History of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church

(From the church history published on the 100th anniversary celebration, December 4th, 1988) Pleasant Grove Baptist Church began with a small group of people meeting in the fall of 1888.  These people did not have a place to worship. They secured Rev. S. C. Pellem to come and run a revival meeting for them. This set the groundwork for the beginning of our church. The Church was constituted on December 8, 1888. The nine charter members were Mr. and Mrs. George Harris, Mr. Jeff Ezell, Mr. E. M. Matthews, Mr. J. M. Lee, Mrs Maggie Bowman, Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Langford and Miss Emma Langford. Meetings were held in the Pleasant Grove School House. This school house was located on the northwest corner of the Troy Road and Dillard Road crossroads. On May 11, 1889, with the church in conference, a motion was made and a committee was appointed to see Mr. J. D. Peters in regard to land on which to build a church. The committee consisted of Thomas Harris, Robert Boman, and G. B. Langford. On June 8, 1889, the committee reported to the church that they had seen Mr. J. D. Peters, and he agreed to give two acres of land for the Pleasant Grove Church. The same committee was retained to get the deed for the land. The land that the church had secured was covered with giant long leaf pines. The people of the church cut the trees and hauled them to the sawmill that was located at what was later to be known as Marley's Mill. The trees were sawed into boards and hauled back to the location of the first church building. The first church building was built from this lumber by the people of the church. A deed was granted to the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church dated October 12, 1894 for the cemetery. On December 8, 1894, a committee of Thomas Harris, Louis Moseley and G. B. Langford was appointed to survey the cemetery. On the south corner of this land a new school house was built from lumber cut from the land and sawed at J. D. Peters' sawmill. This school house served the community until it burned February 13,1934. The school house was rebuilt and used until the 1940's. The church had two front doors originally. The custom was that the men entered the left door and sat on the left side of the church. The women entered the right door and sat on the right side of the church. The women placed the young people in the middle section of pews. Up front and to the left was the Amen corner. In later years an extension was added to the original building. As the women gained some status in the church, the two doors were replaced by one large door. In those years a ball diamond was located where the pastorium is now. In January of 1955, the church decided to build a new building. Membership had now reached 350. Groundbreaking for the new building was January 19, 1955. Mrs. Emma Paramore, the only living charter member at the time, turned the first spade of dirt for the new building. The building and planning committee was Mack Moseley, Lloyd Ezell, Orie Whitman, Louie Searcy, D. B. Ezell, H. R. Fain. The pastor was Q. P. Jones. The board of deacons was E. F. Byrd, Lloyd Peters, D. B. Ezell, Alf Byrd, W. G. Bullard, Alvie Roland, Elmer Hughes, Mack Moseley, Dewey Byrd and Lloyd Ezell. The church was built by the people wiht little hired help. Roy Whitman was in charge of the carpentry work, and Roscoe Tomlin and Curtis Marshall were in charge of the masonry work. The building was framed with lumber sawed from trees that Mack Moseley and Espy Chancey gave the church. Lumber from the first chuch building was used to finish the basement. The last service in the wood building was July 31, 1955. Mitchell (Mickey) and Margaret Andrews was the last couple to be married in the original church building June 5, 1954. The first service in the new building was August 7, 1955. In 1959 a pastorium was built by the people of the church. The church bought the material, and the people furnished most of the labor. The building cost approximately $20,000. In 1966, with increased enrollment in Sunday School and Training Union, a need for more classrooms was met by the construction of a two-story brick educational building. A kitchen and fellowship hall were included in this building. In 1973 the church membership reached 646. Additional space for classrooms and worship services was needed. On February 18, 1973, the groundbreaking service was held for a new auditorium. The present building was constructed at a cost of $100,232. The basement consists of a kitchen and fellowship hall. The building was a joint effort of people donating their time and the work of contractors. The building and finance committee for this building was Stanley Parker, Lloyd Ezell, Leon Dansby, Norman Tharpe, Malcolm Peters, W. J. Moseley, James B. Langford and Roy Whitman. From our humble beginnings of nine dedicated Christians meeting in a school house in the corner of a cow pasture, we have grown to a present membership of 650 resident members, with a Sunday School enrollment of 180 and Training Union of 173. We as a church owe a great debt to the nine people who had the courage to step out and start Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. We are also indebted to all the unselfish saints who down through the years have given so much of themselves, their time, their money, and their talents for the sake of serving the Lord. SUNDAY SCHOOL, TRAINING UNION, AND PRAYER MEETING Sunday School was started here at Pleasant Grove by Mr. Benny Godwin about 1928. One person stated, There was a strong Sunday School at Pleasant Grove in 1935. Another stated, I can remember attending Sunday School at Pleasant Grove in 1938 and 1939. There must have been an inactive period in the early '40's (the war years) because I can remember Sunday School being started about 1946. We had classes in a one room wood structure using curtains to make classroom partitions. We have come a long way from that wooden structure to the brick educational building we have today. An evening class called B.Y.P.U. (Baptist Young People's Union) was started about 1934 and continued for several years. The name of the evening class was changed to B.T.U. (Baptist Training Union) and became active again in the late '40's. Today these evening classes are known to us as Training Union. Prayer meeting was started in the early 50's by Amie and Mae Wilks, Dewey and Johnnie Byrd, and Mack and Mattie Moseley - along with the guidance of Rev. Q. P. Jones.