DAM B – One hundred and sixty-nine years ago, the United States was under the leadership of Franklin Pierce and Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on a Virginia tobacco farm. It was also the time when a church was established in Town Bluff, a church which continues to thrive to this day.
Fairview Baptist Church will celebrate its 169th anniversary this Sunday, May 18, and while there is nothing major planned in terms of a celebration, the church has a rich history and represents a center for its members, both current and those who grew up in the church, and maybe have moved away to other places.
Fairview, which was actually organized on July 8, 1856, went by several names before its current one. It was also called the Town Bluff Baptist Church of Christ and the Fellowship Baptist Church of Christ, and in 1884, when the church was moved into the school building in the Fairview Community, it was renamed Fairview Baptist Church of Christ.
A missionary from Alabama, Elder Reuben E. Brown, was the first to organize a meeting of the church, and afterward, he was joined by Elder Wm. W. Maund, of Jasper, to help form the church, which began with eight charter members.
The church’s current pastor, Bro. Scott Loar, who has pastored since 2015, said that the church holds a special place in his heart. It is the first church he has pastored, and in his first year, he said he baptized 10 people.
“I count it a blessing and an honor to be on the list of pastors who have served Fairview,” he said.
In ministering to the community, Loar pointed out the church’s service to the youth.
“I have enjoyed each of our Vacation Bible Schools, seeing every child come and learn about Jesus,” he said. He also commented on the good food the congregation regularly enjoys during fellowship opportunities. “Who would not love a church that eats as well and regularly as we do?”
Loar’s wife, Jill, said that in her family’s time since joining Fairview, there have been a number of life-changing events, and through it all, the church family has been there.
“I just know and appreciate the way this family has cared for and prayed for my family and me since God called Scott to pastor here at Fairview Baptist Church,” she said.
For Sallie Walker Odom, who serves as the church secretary, Fairview “is home, and it always has been.”
Odom pointed to a photograph of a school group taken in 1900 in front of the old one-room schoolhouse, and showed her grandfather and grandmother, John T. Walker and Inez Tucker.
“The church had such an impression on us all,” she said. “There are four couples who got married around the same time as we did, and are still married. We all say it has to do with the upbringing we had at Fairview.”
Odom and her husband Dan, who serves as a deacon, travelled for about 20 years while he served in the Coast Guard, but the goal, Sallie said, “was always to come back home,” and that is just what they eventually did.
Sallie said she had invited Dan to church while they were dating in high school, as it was the only place her daddy would let her go. The two were later married, in 1972, in the church, by Bro. John Spanhanks.
Dan said that although he did not grow up in the community, and moved there as a teenager, from Buna, everyone “took me in like a stray and treated me like everyone else.”
“We all had a great time and even learned a few things about life from ‘Momma Liz’,” he said.
“Momma Liz” was Liz Seamans, who Sallie called “an amazing lady,” and taught Sunday School. She was many of the young people’s “second mama,” and a friend and mentor as well as teacher, Sallie said.
With both the “it’s a small world” factor in mind and the fact that so many lifelong friendships have started within Fairview Baptist Church, when Sallie and Dan were kids, they rode the bus to Woodville High School driven by one Sergio Ramos.
Sergio and his wife Susan both served at Fairview for many years, with Sergio as music director for 12 years.
“All the members at Fairview Baptist Church positively impacted our lives, and Sergio and I will always be grateful that God guided us to Fairview,” Susan said.
In March of 1969, the present-day sanctuary for the church was dedicated, and since then, the church building as its grounds have continued to grow and be improved upon.
Many names and faces have changed throughout the years at Fairview Baptist Church, but it is the spirit of God that has not changed.
This Sunday, although Sallie said “nothing major” was on deck for the church, a beloved former pastor, Bro. Jimmy Owens, will preach, and there will be fellowship. Also coming up is the church’s VBS, which is scheduled for June 16-19, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. each day, Monday through Thursday. The church also hosts a winter Bible School.
