Clarke County GaArchives History - Books .....First Baptist Church Of Athens 1923
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Book Title: History Of Athens And Clarke County

First Baptist Church of Athens

   (The present building in which the congregation worships was opened •with
appropriate and impressive services on the evening of June 12, 1921. The
following remarks were made on that occasion by Judge Andrew J. Cobb.)

   WHEN an epochal date arrives in the life of an institution, it is not amiss
but advisable that the past should be called to remembrance. The present is born
of the past. The past and present should be the guaranties of the future.

   More than one hundred years ago a small band, impressed with the obligation
of preserving the faith as once delivered to the saints, organized Trail Creek
Church. It was in a sparsely settled section divided by the waters of the Oconee
River. The modest structure to be used as a place of worship was on the east
side of the river and convenient to the waters of Trail Creek. The only
enterprise in the neighborhood was Daniel Easley's grist mill at Cedar Shoals on
the Oconee River. In a few years Governor John Milledge made a donation to the
state of a tract of land embracing Daniel Easley's mill tract as the site for a
State University. The University was established. The village of Athens sprung
up around the University. In a few more years there were more persons of the
Baptist faith on the west side of the river than there were on the east side.

   The Athens Baptist Church was organized in 1830 on the west side of the river
by some who had had membership in Trail Creek Church in conjunction with others
who had moved to the village of Athens. The Trustees of the University permitted
the church to erect a house of worship on the campus of the University, near the
present site of LeCoute Hall. A similar privilege was granted to other churches.
The building was a frame structure and was in use until 1857. The church at this
time acquired a lot on the southeast corner of College avenue and Washington
street. The title to the lot was vested in Wilson Lumpkin and Williams
Rutherford as Trustees. Wilson Lump-kin had been Governor and United States
Senator of Georgia, and was a deacon and clerk of the church. Williams
Rutherford was for many years Professor of Mathematics in the University; a
deacon, the successor of Governor Lumpkin as clerk of the church, superintendent
of the Sunday School, and at the date of his death chairman of the Board of
Deacons. Upon the lot a substantial brick structure was erected and was in use
until 1897, when it was demolished and an enlarged and modern edifice took its
place.

   The fourth house of worship of Athens Baptist Church is on the corner of
Hancock avenue and Pulaski street. Its external appearance is imposing and
attracts the attention of every passerby. Its interior impresses every visitor.
In architecture it far exceeds any of its predecessors. In interior appointments
it almost approaches the ideal.

   Trail Creek Church was in a wilderness. The first church of Athens Baptist
Church was in a village upon the land of another. The second church was in a
small town, but upon land owned by the church. The third church was in a small
city. The present church is in a city of more than twenty thousand inhabitants.
The first church was in a college community made up of less than one hundred
students and instructors. The present church is in a college community made up
of three separate state institutions with more than two thousand students and
instructors and Lucy Cobb Institute with its more than two hundred students and
instructors. The city has its school system with more than fifteen hundred
pupils and instructors. The city has its business population that is numbered in
the thousands. The membership of the church has increased from less than a
hundred to more than six hundred members. The church is the mother of three
churches in the city, with an aggregate membership of more than eight hundred.

   Such in brief has been the past—such in brief is the present. The future is
ours—what will we make of it? If we look with pride on the past and rest in
satisfaction with the present, the future has little in store for us or those
who follow us with similar thought. If we look to the past for inspiration and
the present as a spur to better endeavor, we will pass the inheritance we have
received to those who follow us, increased in its proportion with a stimulus to
add to that which we have received and improved.

   A great name is a worthy inheritance. If we only lean upon it we fail. If we
transmit it untarnished, we have merely discharged a duty. If we add to its
luster, we not only exercise a high privilege but we awaken a sense of high
obligation to those to whom we transmit.

   There are a few of us that can trace our church lineage to old Trail Creek
Church. There are some who can trace it to the old Campus church. There are some
who can trace it to the church of 1857. The courage, the sacrifice and the
steadfast devotion of those who have preceded us must and should arouse within
us the desire and determination to be worthy of that which we have inherited
from them, which but for them would have never existed.

   In a recent session of the Sunday School the pastor asked, "How many should
we have at Sunday School on the first Sunday in our new church?" A small child
responded, "One thousand." Let the faith and enthusiasm of this answer awaken
our endeavor and sense of responsibility. "A little child shall lead them." Let
the first service in its every phase be in accord with the leadership of the
little child whose words have been quoted. Let the first service be but the
token of every future service.

   At this time when the day is approaching for us to occupy our new house of
worship we should not be unmindful of the obligation of the church to those upon
whom has fallen the responsibility of carrying our desires into effect.

   The building committee has been faithful and painstaking. The result of their
care and thought is in evidence in the structure. While all deserve our
appreciation, it is not amiss that we should express our especial appreciation
of the work and labor of the chairman of the committee, William T. Bryan,
Deacon. He saw the necessity of a new building. He grasped the idea of procuring
it. He inspired us in our efforts to do those things which were needful to
secure it. Everything he had was enlisted. His faith, his taste, his love of the
past, his endeavor of the present and his hope of the future. His Master's cause
was upon his heart and he wished as the crowning glory of his useful life to be
instrumental in erecting a worthy structure which would inspire those of his
generation, as well as those who-will follow him, to a more earnest and zealous
effort to save those for whom his Master gave his life.

   The building which he has been so instrumental in procuring for us is perfect
in architecture and useful in appointments.

   Let us each now on the eve of its occupancy renew our vows heretofore made,
reconsecrate our lives to the service of our Master, and endeavor to make the
structure of our lives beautiful in architecture and so useful in appointment
that those who observe us will take knowledge that we have been with Jesus.


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