HISTORY OF

SOUTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA

 
 In 1950, a group from Grace Baptist Church decided to move on and with their faith, to start a Mission in the Suburban Community at Coles Cross Roads.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Hall was obtained as a meeting place for Sunday services and the first meeting was September 3, 1950 with 13 adults and 12 children present.  Remier Powell preached the morning service on “FAITH” and J. C. Mainer, a student from Mars Hill College in North Carolina, preached the evening service.  Different locations were used as meeting places for prayer services. We were richly blessed with God’s help as we moved forward in our efforts to get a lot and to get a church built.

• At a meeting on November 2, 1950, Southside Baptist Church became organized. James E. McLeod was called as Pastor and church officers were elected. The church voted unanimously to leave the Church Book open until February 4, 1951 to receive Charter Members. There were 38 members by that time. On March 20, 1951, the church applied for membership in the Florence Baptist Association and it was accepted.

• In the summer of 1951, a tent revival conducted by Rev. E. L. Byrd of First Baptist Church, was held on a tract of land on the Pamplico Highway adjoining the railroad crossing. It was hoped to purchase this land for our church, but was found that it could not be purchased with a clear deed.  In August 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Mobley Hammond heard of our disappointment and after much prayer, God led them to give us the land on which our first sanctuary is located. A building committee was selected and after visiting other church sites for some ideas, Wallace Tyner was asked to draw some plans.  These were approved by the church and were given to H. T. Griffin, Sr., who had two sons in the construction business. The church was completed by Easter of 1952 and dedicated on May 11, 1952.

•  At the request of the church, the Ministers of Florence Baptist Association were asked to examine our Pastor, James McLeod, as a candidate for ordination to the Gospel Ministry. On January 17, 1952, they held a meeting and agreed to this. On February 3rd, our Pastor was ordained at a service at Immanuel Baptist Church with Dr. E. E. Colvin as Moderator.

• After serving four years, our Pastor felt the need of furthering his education in the ministry and he resigned to enter Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

• On November 28, 1954, Rev. J. P. Hatcher accepted the call to be our Pastor and he preached his first sermon on January 16, 1955.

• In May 1956, a bid was accepted from Car and Crawford to add a Fellowship building. On March 19, 1958, a recommendation was presented to purchase the Mobley Hammond property, including the big house, the little house and the corner lot, which is used for parking.

• In December 1963, Mrs. R. B. Hodges was elected as church Librarian, with Mrs. S. W. Reeves and Mr. Richard Blair serving on staff. Books were donated from the Library Department of the Sunday School Board, Nashville, Tennessee. There are now over 2000 books in our library.

• On August 3, 1969, the lot adjoining the Fellowship Building No. 1 was purchased from Mrs. Hammond. The Educational Building is now on part of the previous property purchased. This building was built and supervised by Wallace Tyner and Eathern Crawford.

• On August 10, 1969, Rev. J. P. Hatcher submitted his resignation to become effective September 7, 1969.

• Rev. W. S. Jones served as Interim Pastor until Rev. Harvey Woods accepted the call to serve as our Pastor on November 17, 1969. Rev. Woods was with us until June 25, 1972. Marvin Lynch, Admissions Director at Francis Marion College, served as Interim Pastor until Dr. O. R. Wilson was called and came to us on July 29, 1973. Mr. Lynch also served as Minister of Education along with Glenn Strickland, until Dr. Wilson came. While Dr. Wilson was with us he led a renovation program to the sanctuary interior, as well as the covered walkways, with Wallace Tyner and Eathern Crawford as supervisors. Dr. Wilson served as our Pastor until May 1981.

• Rev. Carlton Smith, our fifth Pastor, came to us in February 1982. In 1983, a new steeple was erected and the original organ was replaced with a new one. These two items were paid for with pledges and contributions over and above our regular offering. Plans were also underway to begin a Television Ministry through the ACTS Satellite Network of the Southern Baptist Convention.

• In 1987, the church began a Day Care and Preschool Center, which is still in operation today.

• In August 1988, Rev. James Crooks accepted the call as our Pastor. Many projects have been completed since he has been with us. In 1992, renovations to the upstairs portion of the Education/Day Care Center were completed. We also voted to purchase the McGee property. In 1993, the church voted to undertake a “Together We Build” campaign to raise funds for the new Fellowship and Education facility. This was accomplished and this building is also being used as our new and beautiful sanctuary at this time. After fire destroyed the office building on Christmas night, 1997, this was remodeled up and downstairs and it was completed and ready to move back into by April 1998.  During this year, the church voted to purchase the Richbourg property across from the old sanctuary and also purchased the house and property on Greenland Drive. In 1999, the church voted to enter into the “Challenge 2002” fundraising campaign to retire debts from the property purchases.

• In 2000, we celebrated our 50th Year Anniversary with a “Homecoming Service” on Sunday, November 5th with some of our previous members who have moved away and also some of our previous officers.