MY CHURCH LIFE

Original Highland Baptist Church

First finished Highland Baptist 

Before I was born I was a part of the church. When Highland Baptist Church was established on July 5, 1942 my mom was expecting me. My mom and dad were Charter members of Highland.  I was born in February of 1943 and my dad was ordained and called as Pastor of the church on July 4th, 1943. . So I have never been without connections to a church. So lets start with the first church I remember and that was Highland Baptist Church on Babelay Road. I never realized until I started searching my memories just how much is instilled in a child in their early years. I have so many memories of my early days at HBC. Especially the people. We lived on Edmondson Road which is just through the woods to Babelay Road where the church was. In those days the community was the church. Cars were few and we did not go miles just for church. Many Sundays we walked to church or my dad would load the car with the neighborhood kids even riding in the trunk of the car. Some of the people who lived on our road that went to Highland were the Landsons, Hairs, Warwicks, Reesor kids, later the Ogles and of course all the Spencers. Then down on Babelay Road were the Greens,  Thompsons, Kecks, Big Earl Johnsons, Atchleys, Davies, Smiths, Silveys, McGinnsis, Kirklands,  Then you go over to Harris and there was the Halls, Jones, Spears, Atchelys, It just goes on and on. All of these people I remember very vividly. Church was very different in 'my day'. Life centered around church. We did not plan any activities that did not put church first. As Pastor of the church my family was invited many Sundays to members homes for Sunday Dinner. Many memories and friends were made during that time. Now a Pastor is seldom asked to a members house for dinner. Maybe taken out to a restaurant but rarely to a home.  My dad was the Pastor of  HBC for 5 years the first time and you would think I couldn't of remembered that much but I do. First the people. I remember Mrs. Davis making me dresses out of flour sacks. The Davis's lived on Babelay Road and it was in their yard that the church was established. I also remember Mrs. Thompson giving me socks. They were new socks. The Green's had a dump up behind their house where they would dump things from where they had been picked up in the city. I am not sure just exactly what Mr. Green did but when they would bring things out and dump them my family would get "new" shoes out of the dump. So I have worn many pair of shoes out of the Green's dump. I also remember going home with Charlotte Keck on Sundays and we would eat cold sausage that her mom had canned out of the jar. I also remember going to Mrs. Fair's house that lived over on Millertown Pike and the women all gathering around the quilting frame and making quilts. I remember going to the Jone's over on Harris for the Sunbeams. Next I remember so clear a lot of the messages that were preached. My dad was a very demonstrative preacher. I remember the tent meetings, the calling of sheep from the basement of the church, the hunting of the coin from the furnace register, the Santa Clause coming up from the basement of the church with gifts for the children. My SS teacher Mrs. Henry giving us money for memorizing Bible verses.  I remember riding the bus around Harris Road and other places picking up families to come to church. I remember telling on one of the girls and boys for doing some smooching on the bus and she told me my big mouth would get me in trouble and I am sure she was right it has got me in lots of trouble over the years. Then in 1948 a change took place. 

Original House Mountain Baptist

House Mountain Baptist 

In November of 1948 my dad was called to be the Pastor of  House Mountain Baptist Church on Washington Pike. I was almost 6 years old and again you would think I could not remember those years but I do so much. The people at House Mountain were country, mountain people. A lot of them living around the mountain. Again as Pastor's family we were invited most Sundays to someone's house. And we would stay until time for the evening service. Everyone would sit on the porch and talk and the kids would all play in the yard, woods and creeks. Some of the people I remember the most were the Lawson's. They made up a lot of the church and if you weren't a Lawson you were related somehow. There were the Andersons, Earls, Brooks, Smiths just to name a few. As a 6 year old I didn't really make a lot of personal friends but the people made deep memories. I remember one Sunday we went home with a family and after lunch we were on the front porch and they asked if we had ever eaten any goat and my dad said "not unless that is what we had for lunch" and of course it was. I remember one Sunday we left my brother Bill asleep on the bench at church. He was two years younger than me and when we got home he wasn't in the car so we had to go back and get him. I don't remember this but my sister June met her husband there. Came down from Luttrell looking for a girl and saw my beautiful sister June. Must of been OK because they were married 60 years before he passed. My dad said when he went to House Mountain they were not able to pay him a salary so instead gave him the Sunday Night offering. A lot of people would wait and put their money in the offering at night so he was soon put on a salary. Lots of Sunday afternoons the men would go up on top of House Mountain and pray. Of course as a child I did not know the workings or problems of the church but my dad only spent two years there as Pastor and he was called back to be Pastor again of Highland Baptist on Babelay Road in February of 1950. 

Highland Baptist with more additions

Highland Baptist 

By this time I was 7 years old. The next 3 years were spent making many life time friends. Again each Sunday we would go to other members homes and spend the day. Different people had moved into the church during the time we were gone. Most of the old ones were still there but now we had the Ogle's, Mondays, Acuff family which consisted of the Simpsons, Parrotts, Copelands, Brooks. The Will Atchley,  McCarters., Speers, Chesneys, Newmans. I could go on and on but these stand out a lot because I soon became good friends with Patsy Ogle, Jean Copeland, Brenda Simpson, Ruthie Wolfenbarger, Barbara Chesney. My brothers had good friends like Bill Monday, Ronnie Newman, Carroll Chesney, Eddie Copeland. So many ties go back to this time in my life. Things seemed to be back as usual with the preaching, singing, shouting and all of the activities. This was the original building that had been added on to. Of course we didn't have air condition and I remember one night some of the young girls were singing and a bug flew in one of their mouths. We always had the windows and doors open. A lot of good services and times were had at that time but I didn't know there was controversy brewing. At this time the King James Bible was being taken out of the Sunday School literature and the RSV was being added in. Well this caused a big problem in our church. My dad was strictly for KJV.  So in 1953 my dad resigned the church. He stayed for a few months as a member then him along with 22 other people asked for their letters and begin to meet as a group of people at the home of W. P.  Atchley on Harris Road. 

W. P. Atchley Home on Harris Road

W.P.Atchley Home

The 22 people that left Highland began to meet at the home of W. P. Atchley on Harris Road for Sunday School and Worship Service on Sunday Afternoons. I was 10 years old at the time and I remember very distinctly going to their home. This was also the road that many of the other people like the Acuffs, Parrotts, Copelands and Simpsons lived on.  They all began to pray that a way would be opened to build a church. If you know these people none of them were rich, just common hard working people.

At this time my dad also had a radio broadcast. I remember going down town on Saturdays to the broadcast. Bill and Beatrice (Coot) Parrott along with Margie Simpson and Lorn Chesney would sing about every Saturday.  My dad was working at Albers Drug Company which was located downtown and before the interstate was built the way to go to work from our house was either down Millertown Pike or Washington Pike. As my dad drove to work day after day the Lord gave him a vision of a church on the corner of Millertown and Lindberg Blvd. The miracle of this is this land was not even for sale. But one day the land was for sale and the vision became a reality. In November of 1953 two lots were purchased at this corner and a 25x50 building was erected by donated work. On April 18th just a little over a year from leaving Highland Baptist the church was constituted as North Acres Baptist Church of Knox County,with Rev. Edd Spencer as Pastor. Over the next two years there were a total of 55 people that moved their membership from Highland to North Acres. For the next 18 years this was the church I became a part of . We started off in the 25X50 foot building and it was soon added on to and became the church of many of my memories.  I was saved there when I was 13 on a Tuesday night during a revival held by Rev. Earl Joiner. I was baptized about a year later in Roseberry Creek. These were my teenage years of making many lifetime friends. The Chesney family became a part of the church and at 13 years old I had my first date at a SS Christmas Party with what I didn't know then would be my future husband. The next 6 years we spent dating, going to school, and going to church. Families were really close in those days and again each Sunday I would either go home with one of  my friends or they would go home with me until the Sunday Night service. Many Sunday afternoons were spent at my friend Jean Copeland's home and with her cousins Brenda and Ruthie. There is no way I could ever write down all of the wonderful memories from that time in my life. James was also saved at North Acres during a revival held by Rev. Frank Miller when he was about 19 but he never joined the church. In 1961 James and I were married at North Acres. The next several years we spent raising our family, working, going to church. All three of our birth children were born while we were going to North Acres. James did not attend church like me and the kids did. He did a lot of his hunting and fishing on Sundays.  My dad had been Pastor of the church now for 18 years. Then at 62 years old in 1972 my dad was diagnosed with Lymphoma. He only lived a few months and passed away in December of 1972. My life then took another turn.

Fairview Baptist Church on Emory Road

James and I had been living on Maloneyville Road for 10 years at this time. After my dad died I tried to go back to North Acres but it was really hard to go there and not see him preaching each Sunday so we decided to visit a church closer to home. That is when Fairview Baptist Church became a part of our lives. We visited there and we really liked the Pastor who at that time was Rev. Ralph Berry. Still James was not attending like me and the kids. He still spent his Sundays hunting and fishing. I may not have continued at Fairview if not for my friend Eleanor Schultz. Eleanor and I had attended Holston High School together and she was a member at Fairview. She invited me to her house to a SS class meeting and it was there that I made friends with many of the ladies from Fairview. Sonia, Hazel, Barbara, Doris, Pat, Kathy, just to name a few of the ones that soon became friends that I will never forget. James and I joined Fairview and he was Baptized there. I would sing in the choir and one year James and I taught a VBS class. That was about the extent of our involvement. Again we didn't know the inner workings of the church and what was apparently some problems going on. So Pastor Berry resigned the church. James stopped going and me and the kids continued to go for awhile.  About 1976 we visited House Mountain Church, the same church my dad Pastored when I was 6 years old. It was more like the church I had grew up in and after about a year we joined House Mountain.

House Mountain Church

House Mountain Church today. 

For the next 24 years instead of attending the church we became the church. I first became involved in the choir and was soon invited to sing in a group at the church and that became my passion. I sang with Vella Gray and her sister Alma Stanifer in the beginning. My daughter Pam soon began to play the piano for us. Lona Sue Bullen played the bass and later James played the guitar. Even after all of these years I remember the first song I sang with them. It was I Have Never Been This Homesick Before. I loved singing with the group. We would go to different churches to sing and to shut in homes. We would practice almost every week. After Pam left House Mountain to go to New Hope where her future husband belonged my daughter Jennifer began to play for us. After Jennifer went away to college James sister Barbara played the piano for us and James continued on the guitar. Lona Sue had moved her membership to another church and Alma also left for another church and Mable Daniels begin to sing with me and Vella. So for probably the last 10 years or more it was Vella, Mable and myself.  Rev. Lloyd Henry was the Pastor when we joined House Mountain but in 1982 he resigned and we called Rev. Bill Winters as Pastor and this is when James became involved in church. Rev. Winters was a Seminary educated Pastor and James finally connected with someone he could relate to. The next 10 years James became involved in all of the activities of the church. He soon became a Sunday School Teacher and a little later a Deacon in the church. He taught VBS, was the treasure at one time. I later became the Fellowship Director over the activities and also taught VBS and SS and did the bulletin. I spent hours at the Fellowship Building decorating for different events. This was the happiest I had ever been in a church. Also it was really the first time James had been an active part of our church life. Even after all of these years there were still a lot of the same people at the church. Still a lot of the Lawson family but the families had grown and now we had the Andersons, Arnwines, Blackburns, Daniels, Donahues, Davis, Earls, Fishers, Heltons, Kirks, Kidwells, Millers, Whitakers, Whittles, Grays. That's just to name a few. Many became dear friends during our years at House Mountain. In 1986 Rev. Williams left the church. For the next two years we had Rev. Dan Dunkel the next two Rev. Steven Brasher. In 1991 Rev. Winters came back to the church as Pastor. I can't remember how long he stayed this time but after that we had a few more Pastors. Churches used to vote on a Pastor every year and over the 77 years the church has been in existence they have had about 23 Pastors. Although we loved the church and this had been our best years as a part of a church James felt like our time there was over. So in 2000 we left the church and began our search for another. We didn't visit many places but we did go a few months to Clear Springs. People have different ideas of what church should be and although we liked several things about it and the services included lots of good singing and people going to the alter the Pastor rarely got to preach and we did not have that 'fuel' we needed for the week. So we began to look again for another church. And that is when we visited Union Baptist on Washington Pike. 

Union Baptist became our church for the next 10 years. Union had a very good reputation for stability that James liked. The Pastor that was there had come not long before we did but the church was known for keeping their Pastor for many years. When we went the choir was fantastic. Ron Tilley was the director and I dearly loved the choir. I didn't sing when Ron was the director but when Brandon Tilley became the leader I joined the choir. I guess I learned more from Brandon than anyone. I do not read music and he was a great teacher.  I also was asked to sing a special at times but was always scared to death I would mess up. They had so many really good singers. We came from a church where we were needed in almost every area to a church that did not 'need' us at all. I remember the first time I went to a meeting for a Fall Festival we were having for people to volunteer for helping and I was finally told I could "help" with the cake walk. One year I ''helped" with VBS. This may not seem big to you but for someone that had worked for so many years it was hard to realize you were not really needed. I sang in the choir and James eventually became an active deacon. His passion was for teaching and our SS teacher gave him that opportunity to fill in for him and later he taught his own class. For a while we would help with the cooking on Wednesday night. I made many, many good friends at Union. Some of my class mates from my years at Ritta School attend there. Doris, Betty, my friend Barbara that I attended church with when I was a kid at Highland. I could never name all the good friendships that were made at Union. We were at Union when our daughter Pam died and the church was so good to us especially our SS class. In 2011 things began to change again.

Highland Baptist Church today

In 2011 our son Byron was called to Pastor Highland Baptist Church the same church that I started in as a babe in my mothers womb. The church had been through some transitions and they were in need of help. So we went back to Highland after 69 years of being there when we were children. James begin to teach a SS class that he named the Bereans SS Class taken from the verse in Acts 17:11 "....they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so" . I was needed in the choir and also would sing special. I started doing the Fellowship events and helped with the decorating of the church. Seven years now I have been at Highland. The past 2 and a half years I have been by myself. I am doing very little now in church. My voice is not what it used to be, my ability to work like I used to is less. I do not know what the future may hold but at this time I feel like as my daughter told me not long ago                                                                                                         ...."Mom you've been put out to pasture".............


I can say we never left a church that we could not walk back in with our heads held high and no regrets of any kind. I hope we made a difference in someones life over the years whether it be by teaching, singing, serving in some way. I would not take anything for the friends we made at the churches we have belonged to.