Published: October 19, 2009 11:22 pm      

39th Street Baptist has stayed true to its roots

Ashland — Since its founding 100 years ago, the 39th Street Baptist Church has worshipped at three different locations, changed its name several times and has been served by 14 different pastors, all of them bivocational ministers who had full-time jobs in addition to preaching.

But one thing has not changed at the church since its members started gathering at a small church on Greenup Avenue in the fall of 1909.

“We have always preached Jesus Christ here,” said deacon Mike Patton, a member since 1990. “That’s the only thing we preach. We believe in preaching about Jesus Christ from the King James Bible.”

The small church will celebrate its centennial at 10 a.m. Oct. 25 in a special service that will reflect on the many ways the Lord has blessed the church in the last century. Current and former members are being asked to bring old photographs and church documents and to share stories and memories about the church.

Dinner in the church’s fellowship hall will follow the service.

“We’re hoping for a big turnout that not only includes our members and former members but our neighbors,” said Mike Love, a deacon and church member since 1979. “This is a special day for us and we want to celebrate it with our friends and neighbors.”

For most of its existence, the church was known as Oil Springs General Baptist Church, but the name was changed to 39th Street Baptist Church of Jesus Christ in 2005 to better identify the church with its location at 732 39th St..

The church remains small, averaging a Sunday morning attendance of between 30 and 45. It also has a Wednesday night Bible study, but it has no Sunday evening services.

For many years, the church did not even have services each Sunday. Instead, it would rotate Sunday services with other United Baptist church in the area.

Lenore Williams, who has been associated with the church for more than a half century, said she can remember rotating services with United Baptist churches in Westwood and even Martha in Lawrence County.

“I got to see a lot of the country by just going to church,” Williams recalls. “We’d go from church to church. We’d be members of different churches, but we all would worship together on Sunday.”

The church has not been stagnant during its long history. It has worshipped in its current building since 1972 and has added a basement that includes a fellowship hall since it was completed.

But the strength of the church has always been its people, members say.

Mike Saunders, a construction worker who lives in West Virginia, has been a member of the church since 2005 and has been pastor since 2007.

“This church’s greatest strength is the wonderful brothers and sisters who attend here and how they exemplify the love of Jesus Christ in everything they do,” Saunders said. “I really didn’t have a church home before I started coming here, but I found just what I had been looking for here.”

Marshall Daniel, 93, is the oldest serving deacon of the church. While he has lived near the church his entire life, he didn’t become active in the church until after his marriage. A member since 1951, Daniel still attends regularly and will continue to do so “as long as my health permits.”

“This church is an important part of my life,” Daniel said.

The original name of the church was New Hope United Baptist Church, but it was changed to avoid being confused with New Hope Baptist Church on Carter Avenue. Prior to 2005, it had been Oil Springs Baptist Church since 1911. In addition to its first home on Greenup Avenue, members worshipped for a few years on Ray Street.

For many years, the church didn’t have instrumental music. That’s because a former pastor believed the New Testament church was not supposed to have instrumental music in its services.

“That doesn’t mean we didn’t have any music,” said Mary Beth Patton. “We have always had lots of singing. It is just that we didn’t have any instruments to accompany us.”

A small organ now sits beside the altar at the church, and members have no qualms about using it to help them in their singing.

The church also added a Sunday school seven or eight years ago.

“We saw this as a real need and something that was really lacking,” said Love. “I think it has really helped our members grow in their knowledge of the Lord.”

Mary Helen Slone, 84, said she has been a part of the church “since I was born.” It is where her brothers and sisters all attended, as did four of her five children. “This church really is my family,” she said.

Carolyn Trimble began attending the church in 1982, and seven years later she was joined by her husband, Don.

“It took a few years for her to convince me to come here, but I eventually made it and I was saved here,” Don Trimble said.

The church has a youth group that meets monthly and it has started a van ministry. It also has an active women’s circle, and it has launched a Web site.

“We are not standing still,” said Love. “We continue to look for new ways to serve the Lord.”



JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2649.