The Shadow
ALLEGHANY COUNTY, VA (VR) – Highland Chapel Christian Church on 1509 Summit Drive, Covington, VA will be celebrating 100 years of service at its Homecoming Celebration on Sunday, June 21.
The Homecoming Service will be at 10:00 a.m. with Dolan Baker as speaker. There will be special music by Claude & Friends following the sermon, and a covered dish dinner will follow that.
Highland Chapel was begun in May 1926 by Dr. H.D. Coffee and Pastor W. H. Leake of First Christian Church. Before the church was built, members worshipped in an old schoolhouse on Ben’s Run. The present building was constructed for $110 on land donated by David Persinger and Sam Gaines. The officers included Trustees, E. L. Reed, Charlie Smith and Davis Redman; Deacons were J. R. Tucker and Harrison Tuckers; and Elders Reed, Lincoln Wolfe and Willie Bowen. Many of our current members are related to the original founders.
Volunteers did the work and the church was dedicated on 6/25/1927 with a crowd of over 300 people present. The church name was selected by being drawn from a hat containing possible names.
Baptisms were held in Ben’s Run and Chrystley’s Run, even in the winter months.
After Pastor Leake’s departure, several other pastors ministered the church including William Jones, Arnold Guy, “Smokey” Stover, Sammie Reid, Mr. Donovan, Elmer Fritz and W. Carl Smith, another minister from First Christian Church.
In the 1950’s a basement was dug out and completed by members of the church.
A bus was run on Sundays by Roy Lockhart. At that time John Bowles served as minister for Highland Chapel and her sister churches, Cliff Dale, Antioch, and Iron Hill.
Ministers served both Highland Chapel and Cliff Dale church until the 1970’s.
Succeeding ministers included Glen Moran, Dolan Baker. Tony Reed, Ernie Johnson, Leonard Largent, Edward Hertzog, and J.B. Broughman. J.B. Broughman served as our minister for over 40 years. After his sudden death in August 2023, Highland Chapel was blessed when Bill Gilliland agreed to serve as Highland Chapel’s minister by preaching on Sunday mornings at 9:00 instead of the 11:00 time frame.
The Homecoming celebration will be followed by revival meetings Sunday, June 21, – Wednesday, June 24. The preaching services will begin at 7:00 each evening.
There will be special music by the Conner Family from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Sunday. On Monday through Wednesday nights, special music will be from 6:30 -7:00 p.m. David Crosier will perform on Monday; The First Christian Quartet will provide music on Tuesday; and Milk and Honey will provide music on Wednesday.
Everyone is welcome!! We would love for you to bring pictures and/or scrapbooks of any of Highland Chapel’s history that you may have.
