Chapter Thirty-One

Marion County Churches

by Mrs. Bernice Johnson

Baptist Churches

Summitt Baptist Church

Page 493-496

The original church building of the Missionary Baptist Church of North Yellville and later known as the Summit Baptist Church was built in 1906.

The following is the story of the Summit Church as told to Bro. Dale Barnett in the fall of 1974 by Mrs. Esther Wilson, Mrs. Grace Allen, Mrs. Sallie Burleson and Mrs. Mary Gray. All four of these ladies grew up around Summit and were small children when the building was erected in 1906. Mrs. Esther Wilson believes that she is in the picture of the "laying of the cornerstone." The home to the right in the background of the picture is where she grew up and still lives. The house in the middle of the picture is the Mrs. Grace McVey home.

The original church house was built jointly by four denominations:

The Missionary Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and the Christian Church. Even though other denominational groups sometimes used the building, it was built and supported by these four groups. They cooperated with each other by having a Union Sunday School and each of the four denominations had one preaching service each month.

Mr. J. W. Craig seems to have been one of the leading laymen in the Baptist group. It is said that he moved to Yellville to work on the railroad and was later employed as the depot agent. The records of the First Baptist Church of Yellville show that he and his wife joined there by transfer of letter January 11, 1905. He evidently moved his membership along with others at that time to form the Missionary Baptist Church of North Yellville. It is believed that Mr. Craig raised most of the money for the new building. This is probably why the title was made to the Missionary Baptist Church.

Mr. J.B. Rowden, father of Mrs. Esther Wilson, Mrs. Helen Rea and Mrs. Mabel Richey, seems to have been one of the leading laymen in the Methodist group that helped to build the original building. His sons, Chester and Orville, hauled the lumber by wagon and team from near Kingdon Springs north of Summit.

Other families known to have helped in the early years were: Mr. and Mrs. Robert Richardson, parents of Mrs. Grace Allen; Mr. and Mrs. Tom Williams, parents of Mrs. Sallie Burleson; Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Keeter, grandparents of Mary Alice Elam; Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Richardson, parents of Mrs. Mary Gray; Mr. D. F. Richardson, Miss Rebecca Richardson, and Mr. and Mrs. Was Reed. Others who helped teach and support the work as the years went by were: W. J. Patterson family, Mrs. Grace McVey and the Bryan Wilsons.

The original church house has been shared from the beginning for many different activities; such as, public school, city council meetings, Summit Voting Precinct, etc.

Some of the Baptists ministers were: Lovelace, Bayless, Reed, Crane, J. T. White, J. W. Sullivan, W. R. Jones, W. B. O'Neal and J. F. Richardson. Some of the Christian Church ministers were: Joe Bryant and Bro. Chase. Some of the Methodist ministers were: Tom Seay, Tom Wilson, Bro. Smith, Johnny Racey, Bro. McKisson, J. W. Black, Ward Tolliver, I. L. Claud, Bro. Jett, Bro. Lamb, and Bro. Womack.

In the summer of 1954 Brother John Stratton, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Yellville, held services each Sunday afternoon. Because of the condition of this building and the lack of interest, services were discontinued. A short time later cottage prayer meetings were conducted by Frank Still, Sr., who was a member of the Yellville Baptist Church. These meetings were held in the home of W. J. Patterson, Jeff and Ruby for a period of time, resulting in a few conversions. By the summer of 1956 some repairs and clean-up work had been done on the building and grounds by Frank Still, Sr., Jeff Patterson and others. Most of the financial support came from Mrs. Sallie Burleson. Sunday School and regular preaching services were started by Bro. Curtis Bryant, pastor of Yellville Baptist Church. Frank Still, Sr., continued to work in the mission until forced to retire because of failing health. This work continued with the cooperation of pastors and workers from the Yellville Baptist Church.

The pastors were: John Stratton, Curtis Bryant, Dale Barnett and Delbert Garrett. Some who assisted in the mission from 1955-1964 were: Frank Still, Sr., Clyde Still, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Jefferson and Darlene, Mrs. Opal Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Walker and Brenda, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Edgmon and Joe, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Paul McVey and Virgil Reading.

In January 1961 Brother Roy Dunn was called as the Summit Mission Pastor by Yellville Baptist Church, the mother church. In February 1964 the mission was constituted into a church. During this three-year period, the Sunday School attendance increased from 16 to a record high of 85. A Training Union was organized with the weekly attendance near 35. There had been 40 additions to the church, 24 by baptism. Extensive repairs were made on the building-partitioning of seven classrooms, hardwood floors laid in the auditorium-and the mission became a church, calling Bro. Dunn as pastor, and electing the church's first officers; namely, Mrs. Euga Gregory as clerk, Jess Morgan as Treasurer, Melvin Coleman as Sunday School Superintendent and Curtis Reed as Training Union Director.

The charter members of the new church in 1964 were: Pastor and Mrs. Roy Dunn, Mr. and Mrs. Jess Morgan, Ruby Patterson, Agnes Lukas, Emma Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. David Cagle, Mary Noe, Ruth Johnson, Bryan Rea, Irene Frost, Gwen and Brenda Wilkerson, George Lee Stice, Nova Gilliland, Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Gregory, Dwayne, Madelyn, Margaret, and Marilyn Gregory, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Reed, Pamela Reed and Curtis Reed, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Coleman, Robert, Connie, Jerry Coleman, Larry Callahan, Dorothy Shaver, Pam Moody and Azaline Carter.

Because of failing health, Bro. Dunn resigned as pastor in October 1966 and served as a supply preacher in the White River Baptist Association until August 1969 when he returned to Summit as pastor on a restricted basis and served until October 1972. During these three years the building was connected to city water, restrooms were installed, old wooden windows were replaced with aluminum storm windows and the outside of the building and the metal roof were painted.

In summarizing the history of this church, Dale Barnett made these statements in 1974: "My family and I have lived near Summit and I have worked with the church as pastor, Associational Missionary and Rural State Missionary since 1957. In studying the history I have called this summary "The church that would not die." If the old church building could talk, she could tell some interesting stories about the rumble of mule teams, the whistle of freight trains, the jingling of cow bells, and the congregation arriving on horseback, in wagons and buggies and on foot.

For brief periods, because of discouragement, the old church sadly admitted defeat and closed the doors to regular Sunday worship but a few faithful Christians always hoped and prayed until God sent a leader to ring the old church bell and again preach the Word. Evidently, the Baptist group admitted defeat in the late 1940's or 1950 after the Methodist group consolidated with the Yellville Methodist Church. The work in Summit was neglected. In 1954 John Stratton and Uncle Frank Still revived the work for a few months. In 1956 a Southern Baptist Mission was established by Yellville Baptist Church and carried on until it became a church in 1964. From 1964 to 1973 the church functioned as a cooperating Southern Baptist Church. In 1973 the group almost admitted defeat again. A number of families had moved away and the group became discouraged. They had only one Sunday School class with less than 10 in regular attendance and were $240 in debt. The church, according to the minutes, had counseled numerous times with the Associational Missionary about discontinuing the church or possibly becoming a mission from some other church.

In 1973 I was asked to direct the work at Summit. My health had improved after total disability retirement in 1969. Since I had worked for 20 years with mission-minded churches, I felt free to ask them for financial help. Funds became available and we were able to redecorate the original building, buy a new piano, song books and properly equip the Sunday School classrooms. For a total of $16,000 we have built a much-needed educational building and fellowship hail. Since 1973 sixty people have been saved and baptized into the fellowship of the Summit Church. In 1975 the annual report to the White River Baptist Association showed the following: