History of Pilot Oak Baptist Church

 

   The church was first organized in 1890 in the home of Elder H. Frank Waggoner. It was known as the Lebanon Baptist Church of Christ. Seven people from Wingo, Cuba and Water Valley came to establish a church in Pilot Oak.

   The following people were members during 1890 – 1894;

A.J. Jeffers, J. N. Shankle, Edd Blackburn, Bettie Burnham, L.C. Brady, Mattie Coltharp, Ida Powell, J. H. Sutten, Daisy Wilson, H. F. Waggoner, J. W. Fowler, Bettie Blackburn, John Burnham, Callie Coltharp, J. J. Meadows. Fannie Powell, F. B. Waggoner, Albert Yates, R. B. Morris, W. M. Tibbs, T. E. Burnham, S. A. Brady, W. J. Hobson, M. F. Meadows, D. B. Sutten, I. V. Waggoner.

  The church met once a month in the homes of the members and later in the Howard School House.

   On November 4, 1894 the church bought a site in Pilot Oak for $90 and on August 31, 1895 the name was changed to Pilot Oak Baptist Church. Construction on the new building began in the spring of 1895.

   The Woodman of the World went in with the church and helped build a two-story building. The church would meet downstairs and the Woodman used the upstairs as a Lodge until 1935 when the church bought the upstairs for $40. The upper story was tore down and the building remodeled in 1945.

  The church grew so in 1965 and 1966 that a new building had to be built. The fellowship hall was completed in 1975.

  In April of 2001 construction began on the present building. The church was complete and the dedication service was held December 2, 2001 with about 350 in attendance.

Truly, Pilot Oak Baptist Church is a Family worth Finding.

Historical Record of Pilot Oak’s Pastors

 

1890 – 1894 — J. J. Kesterson

1894 – 1895 — T. C. Mahan

1895 – 1896 — H. F. Waggoner

1896 – 1897 — T. Alton Waggoner

1898 — A. S. Taylor

1898 – 1903 — L. Y. Brown

1903 — Bates Barton

1903 — W. F. Lowe

1904 – 1905 — L. Y. Brown

1905 – 1907 — H. K. Thomas

1908 – 1909 — J. W. Caruthers

1909 -1910 — E. Ridgeway

1911 — V. C. Kinsey

1911 – 1913 — L. J. Crocker

1913 – 1915 — T. Alton Waggoner

1915 – 1916 — Earl Gooch

1916 -1922 — J. H. Rhodes

1922 -1924 — H. M. Suthard

1924 – 1925 — J. H. Rhodes

1926 – 1927 — L. W. Carlin

1928 – 1929 — C. A. Morrison

1930 — Byron Cullen

1931 – 1933 — Lawrence McClain

1933 – 1935 — C. A. Smith

1935 – 1939 — W. A. Butler

1939 – 1941 — F. E. Chandler

1942 — J. T. Drace

1943 – 1946 — Ray Fleming

1946 – 1951 — T. C. Willis

1952 — J. H. Currin

1953 – 1954 — Harry Yates

1954 – 1963 — Ray Fleming

1963 – 1965 — Jerold Williams

1965 – 1967 — Kenneth Yarbrough

1967 – 1968 — Otis Shultz

1969 – 1971 — Darrell M. Bevil

1972 – 1973 — Windal Walker

1973 – 1983 — Charles Simmons

1983 – 1994 — Curtis Rice

1994 – 2003 — David Hardy

2003 – 2006 — Kevin Keeling

2006 – 2007 — Larry Jackson

2007 – 2021— Jimmy Brown