History of The Springs for 137 years

Greetings from The Springs! We just celebrated our 137th Church Anniversary with a grand program organized by Mary Ann Bailey and Victoria Jackson. We were blessed with reflections given by Deacon Richard Hubbard Sr., Deacon Johnny Hubbard, Brother Leonard Goss and Mother Rebecca Hubbard. Their oral histories enlightened us on the progress of The Springs. In addition the bulletin outlined a brief history of Union Springs Baptist Church, which was built in 1875.
The first pastor of that church was Rev. B. Jones and he led that congregation for 25 to 30 years. After his death the church located on Old Mill Road was built circa 1900 with Rev. J. W. Bennett as pastor.
The Springs had several pastors over the next number of years including Rev. Lett and Rev. Michael Moore until 1993 when Rev. Bobby Hughley was appointed pastor. Under his guidance the church was remodeled. At that time a pastor’s study, secretary’s office, a paved parking lot and new aluminum siding were added to the building. Also along with a new PA system the tape ministry was started.
On October 26,1996 the ground breaking ceremony was held recognizing the beginning of construction on the Fellowship Hall. On April 6, 1997 the building was dedicated back to the Lord. A couple years later another remodeling was completed and new pews, carpet and choir chairs were placed. Two years later the present stained glass windows were installed. Also during this period it was recognized that the church cemetery dated back to 1823 and the church itself was probably the second oldest in Morgan County.
All of those events led up to one of the most important dates of the church history and that is when Robert L. Terrell Jr. received and accepted the call to become the present pastor of Union Springs Baptist Church. Because of Pastor Terrell’s method of delivering God’s Word with truth, simplicity and understanding, the Holy Spirit led him to proclaim “The Truth in Love” as the motto for the church.
In the move of God under Pastor Robert Terrell, four deacons were ordained. They included Deacon Richard Darnell Hubbard, Deacon Aaron Jackson, Deacon Orenthal J. Sanders and Deacon Derrick Worrell. In addition three individuals were licensed to preach the Gospel and had their first public sermons. They are Minister Dr. Kathy M. Hubbard, Minister Derrick Worrell and Minister Gary Marneze Walker. Other ministers on staff are Rev. Clarence Banks, Evangelist Eula Banks and Evangelist Lizzie Stokes.
There is so much more to share with you about The Springs, however space does not allow me to go on much further. I will end this portion with this paragraph taken from the program. “We praise God for the move by His Spirit in this period under Pastor Terrell’s leadership. We expect even greater things from God as we continue to walk by faith and not by sight. Our latter will be greater than the past.”
I am so excited to tell you about the Praise Service that will be held at Centennial Baptist Church Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. Last year their congregation came to The Springs and we had a Holy Ghost-filled evening filled with music, praise and fellowship. I know that you don’t want to miss this event so mark your calendars.
Don’t forget to brush up on your memorization of the Books of the Bible for Wednesday Bible Study. Also learning the story that Pastor Terrell wrote for us is a bonus. If you want to get involved we met at 7:30 p.m.
Pastor Terrell’s message to the church on Sunday gives further meaning to our expectation of receiving greater things from the Lord as mentioned previously. The text he was given came from St. Mark 4: 35-41 and these passages describes how the disciples were about to let the enemy keep them from their appointed task.
Jesus had been instruction the disciples earlier that day and “when the even was come, He (Jesus) saith unto them, ‘Let us pass over unto the other side.’” This was the last thing that Jesus said to them before He went to sleep. Yet, the next actions by the disciples show us that they seemed not to remember the last thing Jesus told them. They thought that they were going to sink when the storm came and filled the ship with water Of course there is a lesson in this for us to use today.
Now, if Jesus told them to go to the other side. He intended for them to complete the journey. The same goes for us. If God has given us directions He means for us to complete the task. Yet, we must remember that it is the job for the enemy to sink our ships.
Pastor Terrell goes on to say that the devil is the prince and power of the air.  When something is spoken the enemy tries to intercept it to stop our blessing. This is how we lose what it meant for us. In other words the enemy will send stumbling blocks in our way to keep us from receiving what the Lord has for us. As we go about the task given by God the enemy will send obstacles such as guilt or doubt to make us go under.
So what do we do? The first thing is to remember the last thing that God told us to do. Next, keep praising Him. Keep serving Him. Keep tithing. Keep working in the church. Because the disciples didn’t do the last thing that Jesus instructed. He got up and spoke to the situation. Jesus rebuked the wind and spoke to the water.
Now, you may ask why Jesus did not rebuke the water, too. He rebuked the wind because it caused the water to flood the boat. They needed the water to float the boat to the other side. An example Pastor Terrell gave for us to look at is if we have a problem at work we should not rebuke our job. We need that job. What we can do however is rebuke the demons on the job.
To sum this all up in life there will be trials that will try to set us back. To combat these hindrances we need to rebuke the source of the problem. In the mean time we need to keep praising God and doing our part. As we go through life we can be thankful in knowing that when Jesus tells us to go over we won’t go under! Glory Be To God!

Printed in the November 15, 2012 edition