Valley View Freewill Baptist Church History
Valley View F.W.B.
Church was organized on September 25, 2005 in Whitesburg
TN, beginning with a membership of 14. The names of the original 14
are Mitchell Elkins, Norma Elkins, Michael Elkins, Nicol Elkins,
David Elkins, Siobhan Denton, Melvin Greene, George
Welch, Louise Welch, Kathy Arterburn, Shirley Waters, Beverly
Mantooth, Josh Muncy, Christine Muncy, and later added the names of
Kara Bunch, Megan Bunch, William Aterburn, Maxine Greene, and Marvin
Greene. All coming together for the furthering of the gospel of
Jesus Christ in accordance with the Holy Bible, King James Version
1611. (See Church constitution and By-laws for our Purpose, Object,
and Church affiliation, Statement of faith, Doctrinal Statement,
Covenant, Church membership, and so forth). On September 25,
2005, the church after being
organized. adopted their constitution and
by-laws and elected officers. Rev. Mitchell Elkins was elected as
Pastor, Brother Michael Elkins was
elected as Clerk and Treasurer. The Trustees elected was Brother
Michael Elkins, Brother David Elkins, Brother Melvin Greene, Brother
George Welch, and Brother Josh Muncy who was later replaced by
Brother Marvin Greene.
We were
accepted into the Unity Conference on
October 23,
2005. Michael Elkins was the first minister to announce his calling
to preach at Valley View FWB Church. He announced his call on
September 30, 2005, while Mitchell Elkins was in a revival at Nolan,
WV. He was licensed to preach by the Unity Conference of the state
of WV Freewill Baptist on October 23, 2005 and was ordained on
October 28, 2006. On April 5, 2006, David Elkins and Marvin Greene
was set aside as the first two deacons of Valley View Freewill
Baptist Church. On February 21, 2006, we met with Citizens Bank and
made our loan of $172,000.00 to build the church. The land for the
church was provided by Brother Melvin Greene.
On February 24, 2006, we
met with the contractor, Melvin
Smucker of
Smucker’s
Builders and finalized our contract for work to
begin on April 10, 2006. Work actually began on May 2, 2006, 23
days behind schedule due to rainy weather.
The steeple of the church was donated
by Cedar Creek Baptist Church. The pews, choir seats
and piano was donated by the Parsley Bottom Freewill Baptist Church
of Lenore, WV. The organ was donated by the Peace Freewill Baptist
Church of Morristown. The wood
around the bottom of the walls was
donated by Young’s Furniture of Whitesburg. The sound system,
carpet, heating and cooling was provided by the finances of over 75
families and churches, which are listed on the plague that is
hanging in the hallway of the church.
Dennis McConnell was the first person
baptized in the church on July 9, 2006.
There was also
2 other people baptized later, which were Beverly
Mantooth and Andrew Robinson. The
church was not dry walled nor was the
baptisty plumbed. We filled it with a
water hose. While still meeting in Brother Melvin Green’s home, we
baptized 2 more people in the pond in
the front yard of his home, which were Josh
Muncy and William Arterburn.
Dennis McConnell was the first member
of the church to pass away on
Sept. 21 2006.
The church was finished on September 27, 2006. We dedicated it to the Lord on October 11, 2006 and had our first worship service on Saturday, October 14, 2006 with an attendance of over 170 people.
Our first Sunday morning, we had 45 people present and 43 present on Sunday evening.
Pastor Mitchell Elkins preached the Saturday night service and Brother Michael Elkins preached the first Sunday morning service.
The first revival held in the church was on April 16-20, 2007, with the Reverend Donnie Myers preaching. On July 28, 2007, Brother David Elkins was ordained as the first deacon of the church.
Looking back at our first year in the new church, we had 2 baptized and 11 take membership.
