By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
FISHVILLE (LBM) – Lloyd Whitman remembers the day he preached a revival at Friendship Baptist Church and the pews were filled with a congregation passionate for spiritual renewal among them and hungering for a spiritual awakening within the community.
The church eventually dwindled to just a handful of members and closed its doors in June 2019.
However, Whitman did not forget how God moved during the revival service in 1982. Consequently, he began to pray, asking God to return the church to its former strength of service to the Kingdom — and it appears his pleas have been heard.
Whitman stood before a worship center filled with 143 people, Feb. 2, for the first service of the congregation as the New Friendship Baptist Church, a cooperative effort by the First Baptist Church in Dry Prong, the primary sponsor, and other churches in the Big Creek Baptist Association.
“I had 100 bulletins printed up because I figured we would only need that many, but God showed up by bringing in even more than I could have imagined to the point where we ran out of bulletins,” Whitman told the Baptist Message. “When I looked across the church and remembered how I had stood there many years ago, it made me very joyful.
“Knowing that people who left are coming back to this church makes me very excited about this church’s future,” he added. “My prayer is that God will use us to be obedient and win people for Christ as we build a foundation based on Him.”
BEGINNING AGAIN
Friendship Baptist Church held its first worship service on Jan. 29, 1900, and drew people from throughout the Fishville community for nearly 120 years. But attendance waned over the years until the congregation voted in January 2018 to operate under a new name, Anchor Baptist Church. That effort was short-lived and the congregation voted on June 2, 2019, to hand over the property to the Big Creek Association.
A committee formed and prayed about God’s direction for how they would use the property.
Associational Mission Strategist Daryl Stagg was joined by Whitman, Kevin Simmons, pastor of Wayside Baptist Church in Pollock, and Trey Lewis, pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church in Dry Prong and they concluded that the Holy Spirit was leading them to replant the church.
“When Anchor Baptist Church gave the church to us, my heart became to be heavy for that community,” said Whitman, who was interim pastor at First Baptist Church in Montgomery at the time. “I didn’t know what I was going to do but I knew we wanted to be a church. That community needs a church presence and through the process of my prayers I know God placed me there. When this came open, my heart became heavy to be the pastor.”
Stagg added, “I am excited to see God working to replant this church. It has been a team effort. Pastors and lay leaders in our associational churches are working together to help struggling churches.”
Drew Gardner, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dry Prong, said his congregation is humbled for the opportunity to join with Whitman and New Friendship Baptist Church in the effort to reach the community with the Gospel. First Baptist supports New Friendship financially, and they send members on a rotating basis to serve as ushers, greeters and other roles on Sunday mornings.
“For the future, our hearts and hands are open toward whatever God might lead us to do,” Gardner said. “The call to follow Jesus is a call to open-ended surrender, and we want to make our partnership with New Friendship an extension of that call. So as needs and opportunities arise there, we want to be ready and willing to meet them.”
Looking ahead, Whitman said the future is bright for New Friendship Baptist. They will continue to hold just one Sunday morning worship service until after Easter, when they will add a Sunday evening service and Wednesday night prayer meeting.
“I believe as we develop this church into a good solid foundation of growth and getting people to come,” Whitman said. “I see a church in the future that will be filling the sanctuary on a regular basis and will get out in the community to see people saved. I see a church that will function the way a church is supposed to function. We want to build on Jesus.”
