OUR HISTORY

Bethel Missionary Baptist Church was officially organized around 1875, although there is reason to believe the members began meeting as a faith community as early as the 1860s. Richard Crawford, Jim “Buck” Randolph, Will Wade, Marshall Bell, Sam Crawford, and Jeff Johns made the first efforts to organize the church in the Walter Hill community and the first known pastor was Neal Crutcher. The first known building was located on the property of Richard Crawford; it operated as both a school (The Crawford School) and a church. The land was later donated to the church to build a worship edifice, with the school and a church cemetery nearby.

Bethel has a rich history of education in the Walter Hill community. The land donation allowed for the county to build Bethel Elementary School in 1900; a one-teacher school for black children. After a fire damaged the building in 1953, classes were held in the church building until 1955 when Bethel Elementary merged with Hickory Grove School. While the decision from Brown v. Board of Education ruling school segregation unconstitutional came down in 1954, it wasn’t until 1966 that Walter Hill School was integrated and the Bethel School was closed. The church purchased the Bethel School building and used it as a location for Vacation Bible School.

Bethel has gone through several building projects after the original edifice was constructed, the first of which was completed in 1958 under the leadership of our third pastor, Rev. Roosevelt Evans. The building was built for $2000, and later became known as the Rev. R.L. Evans Christian Center after the construction of a new sanctuary in 1993 under the leadership of our sixth Pastor Freddie B. Carpenter, Jr. This structure still serves as the foundation of our current worship space. A tornado hit the Rev. R. L. Evans Christian Center in 2003 doing irreparable damage to the classrooms, kitchen, and fellowship hall. It was demolished in 2004 and replaced by three portables as classrooms for Sunday School, Bible Study, and other meetings.

In April of 2005, new construction began to expand and upgrade the building. While this took place, Bethel worshipped in the cafeteria of the Walter Hill Elementary School, as well as the Smithfork District Tabernacle. Construction was completed and the new edifice was dedicated in October of 2008, providing Bethel with an expanded sanctuary, expanded office space, permanent classrooms, and a new kitchen and fellowship hall. God has been faithful!

Known Pastors

  • Rev. Neal Crutcher – 1877 – 1926

  • Rev. Tom Allen Brown – 1926 – 1928*

  • Rev. Charles Evans – 1928 – 1952

  • Rev. Roosevelt Evans – 1953 – 1980

  • Rev. Wallace Evans – 1980 – 1982

  • Rev. Gerald Dickson – 1983 – 1987

  • Rev. Freddie B. Carpenter, Jr. – 1988 – 2018

  • Rev. T. Devan Franklin, III – 2019 – Present

*Rev. Brown was a member of Bethel and served as Interim Pastor. During this time, services were only held on the third Sunday of the month. Rev. Albert Wade and Rev. Steve Alsup later shared the preaching duties on the first Sunday of each month.