Although we talk of "planting churches," only God can do that. What really happens is someone faithfully proclaims the gospel and God draws—and gathers—people to Himself through it. Then God sustains the church by the same grace and gospel. That's our story.
In early September 1870, Rev. Matthew S. Ferrell, a local farmer and preacher, held a revival in the local whisky tavern because the cotton gin was already booked. At the close of the revival, on Saturday, September 3, twenty-one individuals, with letters from nearby Mt. Pisgah and Salem, decided to form a church. That day, twelve more people were baptized in a local stream, followed by four more the next morning. Thus, by God's grace, this fledgling church finished its first Sunday with 37 members.
At the time, this new band of believers called themselves Providence Baptist Church. They called Rev. Ferrell to serve as their first pastor, which he would do faithfully for the next fifteen years. They commissioned Jarret Broadwell and Addison Council to serve as their first deacons, and Sidney W. Mitchell as their first church clerk. Soon after, they changed their name to Green Level Baptist Church and, after outgrowing the whisky tavern, moved into a two-story building on land given by the Council family.
So much has changed since our earliest days, but God's grace and faithfulness have not. The same gospel that Rev. Ferrell preached in September 1870 is the same gospel that we proclaim today. The same Spirit that united and sustained the members of Green Level Baptist Church for generations continues to do so today. As we look forward to what God will do in our future, we remember and rejoice in what He's done in our past. In fact, we still gather in the cross-shaped sanctuary hand-built by our members beginning in 1905.