Colonial Beach Baptist
Church
Westmoreland Virginia
|
 The
1892 Baptist worshipers in the newly
chartered town of Colonial Beach met
with other Christians at a joint place
of worship known as the
Union Chapel.
Sunday services were conducted in
successive weeks by the Reverends H. H.
Fones, Baptist; Latane, Episcopalian;
and James, Methodist. A joint
service was conducted on the fourth
Sunday of each month. At the
request of the Baptist residing in
Colonial Beach, M. G. F. Allensworth, a
member of Shiloh Baptist Church,
petitioned his church to organize a
Baptist mission at Colonial Beach.
When the Shiloh church failed to act on
the petition, Mr. Allensworth moved his
membership to Round Hill Baptist Church.
He repeated his petition there in
January, 1895, and his request was
granted the following month. |
 Round
Hill appointed a committee to obtain
funds for building a Baptist church.
Within four months, the committee had
purchased a lot on the corner of
Bancroft Avenue and Jefferson Street and
had sufficient funds to begin
construction. Construction was
almost completed when a windstorm
devastated the building in October,
1895. The work of rebuilding began
immediately, however; and worship
services, Sunday School, and prayer
services were held in the
new building
in early 1896. |
 In September,
1896, the members of the Baptist mission
requested permission from Round Hill to
organize as a separate church known as
First Baptist Church of Colonial Beach.
Round Hill Baptist Church appointed a
committee to prepare a Covenant and
Rules of Order for the new church, and
the Reverend Monds accepted the call to
become the first pastor of the new
church. Charter members of First Baptist
Church of Colonial Beach were G. F.
Allensworth, T. Z. McGinnis, J. S.
Newton, Susie Newton, Elizabeth Newton,
John W. Taylor, and Annie B. Walker.
In March, 1897, the trustees of Round
Hill Baptist Church conveyed the lot and
building by deed to the trustees of
First Baptist Church, completing the
establishment of the new church.
A succession of
pastors served First Baptist during its
first twenty-five years. Reverend
Monds resigned as pastor because of ill
health in October, 1897. In June,
1898, the Reverend John R. Thomas became
pastor of three churches - First
Baptist, Popes Creek Baptist, and
Potomac Baptist. Reverend Thomas
served until January of 1905 when he
accepted a call in New Jersey. The
Reverend George M. Connelly became
pastor in 1905 and served for five
years. During his pastorate the
church's first Woman's Missionary Union
was organized by Mrs. Jennie Billingsly
Heflin (Mary Nelson Smith's
grandmother), who served as president
until her death in 1916. The
Reverend Virgil M. Hobbs, who was to
serve the church intermittently for
fifteen years, was first called in 1910.
Reverend Hobbs' pastorate was
interrupted first by Reverend A. E.
Harker, who served from 1913 to 1915,
and then by Reverend Decatur Edwards,
who served from 1918 until his death in
1922. It was during Reverend
Hobbs' second pastorate, in 1917, that
Mrs. Garnett Heflin, daughter-in-law of
Jennie Heflin, reorganized the WMU.
She presided over it until 1958. |
 As
church membership grew, so did the need
for adequate space for worship services
and Bible study. During Reverend
Edwards' tenure, plans were begun for a
larger church building on the corner
of Washington Avenue and Dennison Street
(location of old Dollar General Store).
The
Reverend C. W. Stork
was called in 1924 to preach weekly
Sunday evening services, and he was
pastor when the
new church building
was dedicated in 1925. Twelve
additional Sunday School rooms were
constructed in 1929, and several other
rooms were completed in 1938. The
final dedication service for the three
phrases of church construction was
preached in January, 1939.
Existing church records indicate that
the construction costs totaled
$17,918.70. |
 In
1940, the church felt the need for a
full-time, resident pastor.
Reverend Stock was offered this position
first since he had served as evening
pastor for sixteen years. However,
he felt that his work at Shiloh Baptist
Church, where he preached Sunday
mornings, was not yet completed.
First Baptist Church of Colonial Beach
then called the
Reverend Lowell P. Barnette,
who had preached the church dedication
sermon the previous year. Reverend
Barnette served until August, 1943. |
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The church has
always been blessed with members who
supported its programs and who gave
special gifts. While Reverend J.
L. Carrick served as pastor between 1944
and 1951, the church built a parsonage
adjacent to the church. It also
received two notable memorial gifts - a
set of chimes in memory of Eugene
Gouldman, and a new pulpit and communion
furniture in memory of John R. Thomas, a
former pastor. A noteworthy
addition to the church during the tenure
of Reverend Walter C. Scott, who served
form 1952 to 1955, was a new Hammond
organ. This organ was the result
of church-wide donations. Mary
Nelson Gouldman became the first church
organist and she continued to serve in
this capacity until her retirement in
1976. Following Reverend Scott's
tenure, Reverend Barnette returned to
the pastorate of First Baptist Church of
Colonial Beach in January, 1956,
remaining as pastor until August, 1958.
It was during Rev. Barnette's tenure
that the church voted to purchase the
Bay Shore property, on July 17, 1957,
for the new home site of our church.
The purchase price was $13,000.
|
 The
Reverend Earl S. Cox was called to First
Baptist in January, 1959, and he served
continuously until his resignation in
1972. During Reverend Cox's early
ministry, Sunday School rooms were added
to the parsonage. Since the church
was continuing its growth, however, an
ambitious project to build the present
brick sanctuary and educational building
on the corner of Garfield Avenue and
Boundary Street was undertaken.
The dedication of the
new church,
built at a cost of $207,000.00 took
place in April, 1962. The
parsonage was sold in 1969 when Reverend
Cox expressed a desire to purchase his
own home. It was also during
Reverend Cox's tenure, in 1967, that the
church became Colonial Beach Baptist
Church, the name being changed to
distinguish it from the other First
Baptist Church in town.
Soon after
Reverend Cox left the ministry in 1972,
the Reverend Robert D. Higgins was
called to serve as pastor. Under
Reverend Higgins' leadership, the church
added a bulkhead on Monroe Bay to
provide additional parking space and
purchased two adjoining pieces of
property for future church expansion.
The small house known as the Haven
provided Sunday School space and
recreational activities for the church's
young people. The adjacent Dixon
property is the site of the annual
church picnic and overflow parking.
In the summer of
1975, the church took the first step
toward acquiring a second full-time
minister. Dale Wright, a student
from Southeastern Theological Baptist
Seminary, came to work as youth
minister. In early 1976, positive
steps were taken to call a full-time
minister of music and youth.
Steven C. Newman accepted this call in
June.
Under Steve
Newman's guidance, the church greatly
expanded its music ministry. He
began the graded choir program in the
autumn of 1976. In 1977, the Allen
organ was given to the church in memory
of Eleanor Heflin. |
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The first hand
bell choir in the area began at Colonial
Beach Baptist Church in February, 1980,
when a set of hand bells was donated
anonymously to the church.
The bonds for the
church were retired in January, 1981,
and inquiries began concerning
additional educational space for Sunday
School classes and fellowship
activities.
In 1984, the
senior adult hand bell choir was started
and directed by Carol Gruszka.
On June 21, 1986,
our Minister of Music, Steve Newman,
married Beverly Slough in a ceremony at
our church.
Being called to
the Carlisle Avenue Baptist Church in
Richmond, Reverend Higgins resigned,
preaching his last sermon here on
January 31, 1988. Under the able
leadership of Steven C. Newman, our
Minister of Music, the church survived
the months without a pastor.
The Reverend
Steven C. DeVane was called to be our
pastor in September, 1988. He
accepted and began his ministry here on
October 1, 1988.
On June 4, 1989,
the church hired Jennifer Dundas as our
summer youth worker.
During Reverend
DeVane's tenure a new wing was added to
our present building. A ground
breaking ceremony was held on November
12, 1989 and the new building was
dedicated on October 7, 1990.
(Interesting note: At the time this wing
was being built, the original church on
Bancroft Avenue was being torn down.) |
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On June 10, 1990,
Jeff Thompson was hired as our summer
youth worker. On May 26, 1991,
Reverend DeVane tendered his
resignation, preaching his last sermon
here on June 31, 1991. During this
time without a pastor, the Reverend Dan
Agee (from November 10, 1991 - August
16, 1992) and Dr. Robert Woodward (from
March 3, 1993 - August 15, 1993) served
as interim pastors. Steve Newman
resigned as our Minister of Music, to be
effective March 1, 1993. His last Sunday
at Colonial Beach Baptist Church was
February 21, 1993.
On July 4, 1993,
the church extended a call to the
Reverend Gregory D. McClain to become
our pastor. He accepted, beginning
his ministry here on August 22, 1993.
Anne McClain became our Minister of
Music on September 15, 1993 . On October
10, 1993, the first Church Council of
Colonial Beach Baptist Church was formed
and organized by Reverend McClain.
At the present
time our summer campground service is in
its twenty-seventh year. Our Youth
Mission Retreat is in its third year. On
these mission trips, the youth of our
church have gone to Emerald Isle, North
Carolina, and held backyard bible
schools at two campground, and have
performed on the boardwalk in the
evenings.
On January 23,
1994, Baptist Men's Day was revived and
Mr. Dale Taylor was our guest speaker.
On February 13, 1994, Baptist Women's
Day was started and Anne McClain was our
guest speaker; and on May 1, 1994,
Senior Adult Day was started and our
guest speaker was Rev. Coy Bates.
In September,
1995, our children's hand bell choir was
revived and Leah Mortimer became the
director.
In 1995, a James
Madison University Scholarship was set
up in our church in memory of Beverly
Thomas Batschelet by her husband, and
the first recipient to receive this
scholarship was Brian Kenneth Cooke in
1997.
On May 6, 1996,
our pastor, Reverend Gregory D. McClain
received his doctorate of ministry
degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.
On September 17, 1996, the senior adult
hand bell choir was revived under the
leadership of Leah Mortimer.
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We have had two
ministers to go out from our church -
David Lucas in 1942 and Elton Cooke in
1960. David Lucas preached in
North and South Carolina and is now
living in North Carolina in retirement.
Elton Cooke is now pastor of Fellowship
Baptist Church in Chester, Virginia, and
doing mission work in Africa.
Mary Elizabeth
Jones Huff went into mission work from
our church in the sixties. She
lives in Michigan, where she does social
work and preaches on an occasional basis
at her church.
The church
continues to support mission
organizations, and it reaches out to
meet crisis needs of not only its
members but also others in the
community.
As we celebrate
our hundredth birthday, we give thanks
to God for His presence and blessings
through the years. We pray that we
will always be led by his Spirit. We
know that "except the Lord build the
house, they labor in vain that build
it."
Church Historians:
Lois Gallahan Ralph Hall |
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December 2008 News Letter |
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