CELEBRATING 80 YEARS
BAPTSIT TEMPLE CHURCH
1929 – 2009
On April 17, 1929, as the inspired outgrowth of a successful revival meeting held in an old store building adjoining a garage on Wentworth Street, Mt. Olive Baptist Church was organized. Despite the Depression, when money was scarce and many were without jobs, the dedicated members decided to construct a church building on some property adjoining the store. Through their faith, sacrifice, hard work and determination, enough money was raised to purchase the site and build a frame building with the members doing most of the work. During the years that followed, three additional sections were built to add classrooms as growth demanded, and in 1948 a basement prayer room was dug to allow a group of men to hold a 9:00 prayer service each Sunday morning. This tradition continues today, with one of the men who began this ministry, Marvin Madren, still in attendance each week.
Mt. Olive was originally an independent Baptist church; but in October of 1933, it applied for and received membership in the Piedmont Association and the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1934, the church conducted a census on Lawsonville Road in order to determine if there was enough interest there in organizing a church in that area. As a result of the survey, a mission was begun in a nearby schoolhouse with services being held on Sunday afternoons. As an outgrowth of that ministry, Lawsonville Road Baptist Church was formed and, in the next several years, the members of Mt. Olive assisted in organizing both Antioch and Shady Grove Baptist Churches.
On March 30 1939, members voted to begin a building fund for the construction of a new sanctuary, and the first lots for this were purchased on December 14 of that year. Then, on May 27, 1942, the congregation voted to change the name of the church to Baptist Temple Church. Six years later in 1948, additional land was acquired on the corner of Wentworth and Roach Streets, and on April 30, 1950, the groundbreaking ceremony for our current sanctuary was held.
In 1952, Baptist Temple Church transferred it membership to the newly formed Dan Valley Association in Rockingham County. As the church grew, Sunday School rooms began to overflow. Seeing the need for further expansion, a Building Fund Committee was elected on January 8, 1958 with more land being purchased near the existing church property. The groundbreaking for our current three-story educational building was held April 5, 1964, with members moving into the new structure on June 26, 1966. Since that time, three houses were purchased and either moved or torn down to allow for much needed additional parking spaces.
Baptist Temple Church has always been mission minded, as is evidenced by one of the oldest and most active groups in the church, the Woman’s Missionary Union, which was organized in 1935. Although its name has changed, this ministry is still very active and encompasses Women on Mission, Acteens, Girls in Action and Mission Friends. Another strong organization, Baptist Men, has their missions meeting the first Sunday of each month, and was instrumental in organizing and carrying out mission trips to Honduras after two members of our congregation, Rev. Larry Elliott and his wife Jean, were appointed as foreign missionaries to that country in 1978. Today these trips are ongoing and involve not only the Baptist Men, but also women and young people from our congregation as well as others in the Dan Valley Baptist Association.
During the life of Baptist Temple Church, over 40 men and women have gone out from our congregation by being licensed or ordained into the gospel ministry, or submitting themselves to full-time Christian service in other fields. This is, indeed, a record showing the blessings of God and one that we pray will continue as our church strives to meet the needs of those around us and answer God’s call in the lives of each and every member.