a change in its outlook. From a concentration on personal salvation and evangelical meetings, the church’s program began to reflect greater interest in farm and community life. A vigorous youth program undertaken by the church utilized help from county agricultural agents and teachers from the new High School. In a gesture symbolic of its new community spirit, Mt. Pleasant voted in 1932 to change its name to Reeltown Baptist Church.

The Second Fifty Years (1933-1983)

The numerous building programs which characterized the second fifty years of Reeltown Baptist had their roots in the first building committee elected in 1884. C.W. Newman, J.M. Boles, H.J. Rix, and Dr. W.J. Smith served on the committee which supervised the construction of the original, one room, frame building. Although legend says that the first building was destroyed by cyclone and rebuilt around 1911, the church minutes speak only of refurbishing and making additions to the original structure.

                The first large building project of the second fifty years was undertaken in 1945. In March of that year, the membership voted to build a pastor’s home for the church. Timber was cut from the building site to construct the home. J.W. Stewart and Griffin Howard chaired the committees which planned and supervised construction. On June 17, 1948, the church celebrated the completion of the pastorium by burning the paid note. Since its completion in 1948, the pastorium was reroofed and had insulation added in 1963, received updated plumbing in 1966, and had the kitchen and living room remodeled in 1971.

                Following the success of the pastorium building program, the church embarked on a massive, long-range plan to construct new educational facilities and remodel the sanctuary. After months of study, the deacons recommended extending fourteen feet onto the back of the church to make room for new Sunday school rooms; Clayburn Garnett was asked to head the committee to finance this tremendous program. Finally, Reeltown celebrated the completion of the project with a huge homecoming service in 1963; fifteen years after the project actually began. Then years later, the church purchased new furnishings, carpet, and light fixtures for the auditorium, Central heating and air conditioning were also installed at this time.

                A new roof, aluminum siding on all outside woodwork and some inside work was done to the pastorium in 1979.

                Due to insufficient space in the educational department, a trailer was purchased for use as Sunday school rooms in 1980. Donations were given to build a tennis court behind the church in 1980 and completed in 1981.

Baptismal Sites

The history of any Baptist church would be incomplete without a record of its baptismal sites. Various places have been used by the church as baptismal sites throughout the years. In the earliest days, new members of Mt. Pleasant were most often baptized in Saugahatchee Creek or Stone Creek. Church records also indicate that the baptisteries of other churches, Elam and Notasulga, have been used at times. Once the church had a small baptismal pool dug behind the present pastorium. In 1963 a baptistery was built within the sanctuary of Reeltown Baptist Church. Linda Holloway and Douglas Eldridge, children staying in the home of Mrs. Doris Newman, were the first to be baptized in the new baptistery on June 7, 1964.

The Extended Church Family

                As the young church grew, its ties to other Baptist Churches were strengthened. At the close of its first year, William Hammans, J.W. Evan, A.J. Weldon, J.B. Segrest, and George Evans were sent as messengers to the Tallapoosa district meeting. Reeltown remained affiliated with the Tallapoosa association until 1921. At that time, the church began to send messengers to the Tuskegee Association because its offices were closer and more convenient. When the Tuskegee Association merged with the Lee association in 1969, Reeltown joined the newly formed Tuskegee-Lee Association.

Pastors and Church Leaders

Pastors

W.G. Gregory-1883-1892, 1897-1902

S.R. Grimes-1892-1897

R.F. Stuckey -1902-1907

J.L. Stough-1908-1918, 1927-1932

J.C. Sims-1918

R.M. Cooper-1919-1925

W.P. Cofield-1926-1927

R.M. Stuckey-1932-1933

J.T. Nail -1934-1937

Adolph Bedsole-1938-1942

J.L. Reeves-1942-1944

C.W. Philips-1944-1946

L.W. White-1946-1947

T.A. Coleman-1947-1949

E.A. Wood-1950-1956

William Winstead-1957-1962

Tom Norris-1962-1966

William Carter-1967-1968

A.L. Dennis-1969-1970

Joe Lenox -1971-1975

Roy Beasley-1975-1978

Lee Swett-1979-1983

Jerry Long-1983-1984

Lenny Howard-1984-1986

Charles Woodfin-1987-1992

Dan Davis-1992-1995

Eldridge Holt-1995-2001

Billy Allen-2002-2003

Max Cummings- 2003-2006

Ross Kilpatrick- 2008-2011

Josh Cook-2011-present

 

Deacons (date ordained)

J.B. Segrest – 1883, A.J. Weldon – 1883, George Evans – 1883, William Hammons – 1883, J.S. Wilkerson – 1885, E.J. Evans – 1894, W.H. Segrest – 1894, J.W. Stewart – 1909, R. McAuley – 1924, J.T. Johnson – 1932, O.B. Coan – 1932, S.J. Stearns – 1932, Lussie Segrest – 1932, James Lynn – 1932, A.M. Daugherty – 1945, W.L. Holland – 1947, Marrell Stewart – 1947, Truett Johnson – 1947, Charles Segrest – 1947, E.A Thomas – 1948, Wilbur McGarr – 1948, Versul Baker – 1948, R.H. Jackson – 1948, L.M. Bryant – 1948, A.R. Webster – 1948, Griffin Howard – 1948, O.C. Garnett – 1949, Willie Hatchett – 1950, T.L. Gallman – 1954, Henry Griggs – 1954, Charles Upton – 1954, Render Lynn – 1954, Theodore Meadows – 1962, Wilton Trussell – 1962, C.F. Golden – 1962, Brewer Casaday – 1965, B.E. Nix – 1973, Bill Gunn – 1973, Charles Meadows – 1976, Carroll Humphrey – 1976,

                On September 11, 1947, the church adopted a “rotating plan” for the board of deacons. Under this plan, the twelve members of the board were elected for terms of one, two and three years. Following the completion of the first term, all deacons would be serving staggered three year terms.

                R. Martin McAuley, S.J. Sterns, and Brewer, Casaday were received as deacons from other Baptist churches.

Church Officers and Organizations

                Few churches withstand the test of time without strong, able leadership. Reeltown Baptist Church has been blessed with a large number of willing and able workers throughout its history.

Church Clerks

J.B Segrest, Myrtle Segrest, Weston Meadows, Maedell Meadows

Reeltown has also been blessed to have a strong current of stability running through its key leadership positions. JB Segrest served as church clerk for 68 of its first hundred years. Three ladies have kept the church minutes since Segrest’s death in 1948. Because the records have been moved so seldom, the church minutes are available completely intact and in excellent condition.

Treasurers

Joe Segrest, Sallie Lou Johnson Farrow, Bessie Griggs, Donald Johnson, Versul Baker, Mariam Casaday, Peggy Gunn

During the first twenty years of the church’s history, the job of treasurer might seem insignificant because of the small amounts involved. But with collections often as low as fifty cents, it took a master bookkeeper to buy lamp oil and pay the pastor. In 1886, the church adopted its first envelope system to collect for state and foreign missions. By 1907, it was sending ten dollars annually to each mission cause. Increased farm prosperity during the twenties allowed the church to greatly increase its support of missions and give over seven hundred dollars to the Seventy-Five Million Campaign to pay Southern Baptist debts3 When the Great Depression brought lean years to the entire church family, it began a tither envelope plan to finance the everyday affairs of the church. Many times, though, the pastor was left unpaid for several months. As prosperity returned in the 1940’s, the church experienced one of its greatest periods of growth. Building projects, participation in the Cooperative Program, and the creation of various funds for mission work, the cemetery, and community condolences…combined to make the role of treasurer more complex and crucial in the modern church.

Sunday school

In 1911, The Tuskegee association invited Reeltown to participate in a rally it was conducting to organize Sunday Schools. The entire congregation of the church attended the sessions on beginning and teaching Sunday Schools. Upon returning to their own church, the members elected J.B. Segrest as their first Sunday School Superintendant. In spite of its one room structure, the church developed a graded program by using curtains to separate the classes.

Training Union

In 1926, Pastor Cofield urged the church to organize a Baptist young People’s Union. President Sallie Johnson organized and led a vigorous program which drew area young people into the church. The training union was for youth only until the late 1940’s when the evening program expanded to include four graded classes. Forty new members were enrolled in the training union during August of 1947. By 1955 training union membership peaked at one hundred thirty-two.

WMU

The Women’s Missionary Society of Reeltown Baptist Church was organized in 1931 with Mrs. J.B. Segrest as its president. By 1935 the church had four mission societies, including a girls auxiliary, sunbeams and a business women’s circle. Over the years the ladies prayer circles have brought the church closer to the world and world events through missions. The WMU collected food and clothing for Czechoslovakia following the communist purges of 1947. Because of the Vietnam War the ladies held a week of prayer for peace in 1966.

 

Notes and Sources

  1. Alabama Baptist, 11 October 1883
  2. Bob Saxon, Tallapoosa County, A history (Alexander Ciry: Service Printing Company, 1976), p166
  3. Alabama Baptist State Convention, Annuals, 1921-1979

Unless otherwise noted all information in this brief history came from the church minutes and the following interviews:

Baker, Versul – interview – June 22, 1983

Bryant, Ollie – interview – June 22, 1983

Hatchett, Mr. and Mrs. Willie – interview – June 22, 1983

Farrow, Sallie Lou – interview – June 22, 1983

 

Your historical committee submits this brief history of the Reeltown Baptist Church for your pleasure. We recognize the information is only a brief summary of the church’s history, and many special people and events could not be included in this document. As the result of this study a more detailed history of the church will be compiled in the future.

The committee also wants to take this opportunity to express appreciation to the many people who have shared from their personal memories to help provide the information included in the booklet. If there are any errors in the information as it is presented, we, the committee, extend our apologies. It is the hope of this committee that the booklet will be enjoyable to read and informative at the same time.

Historical Committee:

Jerry Long, Maedell Meadows, Lois Harris, Eunice Booth, Eugenia Wilkerson, Teresa Gilbert, Theodore Meadows, Wilton Trussell, Charles Meadows, Lander Trussell, Bill Gunn, Flournoy Boles, Weston Meadows, Inez Johnson