Carson's Creek Baptist Church
Carson’s Creek Baptist Church
A bit of HISTORY
The church was named for John Carson. John came here as a boy preparing for the revolutionary war. He worked with the grazing of cattle at Cowpens, S.C. About the time of the Battle of Cowpens, orders came from General David Morgan that all cattle must be moved out. John, along with Mr. Charles McDowell (head of the organization) moved the cattle here from Cowpens. The cattle were salted and fed at what is now known as Feed Rock, located between Happy Acres and Cedar Mountain. At that time all farms were fenced in by a wood rail fence and the cattle ran loose on the east side of the French Broad River.
Just as today, there was a need for a place to worship our God. A Brush Arbor was placed beside the “Clear Branch” between Carson’s Creek and the CCC Road, built from leaning sticks with brush for the roof and sides. Logs were split in half and put on sawed blocks for seats. This meeting place was organized by the following four men: Bill Hines, Ed Batson, Perry Hogsed and Riley Garren. The same four men which organized the Brush Arbor, organized the church building. Mr. Hogsed gave the land. According to all remembrances this was in the year 1863. Being located on Carson’s Creek, thus they took the name Carson’s Creek.
Being Christians we are not exempt from troubles and trials. Just as our forefathers, we have seen many of our saints of God planted in our cemeteries, awaiting that great resurrection day. We have had many new lives born into our families and also in the Family of God. There have been many struggles, but many more victories.
The ministry of our church, by way of missionaries we support and the work of our own church members, reaches many local missions as well as into Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Idaho, Alaska and Montana. It also reaches to India, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Bolivia, Japan, Israel, Albania, Vietnam, and Russia. God has blessed us (and is still blessing us) with great opportunities to help spread His gospel. We are truly grateful for His leadership.
The church as we know today was built in the 1950’s, and the old building was burned in 1971 as Connestee Development bought and developed the land around us. During this redevelopment, they were very gracious in helping us beautify our building, adding bathrooms, picnic tables and sheds and much more. Our church is surrounded by the beautiful Connestee Falls lakes and properties. We realize that the church is not the building; the “church” is the Bride of Christ. We enjoy our building as a worship place as we lift our praises to Jesus Christ for all He has done for us.
We continue to improve and upgrade our facility to prepare for growth and changes necessary for our ministry. We installed draw-curtains in the auditorium, a baptistery was installed in the church, and the windows have been replaced with stained-glass windows. We have a fellowship building which includes additional storage space and rooms for study and fellowship. Also a new van was purchased for our ministry and dedicated in memory of one of our men who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country in the war in Afghanistan.
Even though facilities are more modern, it is our desire never to lose the vision of the ministry that God has for us to do from generation to generation. Prayerfully, we will always follow the Holy Spirit and use the Original King James Version of the Holy Bible as our road map. One day, no matter how our buildings and travel may change, we have that Blessed Hope of meeting those who were led to organize our church in the 1800’s. You see, their Leader is our Leader, Jesus Christ our Lord. Only He is worthy of our praise and this part of our church history will always be the same. God is good - all the time!
Respectfully mentioned are our past ministers that we have record of: Rev. Holtzclaw, Rev. A.J. Manley, Rev. Andy Whitmire, Rev. Vaden Corn, Rev. Mark Osborne, Rev. Slater, Rev. Judson Corn, Rev. Emerson Corn, Rev. Adam Corn, Rev. Jordan, Rev. Gidney, Rev. Pittman, Rev. Lee, Rev. Bunyan Kilpatrick, Rev. Doc Owens, Rev. Cleveland Reese, Rev. Bob Meese, Rev. Flay Holden, Rev. Milo Hayes, Rev. Arthur Trotter, Rev. Hubert Clayton, Rev. Tommy Goldsmith, Rev. W. Beauford Hardin, Sr., Rev. Sherrill Hubbard, Rev. Kermit Reese, Rev. Don Waters. Associate Pastors Rev. Tony Cisson, Rev. Bobby Hardin and Rev. J.R. Murr.
Our current Pastor is William Don Waters (wife is Joan). He has been Pastor since June 1, 1986. Current active deacons are Ronnie Stephens (wife is Sandi) and Nick Lambert (wife is Karen).
