Church History
A meeting was held in Pleasant Hill Methodist on October, 18, 1940, for the purpose of organizing a Baptist Church. After much prayer and seeking divine guidance and consultation of our neighboring churches, a council was called and they felt there was a need for a Baptist Church. It was estimated that there would be about 30 people who were or would be Baptist. The following is a resolution.
Bro. H. J. Rushing, Collierville, Tennessee, was elected Moderator and Pastor and Mrs. Lena Watson as church clerk.
Bro. Jessie E. Daughtry and Mr. John H. Parks were received as deacons.
Services will be held on the third Sunday evening in the Methodist Church building.
On August 26, 1941, at Eudora, Mississippi, Mr. C. P. Dockery made the motion that we be admitted to the Desoto County Baptist Association.
On October 19, 1941, Bro. Jesse Daughtry was ordained by our church as a minister of the gospel.
Bro. Rushing was called to Laurel, Mississippi, in February, 1945, and we were without a pastor for several months.
In July, 1945, Bro. L. B. Kenly, from Memphis, Tennessee, came to preach for us. He was called as pastor on November 18, 1945.
On August 23, 1945, we had a called meeting to secure funds to start our building. $1,835.00 was pledged.
On September 2, 1945, we moved our services to the Pleasant Hill School building.
On October 15, 1945, our lot was graded, which had been bought from Mr. J. E. Brewer. Later, before the building was started, an additional ½ acre was given to the church by Mr. and Mrs. I. T. Brewer.
In December, 1945, we bought a piano and 50 folding chairs to use in the Sunday School classrooms at the school house.
Bro. Kenley pastured the church through August 18, 1946.
Bro. Joe Bomar from Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, preached several months for us. Also, during this period we were without a pastor, we had Bro. Ira Singleton, Bro. Calvin Meachum, Bro. Owen and Bro. Tommy Moncrief.
On May 4, 1947 Dr. C. S. Henderson from Horn Lake, Mississippi, came to preach for us and was called to serve as pastor on May 11, 1947. He served our church as pastor through August 1951.
On May 13, 1947, Haywood Wilkerson dug the first post hole, and in June, 1947, our building was started. What a joyous day! The structure was built of concrete blocks with brick veneer. The original building consisted of the sanctuary with 5 Sunday School rooms.
On October 26, 1947, we moved into the building, and the first sermon, “What is Religion?”, was preached by Dr. Henderson. His text was taken from John 1:44-52. Words are inadequate to express the glorious feeling we had that day.
The first baptismal services in our own church were on August 15, 1948. Eleven members were baptized. Prior to this time baptismal services were at our neighboring churches: Olive Branch, Horn Lake and Whitehaven.
Our pews were delivered on June 26, 1950. Until this time we had used folding chairs.
On October 22, 1950, three years after moving into the church building, the indebtedness was paid and the church was dedicated. On that afternoon our first deacons were ordained. They were: Joel A. Summers, Orlando H. Shelton and Noland B. King, Jr.
In December, 1951, we began having worship service on the first and third Sunday mornings and evenings.
In January, 1953, Rev. J. Homer Reeves was called as pastor. He served until May, 1964.
In July, 1955, we launched into another building program—additional Sunday School rooms and finishing inside the sanctuary.
In October, 1959, we had running water and plumbing put in the building.
In June 1965, our church began fulltime services, and we called Rev. James Melton as pastor. He served until August, 1969.
The annex (current fellowship hall, kitchen and Sunday School rooms was added in 1965.
In October, 1969, Bro. Rolla Utley was called as interim pastor. He was ordained in our church as a minister of the gospel on April 12, 1970, and was called as pastor in June, 1970. He served until September , 1979.
In May, 1972, we purchased 2.2 acres across the road for the purpose of building a parsonage. On July 30, 1972, “A group of God loving people met on the site to rejoice, have fellowship, make pictures and break ground.” E. W. Trusty dug the first shovel of dirt.
The parsonage was dedicated on May 19, 1974.
Dr. Lewis Ferrell came to preach for us first on October 4, 1979. He was called in early 1980 as our pastor. Bro. Bob Nunnery is our Youth and Music Director.
This history was compiled by Emogene King in June, 1983.
Additional information
An education and fellowship hall was added in 1986.
Dr. Michael Weeks was called as pastor in May of 1994.
The new sanctuary was dedicated on August 21, 2005, at the 65th Homecoming Anniversary.
