Historical
Highlights of Hampton Baptist Church
1.
Origins of the Baptist Witness on the Lower
Peninsula (1777-1827)
2. Growth
and Development in Old
Hampton (1828-1850)
3. Years of
Testing and Renewal (1850-1883)
4. Moving
into the Twentieth Century (1884-1961)
5. Toward a
New Millennium (1962-2001)
Although
Hampton Baptist Church's origins in the Eighteenth Century predate modern
denominational organizations, the church began to evolve in the
mid-Nineteenth Century within the Southern Baptist tradition.
In the latter decades of the Twentieth Century, the church found
itself increasingly in harmony with the moderate expression of that
tradition, as exemplified by those concerned Baptists who finally came
together in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
The church's outlook can be characterized as that of an inclusive
congregation, seeking to proclaim its faith in a spirit of tolerance and
understanding, while remaining faithful to historic Baptist principles of
individual liberty.
1. Origins of the Baptist Witness on the
Lower Peninsula (1777-1827)
Baptist
mission work on the Virginia peninsula in the years immediately prior to
the American Revolution was begun by Elijah Baker of Lunenburg
County, who was instrumental in founding Grafton Baptist Church in York
County in 1777. In the
following decade, Grafton's pastor, John Wright, together with Dr.
Thomas Chrisman, an ordained minister who had been a Continental Army
surgeon during the Revolutionary War, undertook mission work in Elizabeth
City County, which included Hampton.
Sometime
in the year 1791, as President George Washington was beginning his second
term in office, the congregation in Hampton was constituted as Elizabeth
City Baptist Church. The
new church was accepted the
following year into the Dover Baptist Association and by1795 had become
known as Hampton Baptist Church.
In the beginning, there was no designated pastor and the church
prospered little until 1805, when a revival led by Richard Hurst resulted
in some 200 baptisms.. That stimulus led directly to the
installation in 1806 of Elder Hurst as the first pastor chosen by the
congregation. However, the war with Britain in 1812 severely disrupted
life in Hampton, and the death of Elder Hurst in 1813 left the church
without regular pastoral
leadership for the next fifteen years.
Nevertheless, the flickering light of Baptist witness was kept
alive in Hampton during those years by the decisive work of a layman, Charles
Moody Vaughan, assisted later by Dr. Richard G. Banks.
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2. Growth and
Development in Old Hampton
(1828-1850)
A
new era in the life of the Hampton Baptist Church began in 1828 when John
Goodall, an alumnus of William and Mary College, veteran of the
War of 1812, and York County schoolmaster, was called as pastor.
Beginning with 185 members, both "white and colored," and
meeting for services in a ramshackle wooden shanty on the southeast corner
of King and Lincoln streets, the church prospered. Soon afterward, the congregation acquired the site on which
the present sanctuary is located and, by 1831, had completed a new frame
building, some thirty by fifty feet in size.
The
church continued to grow and a Sunday School was organized in 1834,
reporting forty "scholars" by 1839.
Under the leadership of Virginia Baptist Seminary alumnus Joseph
Walker, who became pastor in 1840, the church reported in 1841 the
addition of 101 candidates to membership by baptism, bringing the total
membership to 358. When Elder Walker resigned in 1844, total
membership exceeded 500, divided between some 300 colored- and 220
white-members. The new
pastor, Jacob Richardson Scott, a graduate of Brown
University and Newton Theological Seminary, came to Hampton in 1844 from
Market Street Baptist Church in Petersburg.
In
July 1845, the same year in which the Southern Baptist Convention was
organized in Augusta, Georgia, Hampton Baptist Church laid the cornerstone
for a new meeting house, having outgrown the 1831 frame building, which
was torn down. However,
before the new brick building was completed in 1847, Pastor Scott left to
become chaplain of the University of Virginia.
The church then entered into a period of transition, in which an
"interim pastor," Eli Ball, provided leadership of the
congregation until Joseph
R. Garlick, a graduate of Columbia College (Washington, D.C.), was
called as pastor, later that same year.
By 1849, Sunday School attendance stood at 146, but was declining.
Then, an extended revival resulted in 247 baptisms in the span of
one year. By mid-century,
Hampton Baptist Church was fully involved in the Virginia-wide
denominational life, frequently hosting annual meetings of Baptist
agencies, including the annual gathering of the statewide General
Association.
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3. Years of Testing and Renewal (1850-1883)
During
the decade prior to the Civil War, the church changed pastors five times,
beginning with the resignation of Mr.
Garlick in 1852. His
successor, David Shaver, formerly head of the mission society that
eventually evolved into the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention, led the congregation for three years before resigning to
become publisher of Virginia Baptists' news organ,
the Religious Herald. The
next pastor was Abraham Burwell Brown, the church's first "Dr.
Brown," who had been a
classmate at the University of Virginia of the later Baptist theologian,
John A. Broadus. Dr. A. B.
Brown was himself a renowned scholar, known for his facility with
languages, and also for the assistance he gave to German immigrants
stranded in Hampton during the severe winter of 1856-57.
His departure in 1859 took him to the pastorate of the
Charlottesville church and simultaneous appointment as chaplain of his
alma mater.
During
the brief tenure of South Carolinian J. Taylor Zealy as pastor,
1859-60, Sunday School work flourished in Hampton, with enrollment rising
to 200 by 1860. Late in that
last year of peace, George F. Adams began the first of two tenures
as pastor at the Hampton church. In
spring 1861, one month before the outbreak of the Civil War, the church
roll stood at 1,136 members, divided between 949 blacks and 187 whites.
This marked the high point of the membership in the church until
well into the 20th Century.
Shortly
after the outbreak of the Civil War, destruction and devastation overtook
the lower Peninsula. In
summer 1861, Confederate troops burned the City of Hampton rather than
allowing it to fall into the hands of Union forces.
Included in the destruction was the loss of Hampton Baptist
Church's meeting place and its records.
A witness reported:
The
church was burning like a furnace and the flames were belching out of its
steeple like an inferno… it seemed as if hell itself had broken lose and
all its fiery demons were pouring oil on the flames.
In
the aftermath of this disaster, Pastor George Adams became a chaplain in
the Confederate Army, but continued to shepherd the remnant of his flock
until 1862, when Union forces arrested him as a spy.
With their pastor imprisoned on the Rip Raps in Hampton Roads, and
the congregation scattered by the forces of conflict, the church reached a
new low point in its life. President
Lincoln emancipated the slaves in 1863.
By 1865 the large, black contingent in the membership withdrew to
form a separate church, the first congregation in Hampton composed
exclusively of "colored" Baptists.
That historic black church came to be known eventually as First
Baptist Church.
With
the end of the war in 1865, Hampton Baptist Church began a long struggle
to recover from the ravages of the years of conflict. Rallying in 1866
around the leadership of a Maryland native, Elder Daniel Cummings, the
church laid the groundwork for rebuilding its meeting hall.
At the September 1866 meeting of the Dover Association, the church
reported only 120 members. In
October the church once again
called Dr. Adams to the pastorate, a post he resumed early in 1867. Initially, worship services were held in the Elizabeth City
County Courthouse, but after three years, and many difficulties in raising
funds, a new church building was completed, located to the rear and north
of the present sanctuary. This
frame building, smaller and less imposing than the pre-war meeting place,
but equipped with a built-in baptistery, opened on March 4, 1869.
George Adams continued on as pastor until 1876, when ill health
forced his resignation. He
was followed by F. R. Boston, under whose leadership the church
recognized by 1880 the need for acquiring new and more adequate physical
facilities. Another building
program was launched, resulting in a new brick sanctuary, dedicated on
June 24, 1883. Late that same
year, Pastor Boston resigned, but his legacy remains.
The sanctuary built in his time remains in use today.
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4. Moving into the Twentieth Century
(1884-1961)
In
April 1884, Hampton Baptist Church called Dr. A. B. Woodfin to the
pastorate. Periodic revivals
and an active Sunday School program caused the church to flourish in his
time and by the end of the 19th Century, there were 400 members on the
church roll, with a Sunday School enrollment of 302.
The missionary outreach of the church led to establishment of
worship centers throughout the county by the beginning of the 20th
Century.
In
1903, Dr. Woodfin resigned to move across the state as pastor in
Waynesboro. He was succeeded in 1904 by Dr. E. Pendelton Jones, who
was known as the "silver tongued orator." After eight and a half years in Hampton, Dr. Jones left for a
pastorate in South Carolina. He
was followed by Dr. James T. McGlothlin, who led the church for
three years before being succeeded in 1916 by Dr. William P. Stuart of
Elizabethtown, Kentucky. In
1917, the year the country entered World War I, the church authorized
construction of a new brick Sunday School building.
The war, forced postponement of that initiative, however, until
after the armistice in 1918. The
structure was finally completed in 1920.
Four years later, in 1924, Dr. Stuart resigned and returned to his
former pastorate in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Having
lost Dr. Woodfin to the Waynesboro Church in 1903, Hampton Baptist Church,
looked to Waynesboro for their next pastor.
Early in 1925, John H. Garber, a native of Waynesboro, was
in the final semester of his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary in
Philadelphia, when the Hampton Church called him to become its
pastor. Having
graduated earlier from of the University of Richmond, followed by
two years at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville
before transferring to Crozer, the new pastor assumed the leadership of
the 417-member congregation, while commuting for the rest of the spring
term from Philadelphia each week until graduation.
Under
Mr. Garber's leadership, the membership grew steadily, the debt on the
Sunday School building was paid off in 1938, and a new expansion program
was launched and completed by March 1941.
Overcoming the adversity of a serious fire right afterwards, the
church repaired the damage in time to celebrate the 150th
anniversary of its founding in October 1941, scarcely two months before
American entry into World War II. In the midst of the war, Dorothy Lee Moorland, later Mrs.
Francis Jones, joined the church staff in 1943 as director of religious
education, serving later as church secretary, and administrative
assistant. Further additions
to the Sunday School building were completed in 1952 and 1961.
Meanwhile, in 1948, Pastor Garber's alma mater in Richmond, awarded
him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, citing him as the
"beloved pastor of an historic church and respected leader of his
denomination,"
Beginning
in summer 1953, Chester Brown, a University of Richmond graduate and
member of Union Church in Gloucester County, served under Dr. Garber for
three successive summers as an intern, during his tenure in Wake Forest NC
as a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
In 1955 Mr. Brown began postgraduate studies in Scotland, at the
University of Edinburgh. Mr.
Eugene M. Johnson of Prairieville, Louisiana was called as associate
pastor in June 1956, but resigned after a year and a half to resume his
own graduate studies. Mr.
Brown was then called to be associate pastor, beginning on January 1,
1958. Almost four year later,
Dr. Garber announced in October 1961 his upcoming retirement.
His long tenure of 37 years as pastor of Hampton Baptist Church
came to an end on December 31, 1961.
Meanwhile, the 1.200-member church had extended a call for Mr.
Brown to succeed Dr. Garber.
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5. Toward a New
Millennium (1962-2001)
On
January 1, 1962, Chester L. Brown became pastor, and Dr. Garber was named
pastor emeritus. Within a few months, William G. Hurt, a graduate of
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary joined the staff as minister of
religious education. The church marked its 175th anniversary in 1966
and, two year later, James Ward became minister of music, adding the
duties of organist as well in 1969. Gary Lewis followed in that dual
role in 1973, and had the opportunity to help design the church's
new tracker pipe organ. During these years, the pastor was
active in several positions of denominational leadership. At
the same time, he earned the D.Min. degree from Union Theological
Seminary in Richmond, and was honored, like his predecessor, by the
University of Richmond, with the D.D. degree.
The
church's commitment to its youth was underscored in 1983 by the creation
of a full time minister to youth position, filled initially by Terry
Laufer. In 1985, Jay Russ, a recent graduate of Southeastern Baptist
Theological Seminary, succeeded him. In 1987, Mr. Hurt's role
was expanded to include service as minister of administration, and Dr. Ann
Rosser became associate pastor. In 1988, the church adopted a
mission statement, which provided a framework for allocation
of the resources to accomplish its ministries.
Dorothy
Lee Jones retired in 1990, after 47 years of devoted service to the
church. She was succeeded as administrative assistant by Sandra
Bundick. The church then celebrated its bicentennial in 1991,
adopting the theme: Founded on faith, committed to serve. In
commemoration of the church's bicentennial, Dr. Brown wrote the hymn,
God of every generation, set to music by Mr. Lewis. Its
message was gratitude to God for the opportunity the church had to be His
people in this place for such a long time.
Upon
Dr. Rosser's retirement in 1992, Mr. Russ assumed many of her duties.
When Mr. Lewis resigned in 1994, after 21 years on the staff, he was
succeeded by Dr. Jean Thiel, who served until 1999. Mr. Russ was
named associate pastor in 1999, but continued to have responsibility for
the youth ministry. Earlier that year, a violent windstorm had taken
down the church's Nineteenth Century steeple and worship services
had to be moved to the fellowship hall until December, while repairs to
the sanctuary were underway. Eventually, the steeple was
restored to its original form in the year 2000. That pivotal year
also marked the beginning of Thomas Matthews' service as minister of
music/organist, continuing the strong music program characteristic
of Hampton Baptist Church. On January 1, 2001, as a new
millennium of the Christian era began, Dr. Brown completed 39 years
as pastor, the longest such tenure in the church's history. Shortly
afterward the church entered a period of transition and
reassessment, as his ministry in Hampton drew toward a scheduled close
with a mid-year retirement.
As
Hampton Baptist Church looked back on its rich heritage, in the tenth year
of its third century of service, it also looked forward to the future with
confidence that the past was but prologue, with its greatest days still
ahead.
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Founded
on faith, committed to serve.
