Baptist History |
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GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND
PREACH THE GOSPEL MATTHEW 28:19-20
Nearly two thousand years
have come and gone since our Lord Jesus gave this commission to his church.
Has the church done as Jesus said we should do? Do you feel we as Baptist
have done our part in taking the gospel to the world? There are some
interesting facts I would like to share with you today and then we need to
decide what we really want to do. Do you think we should go on as we are
going,? Are there some areas we need to improve on in order to complete the
job our Lord has assigned us to do?
Baptist in Harlan County
There has been Baptist in
Harlan County since early days of 1800. The Upper Cumberland Association of
Baptist was organized in 1890 and we have a continuos history of the
Associations meetings since that time when H.F. Hensley was Moderator, Jacob
Carmack was the preacher of the Annual meeting and H. C. Rice was the
Clerk. The first Baptist church in Harlan County was the Wallins Creek
Baptist Church that was organized December 24,1855. The first pastor was
Nathan H. Noe who was the pastor of the church from 1855 to 1871. Wallins
later become the mother church of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church that we
know today as the Harlan Baptist Church which was the mother church of
Sunshine, Kelly St. Teetersville, Bledsoe and Bethel Baptist. There are at
this date forty churches lettered up in the membership of the Association.
Recorded in the 2000 Annuals 38 churches reported 8,735 members and 166 were
recorded baptized plus 115 other additions.
Baptist in Kentucky
The Kentucky Baptist
Convention was formed in 1837, eight years before the Southern Baptist
Convention was founded in 1845. The KBC is one of the oldest state
conventions in the SBC. The first preacher to set foot on Western soil was
Squire Boone 11, visiting KY in 1769. The first preaching in the West was
conducted by Thomas Tinsley and William Hickman, at Harrodsburg in April of
1776. The first evangelical church, organized west of the Alleghenies, is
Severns Valley, at Elizbethtown, founded June 18, 1781. The first district
Association west of the Alleghenies is Elkhorn, organized September 30, 1785
at the Clear Creek Church. The idea for the plan of the American Baptist
Home Mission Society was developed in Ky. Today there are approximently
750,000 Southern Baptist in Ky. There are approximately 2,400 autonomous (
self governing ) Ky. Baptist Churches. and 75 self governing, autonomous
Baptist Associations.
The Southern Baptist Convention
The SBC was organized for
World Missions. Executive Committee Boards are, International Mission
Board, North American Mission Board, Sunday School Board, And the Annuity
Board. There are six Theological Seminaries: Golden Gate Midwestern, New
Orleans, Southern, Southeastern and Southwestern. Associated
Orginations "WMU" Women Missionary Union and The Baptist World Alliance.
1,216 Associations and nearly 15,000,000 members in America.
What about tomorrow?
What does the future hold
for Ky. Baptist? What do we want for our children to read about us? Friends
you and I are making their history today. Will they say we loved the Lord
and believed in the future of the church? Will they know in their heart
where their Dad's and Mom's went when they left this life? It all depends on
what we personally do with Jesus Christ today. We can accept him as savior
and hear him say well done or, we can ignore the call to repent and hear him
say I never knew you. What we do with Jesus is the turning point of our
lives. His blood cleanses from all sin past, present and future. If you
have never been saved, I have good news for you. The same commission Jesus
gave the church nearly 2,000 years ago is still in effect today. Jesus
Blood still cleanses from all sin, His blood applied to your life can change
you and make you the person you should be. Saved and ready to go when he
calls. Be sure the blood of Christ is applied to your life. |