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 – present — Jimmy Brown
