Mount Zion Free Will Baptist celebrates anniversary

"It's home," said Willie Ann Puryear of Mount Zion Free Will Baptist Church near Hindsville. "It's folks we know."

Puryear, who also serves as the church clerk, joined the church in the late 1950s after she married her husband, Lawrence Puryear. "My husband wouldn't have gone anywhere else," she said. "And we live here. I'm a firm believer that we ought to go where we live."

The late Lawrence Puryear, who served the church as a deacon, grew up in the church and was the great-grandson of one of the church's original families, the Blackburns.

This Sunday, the Mount Zion congregation celebrates 150 years of continual service as the oldest Free Will Baptist church in Arkansas.

The church was founded at and remains in the Burkshed community. The first service in 1866 was held in a building that stood across the road from the present-day sanctuary.

"Some of the founding families were the Blackburns, the Burks, the Austins, the Greathouses and the Saunderses," reads a history recorded by Lawrence Puryear from his grandmother's memories. "We know that there were other families, but there is no record to show who they are. After many generations, there are still members of these families who attend the church."

For many years, Mount Zion members shared the Burkshed school building with the Missionary Baptist Church, with Mount Zion worshipping there on the first and third Sundays of the month.

But on Oct. 6, 1946, the Mount Zion church moved into its own new building south of the school. The wooden bead board placed on the walls still gleams today. However, folks' memories recall the comment of one member at the time: "I sure hope we can raise enough money to paint the inside of this building."

"That would have been a mistake," said current pastor Eldon Bagwell.

"This building became a permanent place of worship for the Mt. Zion Church," reads the history. "The labor for the building was provided by members of the church, with Brother Albert Morris as the overseer. It was one big room with a stage."

The building opened with a revival that lasted most of the month of October, with Cecil Garrison and Burl True leading. "A baptizing was held Oct. 27, 1946," the church history reads. "Twelve people were baptized and 17 united with the church. There were also 15 conversions and four renewals during the revival."

Over the years, the church grew. Four Sunday school rooms were added and opened on May 26, 1965. New siding covered the outside of the building.

A 1974 expansion added a kitchenette, a nursery and two bathrooms, and brick was applied to the building's exterior. "All renovations had been completed and the services resumed as normal on Dec. 1, 1974," according to the history.

The church is a member of the Old Mount Zion Association and has been since 1879. Bagwell served as moderator of that group for 25 years and helped start the Old Mount Zion youth ranch at Pilgrim's Rest, east of Hindsville on U.S. 412.

In fact, Bagwell grew up in the church and was ordained as a minister there on June 19, 1966. His father, the late Charles Bagwell, also heard the call to ministry at Mount Zion.

"It was always a church that backed us young people," Eldon Bagwell said. He recalled ice cream socials, eating watermelon in season and dinner on the grounds.

"Literally on the ground," he said. "Sometimes they would just spread out sheets and put the food on it. Later, we got sophisticated and put boards up on sawhorses."

The church hosted the Old Mount Zion Association for its 100th anniversary in 1941. Mount Zion also hosted the 54th annual session of the Arkansas Free Will Baptist State Association in October 1951.

The church presented what members refer to as the "Big Revival" from Sept. 9 to Oct. 7, 1962, conducted by Lester Hilton. The revival included two baptism services.

"There were 22 souls saved. Nineteen were baptized," reads the church history.

"There have been many other revivals, but the two have stood out at the church," the history continues. "The church wants to thank the Lord for all of the spiritual experiences of the revivals."

Until recently, the church never had a baptismal font. Special services for baptism were held down the road in Clifty Creek at the Gar Hole crossing. But before he died earlier this year, Lawrence Puryear made it his goal to provide the church with a portable baptismal, for which the church built a new room.

"I have used it one time, about four weeks ago," Bagwell said. "Unfortunately, we're having that person's funeral (Friday)."

Today's congregation celebrates with a communion and foot washing service each May, an annual Easter morning service with Pilgrim's Rest Free Will Baptist Church, Christmas programs, a community Thanksgiving supper and vacation Bible school, which was taught many years by the beloved "Ms. Carol (McCormick) and Ms. Jewel (Horton)."

"And I promise you, I won't talk about anything (during worship services) but what's in the Bible," Bagwell said. "It's a church that sticks with the Scriptures."

NAN Religion on 09/10/2016