In August of 1969, there was a music festival of some note, held on a dairy farm a few hours outside of New York City. Attended by over 400,000 people, that music festival, known as Woodstock, was promoted with the slogan, “Three Days of Peace and Music.” The country was in the middle of turbulent times, and organizers thought music could bring some inner peace to festival goers.
Fast-forward 54 years to a farm in the heart of Pell City, Alabama. Hundreds of people have gathered to enjoy a free music festival. The festival is called Lovestock, a nod to the intent of the historic 1969 music mega-festival. As you walk from the parking area toward the stage, you enjoy the serene beauty of this farm, with its expansive views of gently sloping green hills and fields.
As you approach the stage, you hear the master of ceremonies tell the crowd that today there are no races, no black, no white, just love. “Today,” the voice explains, “will be all about the collective experiences of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and their expressions of love in music.” Throughout the day, the shared joy and community among the participants creates a truly palpable sense of love and unity.
Spectators fill the fields in front of the stage
During breaks in the music, squeals of joy can be heard from the children’s inflatables play area. Groups of festival goers wander about to visit the food truck and vendor area as they wait to hear their favorite group sing. Unlike the rainy, muddy conditions that characterized the Woodstock festival site, the weather on this October day is sunny and warm, with a breeze that hints of the changing seasons.
Individuals and bands from five states share the stage at various times throughout this day-long music festival. The 17 acts will later be edited into four shows for Alabama Gospel Roots, a popular television show which airs on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. on Alabama Public TV (APT).
Al Lewis has been playing saxophone for 64 years. He’s playing with two different bands on this day. “I was around at the time of Woodstock,” he says. “Lovestock is different and so much better. No alcohol, no chemicals, just totally Christian love.” He joins the band, Lite Brigade, in the morning set and Healed by the Blood in the closing act of the day.
Rev. Dr. Renita Allen-Dixon is a popular gospel recording artist from Tallahassee, Florida, and has just finished her set on stage. She agrees with Lewis about the festival and its location. “You can feel life and the presence of God here,” she adds. “It’s an opportunity for God to bring serenity and peace and for faith to be renewed.”
The idea for Lovestock began two years ago as the brainchild of four men working on various projects in the entertainment industry in Alabama. George W. Stewart, host of the Alabama Gospel Roots television show pitched to his friend, Charlie Beavers, the idea of putting on an outdoor music festival. Beavers, a Birmingham attorney and frequent guest musician on the gospel show, agreed to help, and the idea took flight. Beavers suggested including Rodney Burrow, a friend he had worked with previously on a charity music event. Michael Sutton, who manages Iron City Collective, a pop-up worship event group which produces worship events at places like Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham, rounded out the group.
APT had been taping Alabama Gospel Roots at venues all around the state since the COVID pandemic shut down their studio in Montgomery. As they continued to talk about it, the plan began to take shape as a Christian Woodstock equivalent, with back-to-back groups playing throughout the day, but without the negative connotations and volatility that became associated with the iconic ‘60s festival.
Lovestock organizers added to their event promotion the tagline, “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” a reference to a popular 1965 song recorded by Jackie DeShannon. “That’s truly what the world needs now,” said Stewart. “There’s a lot of hurt in the world today. We’re going to show a pure expression of love for each other and love for God. We hope people leave empowered to share this example of unity with the world.”
Organizers booked Lovestock at Rodney Burrow’s 123-acre farm. Its green, rolling hills and water features project a decidedly golf course feel, with good reason. Burrow purchased the land from the estate of Charles Carter, owner of Carter Golf Company, a world-renowned company that built many famous golf courses, including the Robert Trent Jones courses in Alabama.
“Carter used his company equipment and sculpted it, I’m told, from basically swampland to the tranquil and beautiful hills and lush greenways that it is now,” tells Burrow.
Burrow had been looking for land to buy outside of Birmingham in 2012 when the property became available. He recalls the story of how he knew it was the right land for him. “A friend came out with me to look at the land. He got down on one knee and scooped up some dirt in his hand, let it sift through his fingers and told me that one day I would be able to call this land my own,” says Burrow, choking back tears.
“I came back a few days later and promised God that if he gave me this property, I would give it back to him.” Thirty days later, Burrow closed on the property, which he now calls Willow Tree Ranch.
His journey to fulfill that promise includes offering sections of the property for use for events like Lovestock and for use in his work with area youth and families. “When I bought it, I really didn’t know what that would look like. What began as a youth camp idea has expanded into something far beyond my expectations,” adds Burrow.
He has plans to develop the land further and build a conference center with lodging, and fishing and recreation areas, along with barns with horses for guests to ride.
Burrow introduces one of his volunteers at the festival. Joseph Carrion smiles as he tells his story of gratitude and the reason he is happy to help. He had been serving two life sentences plus 13 years at Donaldson Correctional Facility as a repeat offender convicted on a charge of drug possession.
After participating in a prison ministry event called Kairos in 2003, he turned his life around. Charlie Beavers was working with that ministry on that April weekend at Donaldson. “I asked him if God could really save me,” said Carrion.
“A year later, I was released on parole. The next year, Charlie and some others went with me to Montgomery to receive a full pardon. Helping with these kinds of events helps me to give back for the gift of love and salvation I didn’t deserve.”
Breaking down barriers and offering life-changing love is what has fueled the efforts of all who worked on this music festival. “Lovestock crosses all boundaries,” says Stewart. “It’s a collective of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and their expressions of love in music. It’s unfacilitated peace through all walks of life.”
A man, a parish, heavenly intervention, a community and a bell
Story Paul South Photos by Sam Marston and Graham Hadley
If Zuzu Bailey’s line in the 1946 holiday film classic, It’s A Wonderful Life is true – that “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings,” a small Catholic Church in Cropwell helps get a heavenly squadron cleared for takeoff every day.
Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church’s 750-pound bell has become not only part of a parish, but of a community. It’s much more than heavy metal.
It’s a ringing result of one man’s idea, the support of his priest and parish and a heaping helping of Divine Providence.
Just ask Sam Marston.
It may have been 2017 when Marston, a 76-year-old retired airport food service manager, got the idea for the bell at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church.
Sam Marston and the bell
“The church didn’t have a bell tower, and I like bell towers,” he says.
After meeting with the then-priest at Our Lady of the Lake, Marston pledged seed money from his 401k for the bell and its tower.
But until 2019, thoughts of the bell fell silent. The former priest retired. And what’s more, Marston’s wife, Glenda, was battling cancer.
In 2019, buoyed by an enthusiastic response from new OLL priest, the Rev. Bill Lucas, Marston began to reach out to churches in Philadelphia and Washington, looking for bells from closed parishes.
None were found. Then, he discovered Bell Castings, a firm in Loudon, Tenn., and its owner, Todd Lower.
The church found its bell – a 1934 model crafted by the Missouri-based McShane Company – in a roomful of ringers. Founded in 1856, McShane is America’s oldest church bell company.
The parish began a fundraising effort. While Marston’s pledge, funded by a government required minimum distribution was financial, both Marston and Lucas believe a higher power was at work.
“It had to be something Divine,” Marston says. “I couldn’t have come up with this. It was just something that came together. My whole thought process was to do something really, really special with this donation.
Marston, a cradle Catholic, had always loved bells. “It makes the whole church experience rich. Ringing before Mass and after Mass is like a celebration.”
Initially, donations for the belltower project came at a trickle. Rev. Lucas was not optimistic.
“We set a budget that was much higher than what we had before … So I said, we’ll leave it to the parish and if people give enough money, we’ll build the bell. But I didn’t think there was any way we would ever get to the level we needed to get to build the belltower.”
Marston confessed to doubt as well. “When the money stopped coming in, yes I did have doubts,” he says. “I tried to put it out of my mind, but I’d go out and see the bell sitting on the ground.”
Then, after one Sunday Mass, came a miracle. A donor wishing anonymity quietly handed Lucas a check for the majority of the needed funds.
“All of a sudden, there we were,” Lucas says. “We had the money for the project. Some people would say we got lucky,” he adds. “But I prefer to say Divine Providence.”
He adds, “If you believe in Divine Providence, the whole story of our parish is that way … You can see it at work. But it’s certainly true of the bell.”
Marston agrees. “I really do think it was Divine intervention, because there were so many things that could have stopped it.”
Through friend Carl Wallace, Marston connected with structural engineer Bob Barnett, and Barnett foundBirmingham architect TimLucy who had done work for other Catholic parishes in the past. It seemed a match made in heaven.
Upper framework
The link to Barnett came in true Logan Martin style, when Marston and Wallace discussed the bell project over glasses of wine during a sunset pontoon cruise.
“(Sam) was willing to make the financial commitment, but he just didn’t know how to take the next step,” Wallace, author of the popular Facebook blog, “Lake Ramblings”, says. “I’m an engineer, and I just happened to know Bob Barnett who lives on the lake … and has his own structural engineering company. My simple part was, ‘Sam, let me get you in contact with Bob Barnett and get y’all hooked up.’ And Bob jumped all over it. He hooked up Sam with the architect. He had worked with (architect Lucy) on Catholic projects before.”
Ground broke on the bell tower on Nov. 9, 2021. But it was not an easy rise to the heavens. Soft St. Clair County soil required digging deeper and reinforcing the foundation with concrete. The bell, gleaming gold against a bright blue winter sky, was raised on Jan 13, 2022.
“You talk about exciting,” Marston recalls.
The electronically programmed bell rings every hour on the hour between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., as well as five minutes before and at the end of each Mass and at funerals. The bell, Lucas says, has impacted the parish in a positive way.
“It’s made people more reverent,” Lucas says, “because when the bell rings, then you focus on the Mass. You focus on prayer and worship. Just like during the Consecration when we ring the bells, it’s a reminder to people where we are and what we’re doing.”
Lucas adds, “I didn’t really understand that when we were going through the project. But since we’ve had it, it’s opened my mind to the benefit of having the bell and helping people’s faith.
In a small way, Wallace says, the bell project has enriched life on the Cropwell end of the lake, especially as the tower was under construction.
“It’s almost the anticipation of it was greater than the final project,” Wallace says. “It’s not real loud. You can only hear it if you’re in the area. People see it when they drive by. It has become an instant landmark, maybe more so than the church itself.”
There’s something more at work here.
“The tradition of it, I think, is noteworthy,” Wallace says. “A church bell ringing is a great thing.”
The bell is a reminder of faith for people, regardless of their spiritual persuasion, Lucas says.
“Sometimes they’re Catholic, sometimes they’re just believers. They hear the bell, and it reminds them of that,” Lucas says. “This is a very religion-friendly area, and I think the bell speaks not just to Catholics, but to everyone of faith. It gives them a reminder that God is there and to take Him more seriously.”
While Marston was the driving human force, the community, priest and parish all played a part.
“It was a relay, and there were a lot of runners,” Wallace says. “It’s a very interesting thing that just happened to happen to happen.”
While at this point, folks in Cropwell may be unsure about Hollywood’s Zuzu Bailey theory on angel wings and chiming bells, the feeling Sam Marston gets with every clang is crystal clear:
“Joy,” he says.
At the end of the day, the story of the Our Lady of the Lake belltower transcends one man’s dream, or money, a bell or bricks and mortar, Lucas says. “I think it does come back to that Divine Providence. If we’re open to that, and we’re willing to be molded by that, then God can use that for His glory and the building up of the Church and building up of faith, if we’re open to it.”
And in what some may see as another ring of Divine Providence, the bell chimed for the first time on Feb. 1, 2022.
A sweeping driveway and parking lot lead one up to Rocky Zion Missionary Baptist Church’s brick sanctuary on 16th Street South in Pell City overlooking The Legacy Center and a community of interconnecting streets.
Before integration of schools, today’s Legacy Center was the location of the St. Clair County Training School, serving Black students locally as well as those from Moody, Margaret, and Ragland.
Today, no one knows how the name “Rocky Zion” was chosen, although one can speculate. In the Old Testament, “Zion” was another name for Jerusalem, the City of God. In the Christian era, Zion referred to the New Jerusalem, Heaven.
Historic church with rock foundation
The old hymn, Marching to Zion, speaks of “marching upward to Heaven, the beautiful City of God. But how does “Rocky” come in? There does not seem to be a definitive answer but considering that the church was organized by freed slaves during the last year of Reconstruction in Alabama and scarcely 11 years after The Emancipation Proclamation was signed freeing some slaves, it could refer to the difficulties slaves and freed slaves faced in worshiping together. Those were hard years, and the roadway to declared freedom was rocky.
The name of the first pastor is unrecorded, but three of the early pastors were Rev. Dave Forman, Rev. Chester Beavers and Rev. Markus.
From oral history passed down and put into writing, the church was organized in Cook Springs in 1874. At this writing, no record has been located to indicate where in Cook Spring the church met. Older people there remember that both races attended Cook Springs Baptist during the first half of the 20th Century. One of Esta McLaughlin’s sons recalled his mother’s comment when integration came, “We’ve gone to church together all our lives, what’s the problem?”
From Cook Springs, the church moved to the Whitesville-Harrisburg area. Samford University’s Davis Library has copies of the Rushing Springs Baptist Association minutes which list Rocky Zion as located in Eden in 1892, for Eden was the post office location.
The church is listed in the 1893 and 1894 minutes as well. Membership with an association has been inconsistent over the years, according to Deacon Terry Young. Therefore, historical data is rather sporadic. This Whitesville-Harrisburg building burned on an undocumented date. It is believed Rev. Conner pastored the congregation.
A third move
This tragedy resulted in the church being moved to a third location, 16th Street South, Pell City. A Mrs. Pryor and perhaps other Whitesville citizens would walk from their homes across town to the new location. During the construction, the church met for worship at First Baptist South and for Sunday School in the home of Rev. M.C. McCoy.
Written information regarding the church in Harrisburg has not been found. However, tombstones have been discovered near the church site. Some of the names that remain visible on the markers show the surnames, Willingham, Bradford, Shelton, Johnson, Murphy, Ware, Allen, Simmons and Foreman, who were possible ancestors of some members whose names are on the present church roll.
An old photograph shows this building’s foundation and basement being constructed of local rough fieldstone, perhaps in honor of the name “Rocky.” Traditionally, the stone was collected in a wagon with a loose board in the center. When the loaded wagon came up to the building site, men worked the loose board out and the rock fell to the ground. This type construction was used throughout the South in the early 20th Century.
We can perhaps establish that this third sanctuary was completed prior to 1917 because of a Birmingham News article, dateline “Pell City, Ala., June 2, [1917].” The article reports that the rally that the Pell City Black community held “…at Rocky Zion Baptist Church was a success Friday night. It was called by the Rev. A. J. Davis of the Baptist Church and supported by the Rev. L. J. Shelton, pastor of the Methodist Church. Both made addresses urging patriotic action and pledging the support in the prosecution of the war.” The United States entered World War I on April 4, 1917.
Throughout the years
When the wooden building was finished, Rocky Zion called Rev. Thomas to be the pastor. He served the church for approximately one year. After Rev. Thomas, the church called Rev. A.H. Lee, and under his 16 years of leadership, the membership increased, and the church flourished in the community.
Following Rev. Lee’s 16 years, Rev. Oscar Henry served approximately two years. However, the next pastor, Rev. S. L. Woods, served the church for 20 years. He shepherded his flock faithfully, and they responded to his leadership accordingly. The church’s brief written history states under Rev. Woods’ tenure, “The Church underwent major renovations. The membership greatly increased during this time. Members and friends enjoyed worship services on the first and third Sundays of the month.
Another brief, written history records that “Deacon Charles Crowe, Deacon Emmitt Brand, Deacon Johnnie Coleman, Deacon Roosevelt Shealey, Deacon Amos Avos and Deacon Joe Carter were ordained during Rev. Woods’ 20 years pastoring Rocky Zion Baptist Church.”
Those who remember Rev. Wood speak of him with great affection. “Rev. Woods baptized me, and he was the only pastor that I knew for years,” Peggy F. Threatt recalled. “We had an outside baptizing pool that was in the ground, and you walked down into the pool. It was made of cement blocks and painted blue.
Verhonda Embry, Peggy’s sister, added, “We all grew up under Rev. Woods – everybody 60 and older grew up under his ministry. He was from Ragland and had a big family.”
Floyd Waites was mentored by Rev. Woods who encouraged him in his piano playing. For Floyd, playing “by ear” came naturally. He would hear a tune on the radio, go to the piano and play it. Gradually, he became proficient and accompanied Rocky Zion’s Children’s Choir. “Rev. Woods,” Floyd recollected, “liked for the Junior Choir to go with him when he preached at other churches. And I would go to play for them when they sang. Rev. Wood was an inspiring minister.”
After graduating from the St. Clair County Training School, Waites moved to New York City and became an established pianist in the churches of the city. In one church there, he met gospel singer Marie Knight, who admired his piano style and hired him as her accompanist. Floyd traveled with her to Spain and other European countries, accompanying her in concert.
“However,” Floyd confessed, “my heart was always in Pell City and Rocky Zion.” When he retired from working in the education system of New York, Floyd returned to Pell City, where he and his wife had built a home for retirement. Floyd is still known for his beautiful singing voice as well as his artistry on the piano. Today, he ministers at Coosa Valley Baptist Church in Vincent and has no interest in retiring from music.
Church, school, community
During the years prior to integration, Rocky Zion had close connections with the St. Clair Training School, for church and school were community in those days. “The church stands as a beacon of light in the community,” Peggy said. “Due to overcrowding at the St. Clair County Training School, the church provided space for some classrooms during the late 1950s and the mid-1960s.”
“The St. Clair County Training School held the third grade class in the basement of our church,” Deacon Terry Young recalled. “I went to school here. My teacher was Miss Ida Wantana Baker. I never will forget her name!”
A school P.T.A. meeting was not just a school event, it was a community event with spiritual emphasis, as reported in The St. Clair News-Aegis of April 29, 1954. “The P.T.A. observed its 27th Anniversary Sunday, April 25, 1954, at the Rocky Zion Baptist Church. Rev. A. Clark, pastor of St. Peter’s Primitive Baptist Church, Bessemer, Alabama, delivered the message. A huge crowd attended. The P.T.A. and Principal are proud and grateful for the wonderful aid and co-operation the patrons have given the P.T.A.”
Mrs. Lillie B. Curry, pianist, was remembered in Rocky Zion’s 1988 Memory Booklet for their 114th anniversary: “From the early 1930s until the late 1950s, she studied and worked untiringly with the chorus (choir). When she needed assistance, she would have Prof. Banks, her instructor, come and work with the choir at her expense.”
The music program at the Training School contributed to Rocky Zion’s choir ministry. Professor Walter Kennedy is remembered as having trained a host of singers during his tenure as principal of the school. Sisters Peggy and Verhonda both recalled the fine choir of the Training School and Professor’s influence on students – especially students from the Waites family and the Moseley family. “Choir Day was a big event at Rocky Zion,” Embry added. “We had a youth choir, a male chorus, and then we had the combined choir.”
Rev. Woods enjoyed leading the singing during each summer’s Vacation Bible School week. Each church would have it a different week so that children and youth could attend all if they wished. Peggy and Verhonda especially remember his leading them in We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, and how he would gesture climbing higher and higher. “He had a very pleasant voice. Rev. Wood and his family had a special place in our hearts.”
Mrs. Mary Frances Embry, Mrs. Ora Mae Allen, Mrs. Rose Crowe and Mr. Charles Crowe were Sunday school teachers. Mr. Dave Allen was superintendent. Mrs. Crowe and Mrs. Embry instructed the Baptist Training Union. Mrs. Embry was director of the Youth Department for many years.
Peggy and Verhonda almost spoke in unison as they recalled that at her home, Mrs. Embry would have the youth over for homemade ice cream and hot dogs. “She lived right next door to the church,” said Verhonda.
Aiming for perfect attendance
As to Sunday school and church attendance, the sisters had no choice. They got up each Sunday morning, dressed in their church dresses and attended. Both sisters enjoy recalling those mornings. “We lived about three blocks from the church,” Peggy reminisced. “We had our little path up to Rocky Zion for Sunday school and church service. We had a lot of young people back then. We don’t have very many now.”
Verhonda, who was the baby of the family, added, “We knew that we had to get up and go to church and Sunday school. I tell people that on Sunday evening, we had Baptist Training Union, and I preferred being down at the park with my friends. And my Mama would ride to the park with one of our neighbors, because Mama didn’t drive, and I had to leave my friends and come to the church on Sunday evenings for BTU. It was just a part of life. We had to do it. We had no choice. But now, they let the kids make the choice.”
Deacon Young lamented the absence of youth in church today. “You know, the difference between now and then? Our parents didn’t ask us, ‘Are you going to church today?’ You knew the day was Sunday, and you knew to get up and start getting ready to go to church. My daddy got killed on his job when I was 7. My mama raised nine of us, and I was the baby of the nine, but she made sure that I had a way to Sunday school and church and BTU. She saw that I attended just about every function that went on in church. But things really changed over the years. Today, the youth are down at the park on Sunday.”
Revival Time
Summers brought revivals to Baptist churches throughout the South from the late 19th Century until about the 1970s. During revival week at Rocky Zion, there would be both morning and evening services. Recalling those days, Verhonda commented, “During the revivals, each day someone fed the pastors, and they came to your house and had dinner before revival. And so, Mother and others fed the pastors during revival.”
Peggy joined in, “You know, back in the day, I’ve often heard that when the pastors would go around to have a meal, the children couldn’t eat until the pastors ate.” She chuckled before adding, “Not at our house. Mother, Lizzie Forman, always made sure we ate first.”
Sunday preaching at Rocky Zion for many, many years was first and third Sundays of the month, for a pastor usually ministered to two congregations. On the second and fourth Sundays, Rocky Zion members would attend services at First Baptist South. The church moved to meet for worship every Sunday during the pastorate of Rev. Johnnie Whetstone, who came as pastor after Rev. Woods. For some it was difficult to adjust to that, for the fellowship between First Baptist South and Rocky Zion had existed for so long that, understandably, it left a void in some members’ lives.
When Rev. James Adams was called as pastor, he ordained as deacons, Terry Young, Harry McCoy and James Truss Sr.
During a powerful storm on March 11, 1973, lightning struck the wooden sanctuary and severely damaged it. The church members worked together to repair the building and make it usable again. During the repairs, the congregation met for worship services at the Jacob Chapel C.M.E. church on Sunday afternoons.
In June 1996, the church called Rev. John E. Herd as pastor. Under his leadership, the church flourished. Choir membership increased, and worship services were enhanced by a praise team. The pastor reactivated Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study, organized New Year’s Eve Watch Night services, established Easter Sunrise services, and instituted programs for Black History Month so members could learn of their history. Rev. Herd ordained Deacon Ken Sheelton.
A new sanctuary
From the 2001 Church Dedication Booklet, we learn that Rev. Herd “…had a vision from the Lord,” and he “approached the congregation with the idea of building not just a fellowship hall but a church with a fellowship hall. The body agreed,” and a brick sanctuary was constructed.
In an article announcing the new sanctuary, The St. Clair Times of Sept. 13, 2001, Gary Hanner reported that to bring the wooden structure up to code would have cost more than to build a new church. He quoted Deacon Wayne Johnson, who said of the new sanctuary, “It is something that will stimulate their (the members’) spiritual growth and is something they can be proud of for years to come. … Having the new facility will be an asset to the community.”
The dedication of the new sanctuary occurred on Sept. 23, 2001, and was a gala occasion. The congregation met outside the church for responsive readings. Then the contractor presented the keys of the new building to Deacon Young, who presented them to Deacon Truss. Rev. Herd and Deacon Young cut the ribbon, and Deacon Johnson opened the doors to the sanctuary. Someone rang the old church bell, and the congregation entered the church to the processional hymn, “Alleluia.” Rev. Herd prayed the consecration prayer, and the afternoon was filled with a joyful worship/dedicatory service in the new building.
After Rev. Herd, Rev. Woodrow Johnson came as pastor, and the church continued to flourish. Rev. William O. Robinson was called as pastor after Rev. Johnson. Rev. Robinson ordained Deacon Willie J. Forman. Deacon Stanley Nobles moved back home to Pell City and rejoined Rocky Zion.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which required churches to have online services, had a lasting effect after it subsided. Rocky Zion’s Sunday attendance is low, for many still watch online, and the choir is now a praise team. “It’s only four members,” observed Young, “but they sound like a choir.”
Another milestone
In 2024, the church will observe its 150th anniversary, and with COVID causing the interruptions it did in community and church, memories have focused more on the past than on recent memories. However, throughout church history, the pendulum has swung toward “good years and lean years” of attendance, and church members hope for increased attendance in days to come.
Rev. William O. Robinson, pastor, shepherds his flock in the present and looks to the future. “I am now in my 10th year serving as pastor of Rocky Zion MBC,” he noted, “and I can honestly say it has been challenging – mainly because it’s my first pastorate. Yet through all of the tests and trials, I can truly say that I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy preaching, teaching, singing and serving in any other capacity the Lord has required and equipped me to do.”
For uncertain times in which we live, this positive attitude is a must for any pastor. Rev. Robinson observes, “I have seen spiritual growth but also recognize there’s much growth needed. I have learned as much because from my members, as I hope they have learned because of me. Being afforded the opportunity to grow together according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit is what I believe makes us more than a group of people that go to a church building. For we are truly “a family for Christ” that is dedicated to displaying the pure love, faith and obedience He has called us to do as the body of Christ.”
Rev. Robinson ascribes to the challenge of Matthew 28:19-20 to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
“Our mission is to be a Christ-centered family environment that effectively brings others into the household of faith through corporate worship and also evangelism and outreach.”
Empowerment for future
As pastor of the church, he sees his duty in preaching and teaching as building solid believers who are equipped for ministry in both church and community. From his heart, he comments, “We believe in the spiritual development and growth of the body of Christ through love, humility, unity and prayer which comes through salvation through Christ and an ever-growing relationship with Christ. I call it ‘Empowering People for Kingdom Building.’”
Ms. Posey, oldest member of Rocky Zion
The COVID-19 pandemic brought great changes to churches because of “sheltering in place” and not meeting together for worship along with absence of choirs and congregational singing. Rev. Robinson reflected, “Even though we have been challenged to serve and minister within our community and church in a variety of ways due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are yet excited about the movement of God at Rocky Zion MBC.” And he asks that community and church pray “… that the Lord will look upon any and all threats designed to hinder Rocky Zion’s laboring for the kingdom of God. That He will continue to grant us all boldness to speak His Word, stretching out His hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done though the name of Jesus Christ.”
Rocky Zion Missionary Baptist Church has served God and community for 149 years and sits on the hill above school and community as a lighthouse of hope. Peggy F. Threatt observed that “Rocky Zion Baptist Church is definitely a foundation of faith,” and that faith gives the church’s members comfort and peace.
And as the old Isaac Watts’ hymn proclaims, may Rocky Zion MBC continue progressing and singing for another hundred years.
“We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion,
We’re marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful City of God.”
Mrs. Rosey Posey, Rocky Zion’s most senior member at age 97, would give a witness to that with a resounding, “Amen!”
Officials break ground on 18-acre campus in Odenville
Story and photos by Carol Pappas
On a hilltop above Odenville a vision is rising up to meet the needs of the community and well beyond the city’s borders.
ONEeighty Church, just as the name implies, represents the degree to which lives can be turned around, and that’s the purpose of the 18 acres that hilltop overlooks. Officials have broken ground on a massive new campus near Interstate 59 on Alabama 174 at Odenville.
The church began in a vacant Ace Hardware building in Springville as a ministry of Clear Branch United Methodist Church in 2009. Two years into it, it grew to become a standalone church. Cam Price was pastor for a year and a half before Gresh Harbuck became the pastor, and she named it ONEeighty – symbolic of turning lives around. Four years ago, it launched as non-denominational and has now grown well past its walls.
Leaders were led to build a new church and other buildings on the acreage and even though it began in Springville, Harbuck said they never viewed ONEeighty as a Springville church. “It’s a community church – one gigantic circle of owners. They take ownership in the Great Commission. Members pay dues. Owners have responsibilities and are on a mission, winning one more for Jesus Christ.”
Pastor Gresh Harbuck motions toward the hilltop where the church will grow its new home.
When they were first looking for a new home, Realtor Lyman Lovejoy envisioned the ideal place as a piece of property that wasn’t even for sale. “They won’t sell it to me, but they might sell it to you,” he remembers telling them. He is credited with approaching the owner with the idea of transforming the piece of land into a place of worship and life-changing experiences.
The owners understood the vision, too, noting that it would be the perfect legacy for their father. And the deal was done.
“Our goal is to really focus on people who never would walk into a normal church,” said Harbuck, describing it as “very contemporary,” welcoming “all walks of life” to venture through its doors.
The growth has been evident. Easter Sunday, apparently all roads led to ONEeighty Church with people attending from Argo, Odenville, Pinson, Gadsden and Springville. “We’re not an Odenville church,” Harbuck said. “We’re not a Springville church. We’re a community church. We want lukewarm Christians to turn into purpose-filled Christians who will be the hands and feet of Jesus. We want to help the hurting and the broken.”
Of the church’s approach, Harbuck explained, “This is a great place to fall in love with Jesus.” Small groups are how they disciple people, giving them a more intimate, close-knit experience. The youth group is packed with activities and is “growing by leaps and bounds.” Celebrate Recovery – one of the largest in the state – continues to make a sizable impact on addictions throughout the region. It partners with Lovelady Center, Brother Bryan and jail ministries in Ashville and Oneonta.
Celebrate Recovery, coordinated by Ministry Leader Joyce Simonson, was 300 strong before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They still feed 200 there every Friday night. “We view ourselves as recovery ministries,” said Harbuck, who once served as CR Ministry Leader himself.
Looking ahead to what that Odenville hilltop will become, Harbuck said, the new church campus will house the worship center, a sanctuary that can seat 600, lobby and children’s area in the first phase on top of the site. Second phase will be a dining hall, small group rooms and offices, and the third phase is a courtyard outside the worship area.
Beyond that, “God gives us the next steps,” Harbuck said. “We will look at the needs of Odenville. If the needs in the community change, we’ll change.
Johnny Evans and James Barker, who are active in the church and have a background in contracting, will oversee the project. Cline Construction is the builder.
“Even though we’re moving the building, it doesn’t mean the DNA changes,” Harbuck stressed. “We want to be a light to the community, helping the outcast and broken,” he said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Lay Leader John Rich called it “a big milestone for us. This is a community church – one group, all together. This means a lot.”
And it means much to the community that surrounds it. “Thank you for your vision,” Odenville Mayor Buck Christian told those in attendance at the groundbreaking. “We’re excited to see what the future holds. The campus will be explosive” in terms of growth. “Welcome to Odenville. We are extremely excited about what this will mean to Odenville. The growth potential is unlimited.”
Harbuck agreed. “God has been blessing us and growing us.”
Today’s destination is the corner of 19th Street South and 7th Avenue, the location of First Baptist Church South, hereafter FBC South. Organized by ex-slaves and their families, this church has served Pell City for 119 years.
During antebellum days, slaves worshiped together with whites, but in separate areas. When freedom came, Blacks continued worshiping interracially for a while. In Uplifting the People: Three Centuries of Black Baptists in Alabama, Wilson Fallin Jr. writes, “After emancipation, many Blacks began to leave white churches and form their own congregations. … By 1874, the year in which reconstruction ended in Alabama, the process of separation was complete….
“A desire for independence and …the opportunity to worship as they desired motivated Blacks to establish their own churches. …Blacks wanted a setting in which they could listen to and react to their own preachers, singing, dancing, and shouting in their own church.” This gave the freedmen “some measure of freedom over their lives and the opportunity to develop pride and self-respect. … These churches provided former slaves with a caring community.”
This freedom resulted in Blooming Light Baptist Church in Seddon. The former slaves who organized this church probably first met in homes, but by 1881, they officially organized as Blooming Light.
They soon joined Rushing Springs Association which served churches in Coosa, St. Clair and Calhoun counties. According to The Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptists in Alabama, Their Leaders and Their Work by Charles Octavius Boothe, by 1895, there were 6,500 Black Baptist in this Association.
Now, picture Pell City in 1901. The booklet, Hon. Sumter Cogswell and His Service as Founder of Pell City, Alabama, records that the town had one grocery store, the Cornett House Hotel and a train station for three railways traveling through. No highways – instead, “the principal artery of travel being the road from Eden to Cropwell to Talladega and Anniston.” The town progressed, and by 1902, a second St. Clair County Courthouse stood in Pell City.
By 1900, Blacks had formed a community south of today’s Cogswell Avenue and the railroad, establishing homes from today’s 19th Street South to U.S. 231. Many of these families belonged to Blooming Light Baptist, the nearest Black church.
Many ministers had a circuit of four churches, preaching once a month to each congregation. Pell City members of Blooming Light walked to church, and bad weather on Sundays hindered attendance.
By 1902, Pell City’s Black community had enough Baptists to form a church. Therefore, several Blooming Light members requested dismissal from that church so they could organize their own.
A typescript history of FBC South names some who met to organize: “Bro. C.J. Collins and wife, Coline; Rev. A.Z. Beavers and wife, Mary; Bro. Sam Collins and wife, Mary; Bro. Joe Collins; Bro. Joe Lawson and others.” The group chose the name Union Baptist Church with Rev. J.T. Chatman as pastor. This meeting took place “… at the old House of Knowledge School. …on U.S. Highway 231 North of the Alacare Center location where the home of Bro. Dibb (and Millie) Curry…was located.”
The Currys
The Currys’ granddaughter, Josephine Curry Watson, grew up in their home and called them “Mama and Papa.” “They were plain people who stayed home and took care of the household,” she recalled. “They didn’t have problems with anyone.”
She remembered their home as a welcoming one where visitors sought advice from Dibb. “I got my values from them,” she reflected. “I learned the Bible from them, and today, I’m a teacher and a missionary. They were good people.” This describes a stable, “salt-of-the-earth” family and probably describes other families who formed Union Baptist/FBC South.
Union Baptist soon joined the Colored Baptist Association, which served churches in Shelby and St. Clair counties. Today, the Association’s name is Mt. Zion Coosa Valley Association.
Sometime after 1902, Union Baptist purchased a lot on 19th Street South and constructed the building where New Beginnings Baptist Church holds services now. The church history records that, in 1934, “…the church was rebuilt on the site and was named the First Baptist Church of Pell City.” Rev. M.H. Sims was pastor.
Community news in TheSt. Clair News-Aegis regularly reported church activities, as shown in this of Jan. 31, 1952, “Rev. M.H. Sims, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Pell City, preached his farewell sermon last Sunday. He has pastored here for 23 years and is the oldest minister in the district.”
After Rev. Sims, Rev. R.E. Avery pastored for a few years. The St. Clair News-Aegis of Oct. 13, 1955, reported, “Sunday October 9th was a grand day at the First Baptist Church in Pell City. Rev. R.E. Avery, pastor, preached a wonderful sermon. His text was ‘Stay on the ship or you will be lost.’ Sunday afternoon the church held Appreciation Day for R.E. Avery.” Remembered as a dynamic speaker, Rev. Avery pastored until 1955.
About two years later, Rev. W.F. Poole began his 19-year ministry and worked for racial unity in Pell City during that time. On Oct. 19, 1962, The St. Clair News-Aegis published this letter from Rev. Poole:
“To the Citizens of Pell City: Please allow me this space to express my gratitude to all our white and colored friends for the fine support we have received during my five years of pastoring in the city of Pell City.
“I have worked in other places, but at no other place I’ve worked have I received any better cooperation. …
“Let us continue with peace between the races and the cooperation we have enjoyed in the past. Rev. W.F. Poole (Colored), Pastor First Baptist Church Pell City.”
Rev. Ronnie C. Beavers accepted the pastorate of the church Feb. 2, 1976. Under his leadership, the church expanded its ministries, updated the sanctuary and purchased property for future expansion.
Marion Frazier remembers well many of these pastors. Rev. Avery baptized her in the outside baptistry the deacons had recently dug and lined. “I was baptized in August of 1952, and he stayed, I believe, until 1955. He was a dynamic preacher. … He would end his sermons by singing a hymn, and the congregation would sing with him.”
Of Rev. W.F. Poole, Mrs. Frazier said, “I remember him and his wife and children very well. He was instrumental in our church because he loved singing hymns. He often closed his sermons with a hymn. His favorite hymn was In a Time Like This, I Need the Lord to Help Me.
“Rev. Poole came in ’56 or ’57 and stayed for 19 years. He worked for unity among the races, and we had a good relationship. We had associations with First Baptist here in Pell City on the north side. That’s where the distinction of FBC South came in; they were First Baptist North.”
“Rev. Beavers came in 1976 and stayed until 2000,” she recalled. During his ministry, he organized The R.C. Beavers’ Singers. Rev. Beavers loved to sing.” Under his leadership, the church choirs recorded an album.
Mrs. Frazier loves her church and enjoys recalling its history and events. Known in Pell City as an exceptional singer herself, she spoke fondly of their Choir Anniversaries. Observed every September, FBC South invited choirs from throughout the district to participate. Choir member Billy Joe Robinson, Dibb and Minnie Curry’s grandson, sang with the Star Lights of Pell City and often invited choirs from outside the district. These concerts filled the church to capacity.
District churches observe yearly homecomings, and they have arranged for each church to hold celebrations on different Sunday so congregations can celebrate together. Celebrating together results in unity and cooperation. FBC South has Homecoming the second Sunday in August.
On Oct. 18, 1981, FBC South celebrated its 79th anniversary. The memorial booklet for that event contains observations by pastor Rev. Ronnie C. Beavers, who gives praise and thanksgiving to God for the church. It also records historical events and a rich pictorial history with names under the photos. Rev. Beavers conducted the regular worship hour after which the congregation enjoyed a meal together. The afternoon service included Deacon Charles Jones singing the chosen anniversary hymn, Guide Me Oh Thou Great Jehovah, and Rev. Samuel Turner of Union Springs Baptist Church, Talladega, preaching the sermon.
In the memorial booklet, Rev. Beavers wrote, “We are truly grateful to God our Heavenly Father for those who toiled and labored so hard before us in breaking the ground to establish the foundation of this church which is dedicated to the up-building of God’s kingdom. Surely, He has smiled on us down through the years as even the old patriots continued to worship Him after having walked to the church in the rain, sunshine, sleet, and snow. Now, we, the present generation, must continue to move forward with that same spirit of determination to meet the need of a sinful world by spreading the message of Jesus Christ. This is the task of the church, and we dedicate and rededicate ourselves to accepting the challenge that the Lord has put before us ….”
Prayer at the groundbreaking in 2002
Rev. Beavers concluded his remarks by thanking the church for working untiringly during his six years of his ministry and concluded, “I ask you to join me in looking to the Hills from whence cometh our help to seek the future directions through the grace of God that has brought us safe thus far and that His same grace will lead us on.”
Rev. Beavers’ comments for that 79th anniversary spoke of the past, present and future. Under his ministry, the church purchased the property on the corner of 7th Avenue and 19th Street South for constructing a larger sanctuary. In 2000, at the end of his 24 years as pastor, the church stood ready, through God’s grace, to plan for a new sanctuary.
In a special service on Jan.12, 2002, under Rev. Elliot T. Ivey’s ministry, the church broke ground for their new building. Goodgame Co. of Pell City did the work, and construction progressed steadily month by month. Goodgame completed their work in October 2002 in time for First Baptist’s 100th anniversary.
And what a celebration that was for church members and their friends! The Goodgame family, construction workers, Pell City mayor and city officials attended and joined the congregation’s afternoon walk from the old building to the new one for a dedication worship service.
Mrs. Frazier recalls, “We got congratulation letters from the State of Alabama, the governor and local officials. We framed those, and they hang on the church walls today.”
Among the papers about First Baptist on file at the Pell City Library is a page titled, A Prayer for Our New Sanctuary, which reads in part:
“Thou gracious and giving God…,We thank Thee for having given to our predecessors the vision and will to provide the church which has served us so far. Because of their devotion and Thy blessings our church family has outgrown the work of their hands. …
“We would build wisely and so well that long years hence our sons and daughters may gratefully say, ‘See! This our forefathers builded for us.’
“In HIS NAME, who loves us and gave Himself for us, we pray. Amen.”
George Forman grew up in this church and said of Rev. Elliot T. Ivey, “He was the most electrifying preacher I ever heard.” Forman also told how FBC South deacons mentored him as a boy. “My father died when I was one year old. Mr. Tobe Williams, Mr. William Matthews and Mr. Virgil Oden took me under their wings and taught me about life – what’s right and what’s wrong, how to respect and be respected, how to love your fellow man, how to go through life treating people. If people mistreat you, don’t go back and try to do the same thing to them; just believe in the Lord, cause, ‘Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.’ They went out of their way to spend time with me. And Mr. M.C. McCoy was a businessman who taught me that education was essential.
“All those men were a blessing to me. They didn’t have a high school education, but they had more than a high school education. And they shared it.” That’s high praise for any man, but especially so for the deacon body of a church.
Twenty-four-year-old Christopher Evans II joined Forman in the interview, and both spoke of taking part in Christmas and Easter programs at church. Forman said that participating in these music and drama programs “… was like living what you’d been taught. You act it out and it’s gonna stick with you.” Christopher agreed, saying that for young people, the dramas “… helped us understand what was going on.” He added that sometimes “young people don’t like to read,” and the programs helped them understand the Bible. Mrs. Frazier directed the drama, and the late Ronnie White the music for these programs.
One of Christopher’s favorite times as a youth was yearly Vacation Bible School at FBC South. “That was the best thing,” he recalled. “We always went to Boys’ and Girls’ Club, and we just went from there to Vacation Bible School where you learned different things.” Other churches took part, so there was fellowship among the congregations at these events.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic curtailed in-person worship services, which precluded the joy and comfort in corporate fellowship. At FBC South, beginning in March, worship was streamed online, but by autumn 2020, the deacons and choir members were meeting each Sunday with Dr. Wilson to stream the service. The pandemic prevented these yearly events in 2020.
Dr. Wilson, pastor since 2007, recently reflected upon this unprecedented situation:
“In the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, it is no secret that many people are suffering or experiencing loss in some way. The same holds true for the believer. Fear, stress and hopelessness have gripped many homes, even the households of Christians.
“As we endure this season in which social and spiritual interactions have been greatly thwarted, not by choice but rather by circumstances that are beyond our human control, we have been forced to make many adjustments in our daily lives.
“Consequently, the church, in these times of uncertainty, has also had to make adjustments. We understand that congregants have an affinity for joining hearts and hands and worshipping God together. Yet, this pandemic has placed a great strain on the church. No longer is it deemed ‘safe’ for large groups to congregate. This definite lack of socialization has caused some to suffer more than others.
“As a pastor, it has always been my job to guide and uplift the people of God through whatever season of life they are experiencing. There are more seeking this pastoral direction than ever before, and I must admit, facing so many obstacles has become a daunting challenge. It is sometimes hard ‘reaching’ to your congregants when the physical doors of the church are closed because we understand that the spiritual doors of the church are always open, along with other measures in place due to this pandemic.
“However, we understand that the spiritual doors of the church are always open, making way for the obstacles to become opportunities through continual prayer. As I strive to continue to render an effective pastoral ministry and to provide social support for those members who have become slightly anxious, to say the least, I try to remind my congregants that although we may be going through a brief period of separation as a body of believers, God is still in the business of protecting His own, and we are to stay strong until the Lord’s deliverance is fully exerted over this coronavirus outbreak.”
For long-time member Peggie Bothwell Frazier, Dr. Wilson has been a blessing to her and her family, for under his ministry her son, Charles Ryan Frazier, was ordained as a deacon, and her grandson, Griffin Ryan Frazier, was baptized. Griffin, at an early age, began talking about wanting to be a preacher. He spoke of it so often that Dr. Wilson and deacons met with Griffin and his parents to talk about his desire to serve Christ by preaching. Satisfied about his desire, Dr. Wilson baptized him. Griffin’s dad, Charles, stood in the baptismal pool with him.
Dr. Wilson was a special comfort to the Fraziers when Peggie’s husband, Charles, battled cancer. The Wilsons met with the Fraziers the night before Charles’ surgery, then visited him faithfully during his cancer journey. Peggie recalled that, Charles, knowing that Dr. Wilson especially enjoyed banana pudding, said to him, “Any time you want a banana pudding, you just tell her, and she will make you one.” She continued, “I do make him banana puddings. Dr. Wilson and his family will always have a special place in my heart.”
Chairman of the Deacons, Donald Allen, spoke of the blessing of working with Dr. Wilson. “We deacons work out of his office, and whatever he asks us to do we try to do it. If he calls us, we try to do what he asks us to do.” He also spoke of the disruption of COVID-19. “We’re used to coming in there, shaking each other’s hands, acting as a deacon body, you know, deacons and the pastor together. We miss that so much now – meeting with the pastor before he goes out to give the message. … I love working out of Dr. Wilson’s office because of his ability and gift to preach the unmitigated truth of God’s word. I pray every day that God keeps him and his family in his loving hands.”
Wilson Fallin, Jr. notes in his Black Baptists in Alabama that some owners allowed slaves to worship with singing and preaching, whereas irreligious owners didn’t, and their slaves worshiped secretly. One of the old hymns from that era speaks as much of the church today as it did then.
“We will travel on together, Hallelujah, Gwine to pull down Satan’s kingdom, Hallelujah, Gwine build up the walls of Zion, Hallelujah! I don’t feel noways tired, Glory Hallelujah!”
One hopes that those former slave families who founded today’s FBC South are aware that this church continues “to build up the walls of Zion” as they “travel on together, Hallelujah!”
Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Michael Callahan
Submitted photos
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, a church started by freed slaves in Springville, exists today because in 1816 a North Carolina minister grew discouraged in the ministry and resolved to abandon preaching. Leaving preaching and North Carolina behind, Rev. Sion Blythe moved his family to what would become St. Clair County, Alabama, and settled along Canoe Creek.
Published writings referred to Blythe as “the reluctant preacher.” Born in Tennessee in 1781 and ordained as a minister in North Carolina, Blythe organized and pastored churches in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
When Blythe and family left North Carolina and headed west, he instructed his wife to tell no one that he had preached. No written record states exactly why he had become so disheartened; however, his friend and Alabama Baptist historian, Hossa Holcombe, hinted that the problem was a theological difference with North Carolina pastors concerning man’s free will.
But Pastor Blythe’s free will choice to stop preaching was over-willed by his integrity when in late 1816 or early 1817, a woman in the area where he had settled asked him point blank if he were not a minister of the Gospel.
Blythe wouldn’t lie to her, and when he admitted that he had preached, Holcomb records, “The old lady leaped, and shouted, and praised God that she had found a preacher in the wilderness.” At her urging, Blythe agreed to organize a congregation, and on March 22, 1817, in the settlement called Big Springs, a Baptist church was established and named Mt. Zion. The name referencing verse in Hebrews 12:22, “Ye are come into Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem …” and reminding them of their goal, Heaven, the city of God.
Until the end of the Civil War, both slave and master worshiped together — but separate — at Mt. Zion, for as Margaret Windham records in her History of Springville the “…slaves had seats in the rear of the church building and, like their masters, were members of the church.”
One wonders about the names of those slave members, but we have scant information. The oldest minutes of Mt. Zion fell victim to fire when the home where they were kept burned. Because Martha Terry Roberts had copied portions of the old minutes that mention slave names, we have some, as quoted here:
April Term, 1821—Received Brother James, a black man, by letter.
May Term, 1823—Received by experience, Littie, a black woman, and Lisha More and also Pike.
August Term, 1823—Received by experience, Sook, a black woman.
June Term, 1831—A charge against Fanny, a black sister, for having two living husbands. Case taken up and Fanny restored to her seat as usual.
October, 1844—Sister Jane, Nancy, Elizabeth, and Margaret (blacks) dismissed by letter.
September, 1854—James Thomason called for a letter of dismissal, and for four of his blacks: Alfred, Clark, Doctor, and Reny. Granted.
Sister Fanny’s case in June, 1831, is of special interest. This writer became acquainted with slave wedding vows several years ago when touring Rose Hill Mansion near Hilton Head, South Carolina. The guide, a descendant of the builder of Rose Hill, told that slave wedding vows had these words, “Till death or distance do us part”—meaning that if one partner in the marriage were sold, the wedding vows were dissolved. Ordained ministers rarely performed slave weddings, which were never legally binding, and he couldn’t have them say “Till death do us part,” due to their circumstances.
Usually a slave couple wanting to marry might have a ceremony in the slave quarters, but most often, the couple would simply “Jump over the broom,” and they were married. An online article published by the Caswell County, North Carolina, Historical Society discusses the jumping over the broom and also white ministers’ use of “Till death or distance do us part” in Antebellum slave weddings.
The fact that in the same June meeting Fanny was restored to her seat in the church fellowship makes this writer believe that this was Sister Fanny’s reason for having two living husbands and the church sympathized with her.
The expression “received by experience” means the candidate for membership had recently come to an experience of salvation. To be dismissed by letter means to be dismissed in good standing to another church.
From those minutes we learn the first names of several slaves and the name of one of the slave owners, James Thomason. Although it is meager, these nuggets of information can assist slave descendants in genealogical research.
Changing times
In time, some stout-hearted people of the United States began to take note of the injustice of slavery, and a distant rumble began to arise, like far-away thunder forewarning an approaching storm. The rumble grew until in 1861, it roared into a storm of civil war, which by 1865 had wreaked ruin on much of the nation and unshackled slaves and set them free.
But being declared free and grasping the reality of freedom are two concepts not comprehended quickly. Former slaves, now free to congregate and worship together, continued to meet with Mt. Zion until 1868.
According to oral history, in 1868 the freed slaves of Springville began meeting on their own to worship God. No written record seems to exist for this group of believers prior to 1883, the year they joined Wills Creek Baptist Association in Etowah County.
For white Mt. Zion, the war years took its toll on church membership through battlefield casualties and through the emancipation of slaves. Mrs. Windom records that by 1870 the membership of Mt. Zion had dwindled to 70. That congregation decided to construct a more modern sanctuary that might encourage more people to worship with them. They began meeting in the new building in 1871. In that same year, Mt. Zion changed its name to Springville Baptist. With a new building, it probably seemed to them a good idea to identify the church with Springville.
Oral history doesn’t record just when the freed slaves began calling their group Mt. Zion. However, in their History of Springville, Alabama, Donna Cole and Virginia Taylor wrote, “After the war, the Black congregation left to form their own church and they kept the original Mt. Zion name.” It’s possible that two Mt. Zion Baptist Churches existed for a while in Springville.
The name became official in 1883. The Tenth Annual Session of the Wills Creek Baptist Association met at the Ashville Mt. Zion Church in August 1883, and the minutes record: “Received Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Springville, on the AGSRR [Alabama Great Southern Rail Road], as a newly constituted church — delegates, Elder L.C. Thornton, R. Pruet. Sent for missions, 50 cents; minutes, $1.00.”
Other Wills Creek Association minutes give more Mt. Zion facts:
1888, meeting at the Cedar Bluff , R.H. Vogal, Pastor; Emma Galbreth, Clerk; and 71 members.
1892, meeting at Mt. Zion, Ashville, J.H. Kerley, Pastor; J.H. Hudson, Clerk.
1896, meeting at Lebanon Baptist, C.C. Curry, Pastor; F. Thaxton, Clerk, and 45 members.
1897, meeting at Mt. Zion, Springville, C.C. Curry, Pastor; L. Byers, Clerk; 53 members.
Building a church
The first church building was constructed on the same property where the Mt. Zion church stands today. We don’t know the date of that construction, but the minutes of 1896 report the value of Mt. Zion’s church property as $1,000. That value in 1896 probably included a building.
Deacon Mitchell Hammonds recalled the church building, for he attended there as he grew up. “The church, when I was born, was a wooden building. It had two bell towers. It had a bell in one. It had two front doors and had three rows of pews. That old building had, of course, the big pot-belly heater.” That church was taken down and replaced with the present structure around 1976.
On sun-lit days, light streaming through the “Life of Christ” stained-glass windows bejewels the sanctuary. The vintage stained-glass cross window gracing the front of the church was donated to Mt. Zion by First Baptist Church of Springville.
Estell Long, who was born in 1936 and grew up in the church, fondly remembers the bell ringing. “You had a rope up there. … Will Woods would go early Sunday morning and pull the rope and the bell would tone.”
She recalled that during revivals the seats at the front of the church were reserved for those who wanted to be baptized and join the church. At the end of the week, the church would have a baptism at Lee Laster’s Creek. Mitchell Hammonds recalled that he was baptized in the Cahaba in Trussville. Later, the church was able to build an outside baptistry on site.
Mrs. Long reminisced about the singing in the church. “They had people in the choir, and they sang the old-fashioned songs. Mattie Kelly was the pianist. She would play the piano, and they would sing. When she finished, she would always shout. She was one of the shouting sisters in church.” Another pianist was Mattie Jo Williams Herring.
Some of the choir members Mrs. Long remembered are Sarah Frances Newsome, Velma Eleanor Newsome, Casey Lewis, Elizabeth Shepherd, Ruth Pulliam, Katherine Newsome, Margaret Hammonds Woods, Leola Pulliam Herring, Josephine Pulliam Herring and Nellie Mae Newsome Boyd.
Nellie Mae Newsome Boyd also served as a missionary to other churches in the surrounding area — Attalla, Ashville and Branchville. She would take reports from church to church so they could know the work of sister churches in the region. On these visits, she could share needs from the churches in her circle of ministry.
The young people of the church weren’t neglected. In the 1940s and 50s, Mary Bradford instructed the youths of Mt. Zion in the Baptist Young People’s Union – BYPU. Part of her teaching was having them memorize different Scripture passages, such as the Twenty-third Psalm. She assigned the passage at one meeting, and at the next meeting she expected each one to quote the passage from memory. Miss Bradford made sure each had memorized the Scripture.
Harvey Lovell Newsome served as Sunday School Superintendent in the 1940s and 1950s, and after Mr. Newsome, Sammy Kelly served as Superintendent.
Mrs. Long and Mr. Hammonds recalled the following men who served Mt. Zion as deacons: Sammy Kelly, Henry Beaman, Brook Toles, Bob Woody, Milton Herring and Willie LaShore.
Present day Mt. Zion
At present, active deacons are Mitchell Hammond, Henry Wright and Willie Jones Sr. These deacons minister to the church and community. One way is the Brotherhood Breakfast that meets on the first Saturday of each month. This interracial meeting begins with fellowship and breakfast. Henry Wright is credited with organizing this monthly event, with the purpose of encouraging each other in Christian faith, the preferred devotional topic for each speaker is “Why are you a Christian and what is in it for you?”
Yearly events at Mt. Zion include the National Day of Prayer, summer revivals and Youth Month in June, which includes a youth revival. Each February, the young people learn of African-American history on Wednesday nights. A favorite summer event has been the church trip to Lake Winnepesaukah in Chattanooga for a day of fun and relaxation.
Pastoring Mt. Zion
Mt. Zion has an incomplete list of former pastors. A careful research of the Wills Creek Baptist Association’s minutes could perhaps furnish a complete listing. Nineteenth Century pastors include L.C. Thornton, 1883; R.H. Vogal, 1888; J.H. Kerley, 1892; and G.W. Burton, 1896-1897. The church also has names of 15 pastors since 1901. Pastors since1937 include W.R. Simpson; T.C. Williams; I.H. Henderson; Joseph Jackson; and currently, Larry Adams.
Adams has pastored Mt. Zion since 2011. During his seven years shepherding the flock, he has seen spiritual growth in his congregation. His preaching emphasis is the whole Word of God, preaching it in context. He recently said, “We don’t skip anything. Even in our Bible study, we go verse by verse.” Pastor Adams, a bi-vocational pastor, is sometimes out for a Wednesday evening Bible study. Therefore, he makes sure he and the one teaching for him are together. “Right now,” he said, “we’re studying the book of Hebrews on Wednesday night. And if some of my other ministers are doing the teaching, I give them an outline of what we’re teaching, and we follow that outline. We have everybody together. They ask questions, and I get excited about teaching the Bible. And I say, ‘We’re gonna teach the whole Bible,’ and I have.”
Pastor Adams gets enthusiastic telling about the church and its ministries. The Children’s Church involves a wide range of ages — first-grade through 12th. The older group mentors the younger ones as a part of the Youth Ministry.
The church’s music ministry consists of Men’s Choir, Women’s Choir and Youth Choir. The Mass Choir combines the Men’s Choir and the Women’s Choir together for a service. The organ, keyboard and drums accompany the singing.
History within history
A current need for the church is a larger building with classrooms and a fellowship hall. The congregation has discussed this need and is working toward the goal. One discussion point is whether to build where the church now stands or to build on the church-owned lot diagonally across the street from the present structure.
Mt. Zion purchased the 1920s-era Springville Colored Elementary School building from the St. Clair County Board of Education after integration closed the school. They have renovated the building located next to the church and use it as their fellowship hall.
Springville Colored Elementary School was a two-room, two-teacher school with grades one, two and three in one room, and grades four, five and six in the other. Mrs. Long remembered her teachers in the 1940s as being Miss Mary Reid the first three years, and Zora Quinn the last three years. Mr. Hammonds recalled names of other teachers: Pauline Hudson, Alberta Williams, Sarah McCray and Rosey Dial (Pauline Hudson’s sister).
Students desiring high school education had to go to the Ashville Colored High School, which was later named Reuben Yancey High School. By the time Mrs. Long was in the seventh-grade, a bus transported students from Springville to Ashville. However, they were required to meet the bus at a store located near today’s Dollar General. The students living in the Flat Woods, or Jones Village, had to walk up to Highway 11 to meet the bus.
Before the St. Clair County Board of Education provided transportation, the only African-American students who attended high school were those who could afford to ride the Greyhound Bus to and from Ashville. Mrs. Long said Claudie C. Woody and William Hammonds were the only two students who earned high school diplomas before transportaton was provided free to students.
Mr. Hammonds recalls fondly his teachers and their instruction at Springville Colored Elementary School. “Our teachers always encouraged us to be the best that we could. They encouraged us to reach high and to hold high standards.” He quietly reflected a moment on integration, then, added that in the old school, the teachers “… tried to instill values in us. You know, be the best that you could be. They wouldn’t accept less.”
So, the old 1920s school building serves an interracial church — a church outgrowing its current facilities and looking to the future.
Pastor Adams is excited that Mt. Zion Baptist Church and First Baptist Church are doing things together. Pastor Chipley McQueen Thornton and Pastor Larry Adams became friends early on and have worked together in the community. The two churches have a combined service and fellowship meal once a year at First Baptist. This year, an additional Thanksgiving combined service is planned for November 25, with lunch to follow. Both congregations look forward to these joint services.
The two pastors are together on missions. Pastor Thornton has twice taught theology to local pastors in Africa. In February 2019, the African pastors will meet in Paris, France, and Thornton has asked Pastor Adams to go with him to do some of the teaching. Pastor Adams recently said, “Pastor Chip asked me, ‘You got your passport?’ And I said, ‘I got it! I’m ready!’ He and I are going over what we’re going to teach to be sure we’re on the same page. Chip is a tremendous teacher.”
When asked for a comment about Pastor Adams, Pastor Thornton replied, “I shook his hand and sensed I was in the presence of a genuinely spiritual man, a man of God. He carries that aura. After hearing him so eloquently expound the Scripture, I thought, ‘Ah! Here is another Apollos (Acts 18:24)! We must go train others to do the same.’ I eagerly invited him to go with me to teach pastors. He eagerly accepted, praise the Son! Now off to Paris we go, trusting in the good will of God to guide us, come what may.”
Reaping rewards
The work that Sion Blythe began in Big Springs, Alabama, in 1817, flourishes today in two churches. Blythe never dreamed that the one church would become two when slaves gained freedom. But in God’s timing, a church of freed slaves formed, and today both First Baptist Church Springville and Mt. Zion trace their history to March 22, 1817.
Pastor Adams’ purpose for being a minister is to let people “know that God loves them and that Christ died for them.” And for his congregation, he desires they grow in understanding God’s Word as he shepherds them toward Zion, the City of God.
Folks familiar with long-ago church songs can hardly think of the name Mt. Zion without thinking of lines from Isaac Watts’ 1707 hymn:
We’re marching to Zion, Beautiful, beautiful Zion, We’re marching upward to Zion, The beautiful City of God.
And if we listen closely, we may hear Sister Mattie Kelly’s shouts of “Glory! Hallelujah!” still echoing down the years.
When Blythe and family left North Carolina and headed west, he instructed his wife to tell no one that he had preached. No written record states exactly why he had become so disheartened; however, his friend and Alabama Baptist historian, Hossa Holcombe, hinted that the problem was a theological difference with North Carolina pastors concerning man’s free will.
But being declared free and grasping the reality of freedom are two concepts not comprehended quickly. Former slaves, now free to congregate and worship together, continued to meet with Mt. Zion until 1868.
Mrs. Long reminisced about the singing in the church. “They had people in the choir, and they sang the old-fashioned songs. Mattie Kelly was the pianist. She would play the piano, and they would sing. When she finished, she would always shout. She was one of the shouting sisters in church.” Another pianist was Mattie Jo Williams Herring.