From left, pastor Odell Broadway and senior member Eldon Hart sit on the steps of the 100-year-old church.Union Springs Baptist Church is turning 100 years old this year, and that's cause for celebration, said pastor Odell Broadway.
The small congregation is throwing an anniversary party and reunion Sunday, June 9 that's open to the entire community.
The celebration includes a morning service with former Union Springs pastor Richard Jones, who first preached at the church in 1978; a luncheon at noon; and an afternoon program featuring Curtis Broadway, former pianist for the Gold City Quartet and the Stamps Quartet. Past choir members are also returning to the century-old house of God to join in an "Ole Timers' Choir" and sing old-time gospel tunes.
"We are just a local community church. I would say we are still one of the original old-fashioned Baptist churches," said Broadway, who has been preaching at the church for the past two years. "Our goal is to reach out into the community."
The church's first members met beneath a brush arbor as there was no building in 1913. Eventually a one-room church was built, complete with open-slat benches for pews and oil lanterns for lighting.
Senior member Eldon Hart said he has been coming to the church since 1933. The second oldest of 10 children, he remembers walking 2 miles to church each Sunday, being heated by the potbelly stove during the cold months and praying for a breeze through the open windows during the hot season.
He also recalled one of the pastors who lived on top of Walden's Ridge who used to make the trek down by foot, or sometimes by mule, to preach at Union Springs during the 1930s.
"I have seen this church with the attendance of over a hundred ... and I have seen it down as low as 10 or 12," said Hart. "It's an old-time Baptist church - Bible-believin', preaching the word of God. Hearing the different pastors over the years has meant a lot."
"It's been a hundred years of weathering storms," noted Broadway.
The church has expanded over the years, adding Sunday school rooms, building extra space for the sanctuary as well as a baptistery (Hart said he was baptized in Falling Water Creek in 1942).
"I'd like to see the church grow again," said Hart. "This was built as a community church, and I would like to see that again."
Today, the church is very "mission-minded," supporting a children's home in Honduras as well as St. Jude's Children's Hospital, among other things, said Broadway.