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The History of The First Baptist Church of Vidalia, Georgia First Baptist Church 101 E 1St St. Vidalia, GA 30474-4331 (912) 537-4196 |
It all began on Saturday, september 19, 1874, when the Reverend Turner Smith of the Mt. Vernon Association came on foot to this community and organized the Gethsemane Baptist Church. For the people of this area, going to town in those days and for many years to come meant Higgston, for this was seventeen years before the City of Vidalia came into being. There were no post roads open between here and Mt. Vernon which was already a city; the only direct route was an Indian trail. The first building owned by Mr. Smith's Gethsemane congregation was a small log structure located in the middle of what is now Church Street some fifth feet south of the intersection of Second Street. The original log structure was used as a place of worship by the congregation until 1893 when the Daniell Baptist Association was founded. At that time a two story building used as both a school and a church was erected on the sight now occupied by the Primitive Baptist Church. At the turn of the century one out of four people living in Vidlia was a member of the Vidalia Baptist Church. The membership of the church in 1897 was 135, in 1903 136; the population of Vidalia in 1900 was 503. In 1904 the building burned and the church records were destroyed. A new and larger building was built and used by the Vidalia Baptist Church until 1919 when it was sold to the Primitive Baptist people. A motion floored and carried in 1908, "that members having not paid to help support the pastor in the last twelve months be given three months in which to pay up". The Reverend H.W. Williams (1917-1920) will be remembered as the one who "built the building fund fire under the congregation", he threw down a challenge by making an offer of $1,000.00 for a new building if nine others would match it with a $1,000.00 each. Mr. Williams made the challenge several times without response. Finally he was taken up when he threatened to take his $1,000.00 and go some place else. With Twenty percent of the twentieth century gone the population of the city had increased to 2,860; the membership of the church was now 468. The "Roaring 20's" came in rather quietly for the membership of the Vidalia Baptist Church. With no meeting house they held worship services in the old mnicipal auditorium while their new building was being constructed. In 1921 the basement of the new building was sufficiently complete for services to be transferred there and they were continuously held there until finally in 1924 the present sanctuary was completed. There are some members who will recall the first baptismal service held in the present building. Before it was fully completed the congregation stood because there were no pews; there was no finished floor; not even any window, but a bptismal service was held just the same. It had been the hope of the people that the new building could be completed for the original $40,000.00 objective set by the finance committee. Even in those days inflation was taking its toll and the committee had to go on overtime to raise additional funds. Today there is no record of the exact cost of the building but the final figures must have totaled around $50,000.00, judging from entries we find in the records.
The Reverend J.T.B. Anderson who ahd survived the construction period tendered his resignation on July 12, 1925. Dr. J.C. Brewton, co-founder of Brewton-Parker Institute was called as supply pastor. On February 10, 1926, Dr. and Mrs. Brewton placed their membership in the church as Dr. Brewton accepted the call of the church to become its pastor. On October 10, 1926, the deacons proposed a budget of $6,800.00 for the church year: $2,000.00 pastor's salary; $2,000.00 church debt retirment; $1,800.00 missions; and $1,000.00 general expense. Sprindled throughout the meager early records of the church is evidence of the mission-mindedness of the congreation as time and time again they rose to the call for aid from neighboring churches and benevolent organizations. The twenties ended with a crash but there was a sound of music in the air. One of the last official acts of the congregation of this decade was the appointment of a pipe organ committee.
With the 1930's came the Great depression, but the progressive spirit of the membership was not dampened by the faltering economic condition of the country. The congregation of the Vidalia Baptist Church met in a called conference on Sunday, March 30, 1930. Dr. J.C. Brewton presided as moderator. The church received the report of the pipe organ committee and immediately and unanimously voted to adopt the report. Subsequently, a contract was entered into with the Pilcher Organ Company for the installation of a pipe organ for the sum of $4,370.00 A resolution was offered by the Board of Deacons to change the name of the Vidlia Baptist Church to the First Baptist Church of Vidalia. Brother V.B.Herring, a trustee of the church, read to the congregation a brief historical record of the church which he had compsed. On this date, March 30, 1930, the church was officially dedicated. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Dr. Aquila Chamlee, President of Bessie Tift College. The value of the church's property on this dedication day totaled $78,500.00; $10,000.00 for the one acre of property, for which the church had originally paid $6,500.00; church building $60,000.00; furniture and fixtures $4,500.00; musical instruments $1,000.00; pastorium and lot $3,000.00 The early thirties wee not without their lighter moments. The records state that on the 12th day of June, 1932, the Deacons gave permission for Dr. Brewton to alter the pastorium at his own expense. Another high moment of the early thirties must surely have occured on February 19, 1933, when the ladies of the W.M.U. put on a program or rather a play in the basement of the sanctuary for the purpose of raising money for the pipe organ fund. In September of 1934, Dr. Brewton was asked by the congregation to withdraw his resignation. Again, on January 5, 1935, the congregation made the same request. Finally, on July 3, 1935, the church reluctantley accepted the resignation of the beloved Dr. J.C. Brewton. The Reverend Gower Latimer became the twentieth pastor of the church on October 1, 1935. Mr. Latimer still holds the record for the longest pastorate of the church—ten years and three months. The last half of the 1930's was quiet and uneventful as the church and its members emerged from the depression years. The decade ended as the ominous black clouds of war that hung over Europe erupted.
Four Thousand One Hundred Nine heads were counted as residents of Vidalia in 1940; the membership of the church 588 was well below the one to four ratio at the start of the century. In 1940 a steering committee was appointed to make plans for and begin to raise funds for a new pastorium. This issue was kicked around quite a bit before being shelved by World War II. A large lighted sign in the shape of a cross proclaiming "Jesus Saves" was erected on the church lawn early in 1942. A few months later in July, chimes were purchaed and installed on the organ. The W.M.U. made a service flag and began the pracitce of representing each member on the congregation that entered the service by placing a star on the flag.
Mr. Latimer's pastorate ended on December 31, 1945. Thus began serveral months of intense work by the church appointed pulpit committee. Their efforts were rewarded when on August 1, 1946, The Reverend Joe V. Springer became pastor of the church. Following the conclusion of the war, the pastorium issue was revived and after many months of hard work, the pastor and his family moved into their new home at the coner of Church and Fourth Streets in the fall of 1947. The W.M.U. assisted the pastor and his family in observing an open house celebration in the new pastorium on November 9, 1947. A Young Adult Sunday School Department was organized in 1947 and through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Murchison began to meet in the chapel of the Murchison Funeral Home. A year or two later a department for college students was organized and began to meet in the chapel of what then was the Frank Murchison Funeral Home located at the rear of the site now occupied by Dr. Tire. These two departments did not have a permanent meeting place until the Education Building was completed in 1956. In the spring of 1947, the Men's Bible Class, through the courtesy of what is now radio station WVOP, began to broadcast the Sunday morning Sunday School lessons, and this practive has continued uninterrupted since that date. In 1948 a rotation system of membership on the Board of Deacons was put into operation. The church budget for the year 1947-1948 totaled $10,000.00 including such items as: pastor's salary, $4,200.00; Brewton-Parker College, $1,000.00; Co-operative Program, $750.00; Special mission causes, $750.00. Visions of an education building began to appear as early as 1948.
It is noted from the church minutes that in the latter part of the forties the church and the Sunday School Department were contributing almost regularly to assist Brewton-Parker College in its building program. By 1949 the membership of the Board of Deacons increased to eighteen. In September of 1949, the church employed Mrs. Lucille C. Morey as its first full time secretary. New carpet was installed in the sanctuary in the spring of 1950. On April 1, 1951, Joe V. Springer, Jr. was ordained to the ministry. In April, 1952, The Reverend Joe V. Springer, Sr. resigned to accept a call to the First Southern Baptist Church of Fresno, California. There are some members who will have fond memories of the Saturday night canasta parties with Joe and Hazel. Again, after several months of hard work, the church appointed pulpit committee found, in a place called Harlem, the man they were to recommend to the church as its new pastor. The Reverend O.L. Pedigo, Jr. became the twenty-second pastor of the church on October 1, 1952. Ten years later (the second longest pastorate) Mr. Pedigo resigned to beomce pastor of the Stone Mountain Baptist Church and from there Administrator of the Georgia Baptist Chirlden's Home, a position he holds today. With Mr. Pedigo came numerous changes in the organizational structure of the church and its programs. No longer were business conferences spasmodically held following a Sunday morning service; they were now given a regular place in the monthly calendar of activities. Charimanships of the various committees became the responsibility of the deacons. Members of the church were appointed as active members of the various committees. Under the new system the first Wednesday night business conference was held February 14, 1953. At this conference Mr. Pedigo presented the church calendar for the year. Thus began a practice which has continued through the years. A ;lanning and survey committee for the proposed new educational building began to make reports on their progress early in 1953. The summer conferences of 1953 were largely given over to lots of discussion and some work on the undersized and antiquated electrical system in the sacntuary. A hotly contested issue in those months was a proposal for air-conditioning in the sanctuary.
In August of 1954, a new program for the election of deacons was put into operation. Essentially, the same program with some modifications is still used by the church. By 1955 the pastor's salary, as noted from a copy of the budget, had increased to a whopping $5,400.00 per year. February of 1955 saw a decorating and furnishing committee for the new educational building appointed. This same month the chairman of the building and finance committee requested the church issue and sell $100,000.00 worth of interest-bearing bonds. During this period of building and financing, it was discovered that the church, years ago, received $3,000.00 in the form of a grant from the Georgia Baptist Convention. So that the record be absolutely clear, many members felt that even though there was no obligation on the part of the church that this money should be repaid, and, it was repaid. The records of May 1955 indicate that the church held an election of officers for the Youth Week. This was an apparent first for the church, and the practice of electing youth to fill the various positions in the church for one week in the sping has generally been followed since that time. The Unified Budget Program was adopted in September of 1955.
For the first time in September of 1956, the church approved the election of and elected a church moderator to reside over business conferences. In 1958 the church used quite successfully the forward program of church finance. Talk of starting a mission surfaced in March of that same year. Early in 1959, W.C. Thompson was ordained to the ministry by the First Baptist Church. In August, 1959, the church voted to buy a parcel of property at the corner of Smith and Fifth Streets for the eventual location of a mission. After having participated in a tent revival held on the mission sight, Mr. C.R. Haire was called as Minister of Music and Education. The construction of a building for the mission got under way in the summer of 1960 as the construction committee requested permission to proceed and requested that a $40,000.00 bond issue be authorized by the church. Seventy-five hundred plus people made Vidalia their hoome in 1960 with 905 of these being members of the First Baptist Church. Rev. Joel H. Roberson was called as Associate Pastor for the Frist Baptist Church with the responsibility for the Smith Street Mission. In the fall of 1960, Mrs. Kenneth Tapley succeeded Mr. C.R. Haire as Minster of Music. The Brotherhood in 1961 undertook the rather healthy task of installing concrete steps from the street level to the sidewalk level on the First Street side of the property. It is noted that the minutes of the late fifties and early sixties contained numerours references to discussions of church finance in the monthly conferences indicating some small problems in this area during those years. Mrs. Tapley resigned as Minister of Music in May of 1961 as she and her family moved to the Savannah, Georgia. area. Mr. Joel Roberson resigned the Smith Street Mission in February, 1962 and in May, 1962, the Reverend J.D. Bowen was called to serve at the Smith Street Mission. The church authorized the creation of the office of Associate Treasurer in September of 1962.
Mr. Pedigo resigned November 4, 1962, to accept the pastorate of the Stone Mountain Baptist Church. Thus began the first of three extended interim pastorates by Dr. Ted Phillips of brewton-Parker College. The sanctuary received new carpet in 1963 as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Mell Parker. Reverend Milton C. Gardner, Jr. became the church's twenty-third pastor on July 14, 1963. In the fall of 1964, the sanctuary building was freshened up with a coat of paint on the roof and all exterior woodwork. Mr. J.D. Bowen resigned the Smith Street Mission in 1965 to accept a call to keystone Heights, Florida. The old pastorium (Kennard House) was purchased by the church in February of 1965 and was converted for Sunday School use by Adult Department I. Dr. Ted Phillips became the interim pastor of Smith Street Mission following the resignation of Mr. Bowen. Reverend J. Ansley Jordan was called as pastor of the Smith Street Mission in May, 1965. On November 2, 1965, Mr. Pedigo delivered the address at the constituting service of the Smith Street Church. Early in the summer of 1966, Mr. Milton Gardner was granted a three-week leave of absence to make a trip to the Holy Land and guess who was called to fill the pulpit while Mr. Gardner was away?
For several years the church had been without a full tim Minister of Music. During this time, the talents of various members of the church were used in the capacity of chior directors until, finally, early in 1967, larry Varnadoe was called as Minister of Music. In March of 1967, thigs were put in order for the church to have a library and Mrs. Louise VanDyke was employed as the church's first librarian. Also in 1967, signs proclaiming the First Baptist Church as "in the Heart of the City for the Heats of the People", were placed on prominent highways leading into the city. The church continued the acquisition of property within the block acquiring property from Duncan Grahm and Mrs. J.W. Vann in 1967 and from Paul Grubb and Mrs. J.A. Drumps in 1968. These last purchases gave the church title to exactly one-half of the block between First Street and Second Street fronting on Church Street. A planning and survey committee for the construction of a new sanctuary was appointed in January, 1968. At the request of the W.M.U., the church gave approval and financial support to send Miss Ruth Edenfield to Syracuse, New York, in connection with the Southern Baptist Convention mission effort to establish five fundred churches and missions. Through the years from its beginning around the turn of the century, the W.M.U. has been the heart of the "Mission Effort" of the church, not only in prayer and Bible study emphasis, but with very substantial contributions and gifts to Foreign, Hoome and State Missions as well as to the Baptist Children's Home. The very popular Mr. Milton C. Gardner, Jr. resigned September 30, 1969 to accept the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Thomasville. Mr. Larry Varnadoe, Minister of Music, resigned in January of 1970 to accept a call to the Garden City Church near Savannah, Georgia. After several months and many miles of travel, the pulpit committee recommended that the church extend the call to the Reverend Irvin Northcutt. Mr. Northcutt, who was fresh from the foreign mission field of Peru, South America, became pastor of the church in March of 1970. Mr. Ollie Graham, who had been serving in a somewhat temporary capacity as Minister of Music, became full time Minister of Music as Mr. Northcutt began his pastorate. In July, 1970 the W.M.U. sent Mrs. Louise Gibson and her sister to Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania for one week on a similar mission as the one taken the previous year by Miss Edenfield.
Somewhere in the intervening months from January, 1968 to November, 1970, the planning and survey committee for the new sanctuary ceased to exist. In its place a sanctuary renovations committee was appointed and began to function. Mrs. Morey retired as church secretary in June, 1971, but continued as financial secretary. Mrs. Glynn Collins assumed the duties of church secreatary, upon Mrs. Morey's retirement. In recognition of Mrs. Morey's twenty-two years of service the church honored her with "Lucille Morey Day" on July 25, 1971. Mrs. Marie Warnock succeeded Mrs. Glynn Collins as church secretary on April 10, 1972. That same month, Mr. Northcutt resigned to return to the mission field in Peru, South America. About the same time, the Reverend William C. Campbell was called as Minister of Music and Youth. Mr. Campbell assumed his duties shortly before the Northcutts left at the end of the public school term to return to South America. In September of 1972 a vigorous campaign to purchase a church bus was successful in acquiring a forty-four passenger bus. In September of 1972 the church voted to continue the child day care center which has been so successfully carried on by the ladies of the church. The pulpit committee which had worked so deligently for several months requested that the church invite the Reverend T. Noel Cooper to attend a church wide fellowship gathering on Saturday evening, September 16th and to preach the Sunday morning service, September 17th.
The Reverend T. Noel Cooper became the twenty-fifth pastor of the church on November 1, 1972. Sunday, October 29, 1972 was designated as Dr. Ted Phillips Appreciation Day. A special service was held with dinner on the grounds and all the trimmings in an attempt to fully express to Dr. Ted and Mrs. Phillips the appreciation of every member of the church for his unselfish and untiring service to the church and its members. Early in 1973, the church voted to have the pipe organ renovated at a cost of almost $7,000.00. In March of 1973, the church accepted a gift of certain parcels of land in the Lone Pine Subdivision of Vidalia as a gift from Mr. P. Leroy Meadows. At about this same time Reverend William W. Goins, Chaplain at the Montgomery County Correctional Institute, joined the church staff as a Counselor. In September of 1973, the church designated Sunday, the 16th as "Miriam Trippe Day" as Mrs. Trippe retired after twenty-three years as church pianist.
The Reverend Bill Campbell resigned as Minister of Music and Youth early in 1974 to accept a similar position in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Through the years when the Music Departent has found itself without a director the choir has been able to produce from it's ranks a person with leadership ability to carry on the program. We are indebted to many who have "filled-in".
Mr. Don Moye was called by the church as Minister of Music and Youth on June 5, 1974 and the church has come alive with prospects of a summer filled with all kinds of activities for both the young and old alike. Everyone is looking forward to the many activities of the summer, and especially to the climax of "Christ Prclaimed For A Century", on Thursday, September 19, 1974, when the curtain rings down and the book is closed on the first hundred years of "The First Baptist Church".
Prof. Judson Raiford Trippe, Sr. - Judson Raiford Trippe Sr. was a school teacher in Vidalia,GA. After he died they named the school after him. - Descendancy Chart - Descendants of Allen Martin
and Related Families - Contact: Brenda Hawkins.
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bfhawkins&id=I42944
First Baptist Church of Vidalia, GA
http://www.fbcvidalia.org/
A Brief History of Brewton-Parker College - Dr. John Carter Brewton, pastor of the McRae Baptist Church from 1902 to 1905. Brewton-Parker College - Located on Hwy. 280 at 201 David-Eliza Fountain Circle, P. O. Box 197, Mount Vernon, GA 30445; 912-583-2241, 1-800-342-1087.
http://www.bpc.edu/administration/institutional_research/factbooks/factbook_2002-2003/I01.htm
The Descendants of John and Isabella Bruton - Family Tree For Richard Michael Blalock - Richard Blalock's Website
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=rblalock&id=I00611
J.R. Trippe Middle School - Vidalia City Schools - Open House - Vidalia Board of Education
http://www.vidalia-city.k12.ga.us/schools/jrtrippe/jrtrippe_frame.htm
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