DIVINE PROPHECY AND INSPIRED HISTORY AFFIRMS THAT THE
CHURCH OF CHRIST BEGAN IN JERUSALEM, ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, 33 A.D.
The Gospel of Christ was brought to Morgan County in 1960 by Bro. I.V. White, the oldest son of the late George White, Sr. Bro. White was met with much opposition. The first bible classes were held in his father’s home with family and friends. Bro. White would drive down from Abbeville, South Carolina every Tuesday night to teach the class. The members attending the bible class increased and the group began to meet in the Springfield Masonic Hall. This building soon became too small for the group and Mr. Tom Franklin invited the group to meet in his place of business. The class continued until new converts were added to “The Church of Christ. Among the first were Jesse white, John Armour and Willie Jackson. There was no building for the congregation to meet therefore Bro. White had to take the new converts out of town to be baptized. Eleven individuals had confessed Christ, but changed their minds due to influence of the preachers and deacons from various churches.
Prior to the structure of the first church building, Bro. Lewis Calhoun and Bro. Elder came down from Atlanta to continue teaching, and worship with the new converts and others who were inspired by the Gospel.
The group later met in R.L. Turner’s tool shed. Some faithful members would drive down from Atlanta, Georgia to worship and would bring food to serve the visitors before having Bible class. The environmental conditions were not very good.
Bro. White got permission to get a tent set up near the Springfield School. He called Bro. Alonzo Rose from Valdosta, Ga. to do the preaching. While the meeting was going on, a group of deacons decided they would see what could be done to stop the meetings. They sent the sheriff to Bro. White to inquire about the tent.
He told Bro. White to take the tent down because they were disturbing the peace of the good people of Morgan County. Since Bro. White had gotten permission, had paid and had a receipt, Bro. Rose suggested the tent should not be moved. The sheriff came down to the tent, rolled down his car window and listened for three nights. He told those deacons, that man is right and you all need to join them. Three deacons and their wives were baptized. They were Bro. & Sis. George (Bennie) White, Bro. & Sis. Alex (Virginia) Mathis, and Bro. & Sis. Brad (Mary) Flournoy. Others added to the church were Bro. & Sis. Lewis (Malissa) Sanford, Sis. Mary Booker, (who donated the land for the church building), Sis. Bertha Mitchell, Sis Waddie Walker, and Sis. Doris Crawford.
Sis. Mary Booker gave the land for $1.00 and love. She gave the land with the stipulations that if we cease to be the church, the land would go back to the booker’s Estate. Preachers across the country got busy raising money to erect the building. Finally we had enough money to buy materials. Some contractors from Macon, Ga. drove up and offered to construct the building for free. Opposition came from the lumber company. They said they would not sell us any lumber because we were trying to integrate black and white people. The first materials came from another country by night. Later the sheriff spoke for us and people began to help by giving materials. We thanked god for a place to worship. Bro. Lewis Guthrie was the first minister in the new building. He preached for one year without any pay. Disciples from Atlanta continued to worship and encourage this congregation. They traveled with Bro. & Sis. Guthrie, every Sunday. To name few they were Bro. & Sis. Robert (Margaret) Banks, Bro. & Sis. Paul (Lillie) Phillips, Sis. Nell B. Williams, Sis. Hattie McAllister, Bro. Hinton, Sis Tressie Mathews.
After Bro. Guthrie’s health began to fail, the next minister was Bro. Rush Wyatt. Following Bro. Wyatt was Bro. Ruben T. Walker who has been the minister since 1979.