Church History
| Church History |
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Early in the 20th century, a group of the residents in the Mintz Community felt a calling to establish a missionary Baptist church. As early as 1911, a small group was meeting for Sunday School and worship in the Mintz Graded School Building. Later on September 27, 1914, an organizing council, composed of the Revs. J.B. Newton, J.E. Dupree and H.J. Duncan met with the group. A covenant was read by the Rev. Newton and adopted by the group. Thus, a new church was formed and the name” Mints Baptist Church” given to it. The early church records indicated that the name was spelled Mints rather than the current name spelling of Mintz The following are names of the charter members of Mints Baptist Church:
At the meeting the Rev. J.B. Newton was called to be the church’s first pastor and C.B. Horne, Eli Cooper and Simeon Johnson were elected deacons. The records also show that delegates were appointed to attend the New South River Baptist Association. Soon after the church was organized, Mr. Frank Simmons donated an acre of land to the church-the land on which the church building now stands. The church members donated building materials and the members did the actual building. The first building, which is the present sanctuary, was completed between 1916-1918. Until 1948, all Sunday School classes and worship services were held in this one room. From these humble beginnings evolved a rich heritage and many noteworthy moments including the delivery of Dr. Charles Howard of Campbell College’s first sermon, the ordination of Dr. Chevis Horne in 1938, and the ministry of the Rev. Paula Clayton. In 1948, two classrooms were built on the south side to the sanctuary and two were completed on the north side in 1951. There is another interesting fact from this time period; the church was founded under the name of “Mints” between 1948-1950. No church records exist during this time frame to shed light on this spelling change. The first time the new spelling was used was in July 1950. In 1956, improvements were made in the sanctuary and a front structure (consisting of a porch, passageway, two small rooms and a steeple) was built with W.C. Bass as contractor. New furniture for the sanctuary was purchased in 1957 and in 1961, new stained glass windows were added. In 1969, with Bill Smith as contractor, the educational plant consisting of four classrooms, a fellowship hall, kitchen and bathrooms was constructed. A loan of $11,000 was secured to undertake this project, the first major expansion since the church’s founding 55 years earlier. In 1981, a number of projects were completed: central air conditioning for the sanctuary, an outdoor brick bulletin board and central air for the fellowship area. The Rev. Paula Clayton was called to pastor Mintz in 1981. She is reported to be the first woman to serve as senior pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in our state. In 1981, Treva Johnson was ordained to serve as a deacon, and this marked the first time a woman was to serve on the deacon board of Mintz Church. Lay leadership has been instrumental in the church ministry, operations, and general functioning over the years. With this board began a more formalized process of deacon ministry at special capacity at Mintz. At this time the church facilities were valued at $75,000. The church membership was 73, of which 44 were resident members. During the 1980’s, Mintz church developed in a number of ways. One way was physically. The church structure was developed and improved. Vinyl siding was added to the original church building. This was a long-suffering project that took the hiring of two different contractors before the job was finished and for a while we were known as “the pink church”. The project added value to the church property and improved not only its appearance but also its energy efficiency. Also in 1982, insulation was added over the sanctuary and as well as storm windows on the side Sunday School rooms off the main sanctuary. While the church developed physically during this time, it also developed in terms of programming. In 1981, two new Sunday school classes were formed and a deacon family ministry was introduced at Mintz. Youth programming expanded and as we look around our church today we see the fruits of that programming, as many of the young people of the 1980’s are now our church leaders. The first-ever Girls in Action recognition program was held in February of 1983, one year after the program was started. Later in 1983, an Acteens program was started. During this time, Mintz not only developed its internal programs but its community outreach as well. In 1982, a group of church members along with its pastor became volunteers in the Roseboro “Meals on Wheels” program. The Mintz volunteers joined with two other area churches, Andrew’s Chapel and Carr’s Chapel, in the first of what would become an annual community, inter-denominational Thanksgiving service. As we moved into the 1990’s, we continued that development as we made physical changes to our sanctuary in terms of molding, carpeting and pew cushions as well as expanding the foyer area into the beautiful area that we have today as you enter our sanctuary. In our 90-year history, God has called many to serve Mintz Baptist Church in many different capacities. In terms of pastoral leadership, those who served in the early church establishment were the original pastor, The Rev. J.B. Newton, and others including the Revs. Ron Kelly, Dobson, Burnson, Joel Johnson, W.H. Barns, John Oliver Tew, G.B. Ellington and C.B. Horne.
On October 1, 1994, Dr. John McBride and Sarah assumed pastoral responsibilities at Mintz Church with a vision for the Future. On December of that year, the church membership approved a capital improvement project that included a baptistery, choir loft and front porch addition. The project finally got underway July 9, 1995, when the church membership voted to accept the bid of Mozelle Daniels, This opened the sanctuary for future growth of our musical program and exercised our faith concerning future baptisms. Even though the project was under contract, it still required some on-hands labor from the membership in areas such as cleanup. A part of the new vision was to increase the effectiveness of the leadership within the body. One was to begin training future deacons, so a junior deacon program was started. The fruits of the program has increased the size of the deacon body from 7 to 10 deacons in order to better minister to the families of the church. On January 29, 1997, the church membership approved recommendations from the vision committee to construct a family center. This meant that some old landmarks would have to be removed, such as a beautiful tree. The commitment of the church was that the men would build this new center rather than contracting it out. So work began as the tree was cut down, sidewalks rearranged, and the land was made ready for the future building site. On October 29, 1997, the church approved once again the recommendations of the vision committee to start the construction of a family center in November. The body gathered on the building site to break ground and dedicate the project to the Lord and its construction started, with a lot of hard work and a lot of hours, all supported by prayer. This project was presented as a two-phase project. One, to build the new family center and secondly, renovate the old educational building that was once used as a fellowship hall. First, was the digging and pouring of the foundation. The foundation walls had to be built and filled with sand. The plumbing had to be roughed in, after which the floor was ready to be poured. Secondly, came building the firewall between the old education building and new family center. Thirdly, the walls were constructed, followed by the trusses and the roof. This enabled us to see our new family center take on a visual shape. Fourthly, it was time build a front porch to match our sanctuary entrance, add the side porch and put vinyl on the outside to match the rest of the buildings. Now is the time to move out attention and efforts to the inside of the building. We have all the electrical work to be done under the supervision of Dearl West, plumbing finalized under the direction of Johnny Matthews and the Pastor, hanging the sheetrock by the men of the church, the delicate finish and trim work under the direction of Harold Cameron, laying the tile by the Pastor and painting under the direction of Sarah McBride and the ladies crew. Dearl West and Johnny Matthews hang the chandelier. Johnny and the Pastor complete partitions in the two restrooms. Lights, bathroom vanities, kitchen cabinets, water fountain and carpet are being put into place. The building is now taking on beauty and life, which is exciting to all as we anticipate its completion. Now is the time to start the cleanup process, internally and externally. The women take on the inside and the men take on the outside. The old driveway was closed in order to expand the yard in front of the new life center and change the direction of where we would begin to park cars. Renovation of the old fellowship hall was begun in the early part of 2000 and was completed prior to Homecoming of that year. Once again, the men took over the job of construction. There were walls to be built, as well as walls to be removed. The old kitchen was to be completely removed. Sheetrock to hand, electrical work to do, finish work to be completed and then, once again, it was time for the women to paint. The new foyer is now handicapped accessible. There is a toddler room which is where small children and Mission Friends meet. This was once the old kitchen. There is now a new nursery, which has been utilized in an overflowing manner the past few years relating to a good water problem we seem to have. What was once part of an open area that was used for socials and eating festivities is now a large room, which is used for the Sunday School, a choir room and can serve as an overflow room by way of TV when the sanctuary is full. On May 29, 2002, the church membership approved pouring of a concrete slab to serve as a foundation for a new cook room and a covered drive-thru. It was not until January, 29, 2003, that the construction got underway. At that time, the men once again took on the new building project. It was time once again for the men to pull out the hammers and saws and begin to build the walls and roof and close in the new project. Finally, it was time to clean up. The vinyl people came and the project was complete. The fruit of our labor is now seen as we gather today in our present facilities. With the big projects completed, we still have one obstacle to tackle. The church sign has an interesting background in that it has gone through several changes in our church history. The problem, which was to be tackled, now was the sign, which blocked the flow of traffic when trying to leave the church parking lot. The sign problem had been discussed over a long period of time. It was decided that it needed to be relocated toward Old Mintz Road, in front of the sanctuary. So, once again, the men took of a new challenge and the sign was successfully moved. Near the end of our church year 2003, the church decided it was time to add to the staff of the church. Dr. McBride and Sarah have been our faithful leaders over these 10 years. It was time to provide additional professional help to minister to the youth of our church. The new 2004 budget was passed which included a new line item for a youth pastor. A committee was appointed and started to work in search of God’s man as youth leader. Within the year, Rev. Lansdown, his wife Kassy, and daughter Sophia became part of our fellowship by the leadership of God. Brandon immediately began to organize the youth into programs that would meet their individual needs. This work still continues with Brian Jackson, our new youth minister who was called to lead our youth in July of 2005. Our youth were divided into older youth known as Consumed and younger youth known as Team Kids. The youth program consists of many different kinds of activities, such as fellowship time, fun time, study time, summer camp, youth retreats, musical praise and worship, visitation and joint outings with other church groups. The church has recently purchased a van to be used by our youth, as well as other groups within the church. During the 2003 church year, the deacons discussed our parking problems and appointed two committees to come up with solutions. A study suggested that cement parking bumpers should be placed in designated areas on the church property to meet our parking needs. The second solution was that a fence would be placed around the outer border in front of the church to prevent parking on the church lawn. The deacons undertook this project and it was completed on October 30th of this year. The completion of all these projects represents a lot of dedication, hard work, long hours, and an answer to our prayers. The church and property are beautiful. This is where we are and where we have come from over these many years. TO GOD BE THE GLORY. |