LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH
FOUNDED FEBRUARY 1, 1989
- BRO. OTIS THAMES -- PASTOR
- BRO. JOEY CARTER -- SONG LEADER
- JUDY THAMES/LIZ CARTER -- PIANIST
- 27 ORIGINAL MEMBERS
- FIRST MEETING PLACE - HOME OF RAY & LINDA SIMMONS IN BARNETT CROSSROADS, ALABAMA
1989-2019
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HISTORY OF LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH
BY LINDA SMITH circa 2000
Liberty Baptist Church began on February 1, 1989. Our first meeting was in the home of Ray & Linda Simmons of Barnett Crossroads. Bro. Otis Thames was with us and stayed with us to become our Pastor. We then began meeting at different homes for about 2 weeks and then had a building donated for us to have church in. There was thirteen(13) adults and fourteen (14) children. At most services there were about 18-20 for each service.
Mr. & Mrs. John Morton of Barnett Crossroads had a large barn. He was remodeling and let us use it for a place to have church. It had no heat, so someone bought a kerosene heater and we all brought lawn chairs and quilts from home and sat around the heater and sang and listened to Otis preach. Liz Carter and Judy Thames took turns playing the keyboard (we had no piano) that sat on a stool, we didn't have a table. Mr. John even built us some benches for the kids to sit on. Joey Carter built Otis a small pulpit to lay his Bible on when he preached, we had to put a screw in it in the middle bottom to keep his Bible from sliding off.
The barn did not have a bathroom. But Mr. John put one in after we started having church there. He later got a couch to sit against one wall. The upstairs was not finished yet, we used it for Sunday School rooms. As the weather got warmer we brought fans from home to cool with.
Bro. Otis drove about 40 miles one way from his home to lead us in Worship three times a week with no pay for a while. With three men and the rest women and children our church started off slow financially. Presley Street Baptist Church gave us a percentage of their 1st Sunday's offering for 1 year, and some chairs.
In April of 1989 we had a revival in the barn with Bro. Richard Daniels, Bro. Steve Luker, and Bro. John Hammonds preaching on different nights, the barn was full. Kim & Terry Kelly led the music that week.
With our first Easter in the barn, we had a egg hunt for the kids and a large lunch.
During that time Bro. Otis applied to the Alabama Baptist for help to start our church. Bro. Otis preached for a long time with no salary. The Alabama Baptist Association started sending us a $100.00 a month seed money to pay Otis with, that continued for one (1) year, during that time we were able to put some money with the seed money for his salary.
Alabama Baptist also gave us $3,000 to purchase some land with. Thanks to Mr. Ray Bolton, (who was then president at United Bank), we were able to obtain a loan to purchase 3 acres in Pineview, AL. In July of 1989 we received a triple wide chapel from the association. We stayed in that for 2 years. In the meantime, we found out that Mexia Methodist Church was for sale. We purchased it, and had it moved to Pineview and setup on the land we had bought. We then started renovation on the building. We dedicated the church as Liberty Baptist Church on April 14, 1991. McCullough Baptist Church gave us a Communion set, Bro. Bob Norman of the Atmore Baptist Temple donated new song books for the church, and Little Escambia Baptist Church let us use their baptismal pool when needed.
Bro. Otis Thames's last Sunday as Pastor at Liberty was June 5, 1994.
In November of 1994, Bro. Tony Richburg was ordained and became Pastor of Liberty. Today, our church continues to grow, the members now total 107 on roll.
We have added a large Fellowship Hall building and Unity Baptist Church of Atmore just recently gave us their old building, we moved it and made a Children's Church, 6 Sunday School rooms and 2 large bathrooms out of the building. God is still blessing our church family at Liberty.
