The Shadow
1964 GROUNDBREAKING — Ground was broken for the construction of Temple Baptist Church in Covington May 10, 1964. Participating in the ceremony were from left: Norris Quinlin, Norman Riddleberger, Robert Rock, the Rev. Guy Saunders, Dr. Thomas C. Hodges Sr., Carrie Hodges and Woody Carper. The church will celebrate its 50th anniversary Sunday. (Temple Baptist Church Photo)
1964 GROUNDBREAKING — Ground was broken for the construction of Temple Baptist Church in Covington May 10, 1964. Participating in the ceremony were from left: Norris Quinlin, Norman Riddleberger, Robert Rock, the Rev. Guy Saunders, Dr. Thomas C. Hodges Sr., Carrie Hodges and Woody Carper. The church will celebrate its 50th anniversary Sunday. (Temple Baptist Church Photo)
Rev. Bill
Hartsfield
Rev. Bill
Hartsfield
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Temple Baptist Church on Stratton Street in Covington will celebrate its 50th anniversary Sunday, Sept. 21, with a special service at 10:30 a.m.
The guest speaker during Sunday’s service will be the Rev. John E. Saunders, whose father, the Rev. J. Guy Saunders, was the first full-time pastor at Temple.
Former pastors Roy Flynn and Richard Landess will also participate in the service.
Temple Baptist Church was started on Oct. 11, 1959, when a group of 43 people met to discuss forming a new Southern Baptist fellowship in the city of Covington.
The meeting was moderated by Albert Smith Sr. and an elected executive committee that consisted of Smith, E. Curry Baker, D.L. Childs, Norman Riddleberger, C.M. Anderson, Ernest Bergundine, Elmer Baugher, Woody Carper and Frank Anderson.
Three days later, the group met for prayer and voted to rent the former Shop and Stop Store, which is now the Alleghany Motors site, at 804 S. Lexington Ave.
The congregation, led by the Rev. John Wilmer and several lay speakers, met twice weekly on Wednesdays evenings and Sunday mornings in the brick building. They became known as the “Lexington Street Baptist Group.” Music was led by Robert Rock and Dot Heironimus served as organist.
The church group continued to establish itself and held a revival, led by the Rev. Guy Saunders, one month after forming. Spring and fall revivals were held the following year, with Saunders’ son, the Rev. John E. Saunders, as evangelist.
The congregation organized April 30, 1961, as a Baptist church. On May 9, 1961, the church voted to change its name to Temple Baptist Church, at the suggestion of Calvin Anderson.
A constitutional service was held June 11, 1961, with eight local pastors in attendance. The Rev. William Lee Walters, a retired Baptist minister, served as the church’s temporary pastor in the summer and fall of 1961. He was followed by the Rev. John Wilmer, who served as interim pastor during that time, and again from 1968-1969, when the church was between pastors.
The Rev. Guy Saunders became the church’s first official pastor Nov. 26, 1961.
Saunders led the congregation in long-range planning that included the construction of a building in three phases.
Dr. Thomas C. Hodges Sr., who was a Covington jeweler and optometrist, and his wife, Carrie, donated five acres of land for the church on top of a hill overlooking the eastern boundary of Covington.
Hodges’ son, Dr. Gary C. Hodges, said Holiday Inn Corp. had offered his late father $43,000 for the land. However, he declined the offer, saying he wanted to see a church constructed on the property.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held May 10, 1964, and construction of the church quickly followed. The original building cost $85,000 and the remainder of a $90,000 loan the church had obtained was used for furnishings.
The first sermon in the new sanctuary was preached by Saunders Feb. 21, 1965, and a dedication ceremony was held May 9.
The church continued to grow while Saunders served as pastor. He retired in 1968 and was succeeded by the Rev. H. Van Wheeler.
Wheeler served as pastor from July 1969 to June 1978.
In 1979, the Flynn was called as pastor. He came to Temple Baptist in September 1979 and served until October 1983. Under his leadership, the church adopted its constitution in 1983.
The church’s fourth full-time pastor was Landess, who served from April 1984 until March 1990.
The current pastor, the Rev. Bill Hartsfield, has served at Temple Baptist since February 1991.
Hartsfield, a native of West Virginia, and his wife, Honor, who is a special education teacher for Alleghany County Public Schools, came to Temple Baptist from East End Baptist Church in Roanoke, where he had served as pastor from 1986 to 1991.
Hartsfield had earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pastoral studies and counseling from Liberty Baptist College (Liberty University) in Lynchburg in 1981.
He went on to receive a master’s degree in religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
The church has experienced growth under Hartsfield’s leadership.
Temple Baptist now has a total membership of 534. According to the Virginia Baptist Annual, published by the Baptist General Association of Virginia, worship attendance at Temple Baptist averaged 230 in 2013 and Sunday school attedance, 240.
Several major building projects have been completed during Hartsfield’s tenture, with the most noteworthy being a new educational wing. The educational wing was completed in 1998. Members held a note-burning celebration in November of 2002 after completing payment of the $305,000 addition in four years.
A new playground was completed in the summer of 2000, and a new foyer was built and dedicated to the women of the church in 2002.
The kitchen was totally renovated and a sound system was installed in the sanctuary in 2003.
In addition, general maintenance and upkeep projects such as new water and sewer lines, light fixtures, furniture, a baptistry, renovation of existing restrooms and water fountains, paving and extending the parking lot were completed in time for the church’s 40th anniversary celebration in 2004.
LCD projectors and screens were installed in the sanctuary 2012.
One of the most noticeable renovations occurred when inefficient crank-style windows in the sanctuary were replaced with stained- glass windows in 2011. A majority of the needed funds were donated, with five windows dedicated to the memory of deceased church members: Monty Hazelwood, Doug and Andy Mattox, Ruby Rose, Marvin Wright and the Crizer and Snyder families.
The church’s oldest outreach ministry, the live crucifixion scene, began at Easter in 1981, and has been held each year since then. However, the church is heavily involved in community outreach and mission work on a year-round basis.
Locally, Temple Baptist is involved in:
— The Christians Overcoming Problems with the Economy (COPE) food pantry.
— Men on Mission, which meets monthly for fellowship at Boys Home of Virginia and carries out small construction projects, such as handicap ramps, to benefit local residents.
— The Salvation Army, with members ringing bells during the Red Kettle campaign at Christmas.
— God’s Covering, a Christian organization that provides nutritious snacks to school-age children.
— The Cancer Treatment Center at LewisGale Hospital-Alleghany, by providing food, drinks and snacks to patients undergoing treatment.
— Assistance to homebound residents, by providing emergency dialing machines called HelpLink.
— Mission Week, coordinated each June by local Presbyterian churches.
On the state level, members of Temple Baptist participate in an annual in-state summer mission trip. This year, the church carried out mission work in Richmond.
Overall, 20 percent of the church’s budget is designated to support mission work and ministries on the local regional, state, national and international levels.
Ministry to children and youth has also become a major focus Temple Baptist in recent years.
In the summer of 2003, members began holding children’s church for ages 6-12 each Sunday morning. A full-time youth minister, Brandon Lomasney, was hired in January 2010.
Todd Lynn currently serves as the church’s youth minister. He came to the Temple Baptist in June 2013 after serving on the staff at Journey Church Roanoke.
Lynn lived in Covington for eight years before his family relocated to the Lynchburg area in 1997. Lynn graduated from Liberty University with a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies. He in now pursuing a master of divinity degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
Following Sunday’s 50th anniversary worship service, a fellowship luncheon will be held. After the meal, current and former members of the church will share in a time of reflecting on the church’s past and future. There will also be special music.
“The church on the hill overlooking the eastern entrance to Covington has experienced much in its 50-year history. Members continue to pray and work for further growth in membership and expansion in the building to accommodate existing and future ministries of the church,” Hartsfield said.
