THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF LEAD HILL, ARKANSAS

"Watch us as we grow homes of Faith"

The present First Baptist Church of Lead Hill was founded in 1932. The church’s minute book is missing but we have several reliable sources of information on the early days of the church. There have been at least two prior attempts to form a permanent Baptist church in Lead Hill. The first was in the 1880’s. In 1883, the White River Association received the Lead Hill Church into its association. At that time J.H. Palmer was the pastor. J.M. Cook was the church clerk and M.A. Lawhorn, J.W. Clark and J.M. Cook were messengers.

The church apparently had just begun since it had only 12 members. The White River Association met with the Lead Hill Church in 1884 and agreed to “supply Lead Hill with a preacher for the ensuing year. By a unanimous vote it was agreed the Elder William Denton preach to the Lead Hill Church”. It appears that this effort failed and no mention of a Baptist church is found in any minutes until 1920. In 1920, there was a Lead Hill Church which was a member of the Crooked Creek Association. It had 22 members. There was no mention of a pastor. The same report was received for 1921. In 1922, there were 5 baptisms at Lead Hill and 40 members. But in 1925 membership had declined again and was at 19. In 1926, Adam Fawcett was pastor and there were 26 members. Herbert Tillman is the last pastor of the second Lead Hill Baptist Church. He was there in 1927 and reported 61 members and 28 baptisms. Apparently this church ceased to function and in 1932 a new organization was formed. This date is confirmed by the 1940 minutes of Boone- Carroll Association (eight years later).

A pioneer minister of the area, Elder Reglus W. Raley, heard that the old Methodist Church Building had been sold to Tom Hunter to be torn down and used to build a house. When Raley heard of this, he and Rev. J.R. Devereaux, a young preacher of the community, made plans to acquire the building for a Baptist church. Raley was able to buy the building and with some help from others it was paid for. The cost was $500.00. The known charter members of the church were: Elder Reglus W. Raley, Nancy Jane Raley, J.R.Devereaux, Mrs. Devereaux, Robert Walton Raley, Clara B. Raley, Agee Buckley, John Davis, Mary Davis, Wilburn Pruett, and Mrs. Wilburn (Etta) Pruett. Rev. Devereaux was the first pastor. The church joined the Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas Association of Missionary Baptist at its meeting at Bluff Springs Baptist church on September 8, 9, and 10 of 1933. J.P. Davis was church clerk and Ples Green, Artus Parsley and Sister J. R. Devereaux were the messengers. There were 21 members by the fall of 1933. After Brother Devereaux, Brother John H. Marler was pastor at Lead Hill. G.E. Lafferty became pastor in the late 1930s and in 1940 led the church into the Southern Baptist Convention by joining the Boone- Carroll Association. At that time the church had 64 persons enrolled in Sunday School and had a full time Training Union program. There were 17 baptisms at Lead Hill in 1940. Brother Lafferty remained as pastor until 1943. There were 6 more baptisms during those years. In 1943 Rev. G.V. Logan became pastor at Lead Hill and remained there until 1947. In 1947 the church membership had risen to 95. There had been no baptisms in 1943, 1 in 1944, 3 in 1945, 4 in 1946 and 9 1947. E.C. King was pastor in 1948. There were 8 baptisms. 1950 saw Frank VanLandingham leading the church with 6 baptisms and 45 members and in 1951 Rev.J. K. Aichele was pastor. He served until 1954. In January 1954 Brother Carl Huddleston was called as full time pastor; he left in September 1954 to go to college. In 1955 Elmo Frey was called. Then Rev. Troy Eoff served from 1956 until 1962; Bill Hooten in 1962 and then Rev. John R Stratton served from 1963 until 1980.  In 1978 the membership of the church was approximately 150. In December of 1980 Brother Marshall Boggs was called as pastor, he served until 1983.Brother Ray Edwards then severed as pastor from 1984 until 1985. Brother Glenn Crenshaw then was called as pastor in February 1986 and remained pastor until March 2007, at which time he retired. Brother Rodney Fry was the called in May 2007 and is our present pastor.

In the early 1950s the formation of Bull Shoals Lake caused the church to have to give up its home in old Lead Hill and build a new building on top of the hill in the new part of town. The foundation of the new church was started on April 19, 1950, 8:30 a.m. The overseer was Simon Campbell, those helping that day were: Onus Raley, Buck Green, Aubie Pruett, John Taylor, Garvin Dunlap, Ed Dunlap, Coy Akins, Alva Green, Floyd Killingsworth, Park Raley, John Dean Justus, Weldon Campbell, Ralph Miller, Lloyd Pumphrey, Dick Tucker, Billie Green, Wilburn Pruett, Ewell Gann these men were also assisted by others from the community that showed up to help. The wives were also there, I’m sure to fix dinner for the workers.

In March 1962 the church bought Tommy & Virginia Rogers’s house for $4000.00 to use as a parsonage. It was used as a parsonage until 1974 at which time it was sold to be moved, the Leon Due family bought it and moved to their property on Blue Heaven Road.

On August 11, 1982 Roger Logan Jr. presented the trustees the deed to the Lloyd & Ethel Pumphrey house to be used as a parsonage. This was made possible by Ethel’s brother, Thomas Porter Raley. A dedication service was held on August 29, 1982.

The church has remained evangelistic through the years. Some of the better years as shown by the associational minutes are: 1940, 17 baptisms; 1943, 10 baptisms; 1947, 9 baptisms; 1948, 8 baptisms; 1959, 12 baptisms; 1963, 8 baptisms; 1967, 6 baptisms; 1969, 12 baptisms; 1971, 8 baptisms; 1974, 13 baptisms and 1977, 7 baptisms.

In 1970 the church built a new auditorium and made other improvements to its facilities.  The church has since been remodeled the auditorium was given a face life and the fellowship hall was expanded and new bathrooms installed, this all took place between 2004-2007.