mtcarmel

Mt. Carmel Baptist Church
Organized September 1826
Crawford County, Georgia

Mt. Carmel Baptist Church was accepted into the Flint River Baptist Association in 1826

ITCHACONNAH ASSOCIATION.
This union was formed in the winter of 1829, at Mount Carmel, in Crawford county, the churches, nineteen in number, having been dismissed from the Flint River in the preceding October. They are situated in Bibb, Crawford, Monroe, Houston, etc. The presbytery were John Milner, William Moseley and Joseph Chipman. John Blackstone was the first moderator, and Austin Ellis, clerk. The meeting for 1832 was at Bethlehem, Upson county. The same officers continued. Nothing of importance done. The following year the session is at Union, Bibb county. This body has stood aloof from missions, Bible societies, Sunday-schools, temperance societies, etc. Baptisms, eighty-one, thirty-three of which are at Bethesda, administered by Jacob King. Number of members, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine. The meeting for 1837 is held at Bethel church, Houston county. Churches, twenty-eight; members, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven." Resolved, That the systems of the day, benevolent, so called, such as Bible, missionary, temperance, tract societies, etc., are unscriptural, unsupported by divine revelation, and therefore anti-christian," etc. A committee was appointed to organize new bodies out of churches broken off from orderly Associations on account of difference of opinion touching the benevolent institutions of the day. This now seems to be a working body, and has its hands full of business in her endeavors to suppress missions, temperance, etc. Some of her most prominent ministers have been violent in their opposition to these things. A few of these have been called to their last account! Jonathan Neal was moderator of this body for several years. Like all other bodies entertaining such sentiments, it is on the decline.

REHOBOTH ASSOCIATION.
There had been a division in the Itchaconna Association on the subject of benevolent institutions, and those churches that were of the liberal party met at Benevolence church, Crawford county, and constituted the Rehoboth Association, July 27th, 1838. The names of those churches are as follows: In Upson county, Harmony, Bethesda, Antioch and Fellowship; in Crawford, Elim, Benevolence and Liberty Grove; Perry church, Houston; Macon church, Bibb; and Forsyth church, Monroe--ten churches in all. Among the delegates were Jacob King, Z. H. Gordon and A. T. Holmes. The visiting ministers present, and approving of the organization, were Wilson Conner, C. A. Tharp, James Perryman, Robert Fleming, and S. W. Durham. In the dawn of its existence, the Association recognized its obligation to preach the gospel to every creature, to circulate the scriptures in all lands, to educate the ministry, and to organize Sunday-schools and temperance societies. The following ministers have been employed, first and last, as her domestic missionaries: James Steely, A. Horne, Austin Ellis, Jacob King, J. W. Stephens, A. T. Holmes, C. Peurifoy, H. Garland, M. J. Jackson, E. B. Barrett, W. Thomas, J. Thomas and W. J. Collins. Scarcely a year has intervened since its organization but that it has had missionaries in its own bounds or elsewhere, preaching to the destitute. In 1852 a colored minister, Rev. Cæsar Fraser, a native African, was sent out by this Association to preach the gospel in his own country. In January of that year he sailed from Savannah, in company with Rev. Eli
Ball, of Virginia, (who was going out on a visit of inspection to the mission stations in Africa,) and located near the town of Monrovia, on the St. Paul's river. In the course of the following year, the Foreign Mission Board having expressed its willingness to sustain this colored brother, the Rehoboth adopted Rev. J. S. Dennard and wife as her missionaries to Africa. Mrs. Dennard died within a few months after her arrival in that dark land, and her husband soon followed her to the grave. In 1857, Rev. T. A. Reid and wife went out to Africa as missionaries of this Association. The efforts of this body at home and in Africa only tended to inflame
the zeal of her churches, and in 1857 it was resolved to attempt to send one or more missionaries to the Indians of the West; and to ascertain the practicability of sending others to the Jews in Constantinople or Jerusalem, and also to South America. The year following, Rev. J. S. Murrow and wife were acting as the missionaries of this body at Micco, in the Indian Territory, where they still labor for the salvation of the red men. (The first Mrs. Murrow died, but her husband found a second wife, "worthy and well qualified," in the person of Miss Burns, daughter of a missionary to the Choctaws.) Mr. Murrow has proven himself a most
devoted and successful missionary. Of course, a body of such intelligence and piety could not refrain from sending missionaries into the Confederate army during the late war. Rev. E. B. Barrett was accordingly sent to the army of Virginia, and Rev. B. F. Tharp and other ministers preached to the soldiers at other places.
In 1853, the Association resolved to take a more active part in the education of pious young men preparing for the ministry. Appropriations were made for the benefit of James F. McLeod and Asa B. Marshall. A valuable library was presented to each. The latter was sent to Mercer University, where he graduated with credit in 1860. A Baptist bookstore was established by the Association at Fort Valley, A. D. Kendrick, agent, and was kept in successful operation for several
years. Thus, it would seem, the body was engaged in every good work. It may be considered the model Association among Georgia Baptists. That eminent and gifted man, Jacob King, was moderator from the time of its organization until his death--twenty-four years. Since then B. F. Tharp, J. H. Clark, J. M. Wood and Col. T. S. Sharman have presided in turn. Holmes, Wilkes, Landrum and Holtzclaw have filled the office of clerk. Besides these, there have been connected with the body, from time to time, many choice spirits: Zack. Jordon, C. D. Mallary, J. R. Kendrick, H. C. Hornady, T. E. Langley, E. W. Warren, J. H. Corley and many other able and efficient ministers, besides many laymen of intelligence and great moral worth. For many years past this Association has stood aloof from all connection with the Boards of the Southern Baptist Convention, preferring to manage her missions through a committee of her own. The great efficiency of her
plans and success of her efforts is a strong argument in favor of her policy, which is, to have the relations between the churches and missionaries as intimate as possible. The body is still sustaining Rev. J. S. Murrow among the Indians, who is assisted by two native preachers. Seventeen churches have been organized, an Association constituted, (in which there are about one thousand members,) meeting-houses are being built, and the condition of the "Rehoboth Indian Mission" every way encouraging.

This page was last updated Tuesday, June 20, 2006

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