Bethel Baptist Church	Alabama Fellowship Hall

Like a number of other churches in the county, we have not been able to find any record of the early beginning of Bethel. However, we know enough to place the organizing in the first part of 1850. In the historical table in Associational minutes, the date is given as 1847. This may be correct, but we have not been able to find any record to prove this date. In the old recrods of Mt. Olive East, a minute records the fact that my father, W. H. JOYNER, was called to become pastor of Bethel Church in the year 1876 and asked Mt. Olive East Church to ordain him. The writer read an old minute fo the Bethlehem Association of 1880, and it revealed the fact that G. A. RILEY went as a messenger from the Bethel Church. The writer, who was born in the year 1877, and was brought up in the adjoining community, was pastor of the church for four years, and can give the following facts in regard to the church:

Bethel Church building was located near the "Riley Grave Yard" until around 1924, when it was moved to the present site on the Greenville and McKenzie Highway, ten miles from McKenzie. The active members of the church through the years were the RILEYs, GRIFFINs, JOHNSONs, HAILs, BOANs, GILMOREs, and WOODS. In the lst twenty-five years, to this number have been added the HARWELLs, WHITEHEADs, NALLs and DAVISes.

Pastors as I recall them, were W. H. JOYNER, C. C. LOYD, J. A. HOLLY, A. C. SHELL, J. W. JOYNER, A. T. SIMS, C. E. MORMAN, C. W. STITT, W. A. GAUGH, J. A. FORTNER, Guy MARLOW, and the present pastor is L. E. PITTS.

Church is small in membership but one of the most active of the Associaiton in its cooperation of carrying out the commission of our Lord to carry the gospel message to a lost world.

Because of this long, useful life and his loyalty to Bethel Church, and having served faithfully as treasurer of the Butler County Association for twenty-one years, we are making special mention of G. A. RILEY. We also make special mention of W. M. HARWELL, from this church, who served as treasurer of the Association for thirteen years.

[written by the late Rev. J. W. Joyner, about 1957]

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Page updated 27 April 2005.