WS Chronicle

Church anniversaries, homecomings and revivals are all big occasions for any congregation.  For First Waughtown Baptist Church, they threw conventional thinking out the window and held all three in the same week.

First Waughtown held its church anniversary, homecoming and revival from Aug. 4 -8.  The five-day event was kicked off with a service at a replica setup of the church, reminiscent of how the church looked in the early 1900s.  The congregation then marched to the current location of the church to finish the service.

On Sunday, the church held a special worship service with special guest Rev. David Thompson.  Thompson is a retired pastor from Badin, N.C., and he delivered the message during the service.  The fellowship dinner followed, along with a special tribute to First Waughtown’s senior pastor, Dr. Dennis W. Bishop.  Bishop has been at First Waughtown for 35 years and has been in the ministry for a total of 50 years.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were the annual revival days that the church calls their “Spiritual Encounter.”  First Waughtown hosted a guest pastor and their congregations for each evening service.

Pastor Konnie G. Robinson of Union Chapel Baptist Church presented the message on Monday, Apostle Gloria Samuels of Great Commission Church delivered on Tuesday and Pastor Johnny York of Praise Assembly closed the revival sermons on Wednesday.

Dr. Bishop says he enjoyed all aspects of the entire week of events.  He says the service held at the replica building on Saturday gave him a sense of history he has never felt before.

“Saturday took me so far back by trying to reflect, feel, see and take note of what it must have been like when those few people came together to lay the foundation for this church,” he said.  “This is just a time of Thanksgiving for all of the matriarchs and patriarchs and former pastors for the foundation they have laid for this church to still be thriving 118 years later.”

Bishop says the church celebrated its 100th anniversary in the year 2000.  The church also had a deacon who was celebrating his 100 birthday the same year.  That deacon stated that the church at that time was actually more like 125 years old but since the church could not find any records of the church before 1900 they decided to stick with the current timeline of the church.

Throughout the history of First Waughtown, the congregation has only seen a total of five senior pastors.  Bishop stated when he thinks back at the time he first arrived at the church. It amazed him how the church has grown.

“It doesn’t seem like it has been 35 years, it really doesn’t,” he said.  “I am thankful because I have had the opportunity and the privilege to see a senior group that paved the way for he next generation that came behind them and that generation paved the way for this generation now and this generation is paving the way for the next one.”

“It’s a very exciting experience for me because I have seen the church transition in the technological age.  I have seen the church transition to be much different from what it was 10 years ago, but still see it thriving, so to me that is a blessing.”