About Us - Church History

the old church buildingIn 1886, Baptists in Carterville were meeting in the Presbyterian Church then located just east of the Post Office. Rev. Hugh McAlpin organized the First Baptist Church with twelve or fourteen members from the old Hurricane Missionary Baptist Church, located about two miles east of Carterville. Before the end of the year a new frame building had been completed at the present site.

The church later became known for its music program with an eleven-piece orchestra and twenty-two-voice choir. Baptismal services were conducted at Zimmerman pond, then located between the current Dent and Zimmerman streets.

Rev. Floyd Jent led an expansion program in 1948, when a concrete block addition was built and several pieces of property adjacent to the church building were purchased.

Rev. C.R. Walker began a weekly newsletter, The Visitor, and led in a long-range building program for an educational wing, which was dedicated in 1957. The present sanctuary was dedicated on November 24, 1974, under the leadership of Rev. Joe Bob Pierce. Rick McNeill became our Music Director in the same year.

The prayer Chapel was dedicated in 1984, and in 1988, Dr. Dwayne Sheumaker was called as pastor. The same year, the church purchased a new van and another lot of property for additional parking space.

All told, twenty-seven pastors have led the church during its history. Ten men have been ordained or licensed to the Gospel Ministry, and the church has maintained a strong support of mission and benevolent work.

The future is faced with confidence in Jesus Christ, the head of the church, in whom we live and move and have our being.