Missionary Baptist Claims
Regarding Big Creek Church
History of the Franklin Association, 1880, p. 224, by W. P. Throgmorton.
BIG CREEK."This church is located in Elizabethtown, Hardin county, and is now known as The First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown." It was organized, if we have been correctly informed, about the year 1839. Exact dates cannot be given as we have not been able to reach the old records. It came into the Franklin Association in the year 1846, with a membership of 33."
Our Reply
History of the First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, 1978, by Ronald L. Nelson.
Page 5: "The reader will understand then that Muddy River [Association] in its early days was not anti-mission as some have erroneously named her. It was only after 1836 that Muddy River came under the iron grip of Calvinism. It will also be noted that 1836 is the last year Big Creek is officially recorded as a church in Muddy River Association. Big Creek had lost its founding pastor and Charles H. Clay was not as tolerant of United Baptists was was Stilley. Clay demanded the church be a strict Hardshell church. He was so staunch that it almost destroyed what Stilley had worked so hard to build up. By the year 1836, the church was reduced to only eleven members. Charles Clay forsook the small struggling church and joined old Grand Pier in Pope County. Remember this was in 1836. It became very popular to denounce the missionary program. Somehow these people forgot about John 3:16 or Matthew 28. Their doctrine became dry as dust and before long, their churches were as empty as their sermons. But Big Creek Baptist Church would not die. The Primitive Baptists declared it dead, but they also said that of Ten Mile Baptist Church, Hamilton County, when they became affiliated with Franklin Association. Big Creek did not die! The spark of the gospel that Stilley had preached lingered on. They would not give up."Nelson's book, page 48, also gives an account of the plaque installed on the First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, in 1961, as follows: "On Sunday, April 30, 1961, the Illinois Baptist Historical Society sent its representatives to Elizabethtown to place an official historical plaque on the First Baptist Church building. It reads: 'The Elizabethtown First Baptist Church, Constituted July 19, 1806, as the Big Creek Baptist Church, is the Oldest Baptist Church in Illinois with Continuous Services. The site of the Big Creek Church is two miles west of this location. Elders Stephen Stilley and William Jones led in constituting the Big Creek Church.' The men involved in that service were: Dr. Noel Taylor, then Executive Secretary of Illinois Baptists; Rev. Kenneth Hall, then Chairman of the Baptist Historical Society; Charles Holland, then missionary of Antioch Baptist Association; Arthur Farmer, then Chairman of the State Baptist Board; and L. H. Moore, then editor of the "Illinois Baptist." Much credit should be given to these men, and special mention shuld be given to Rev. Charles Holland. It was Bro. Holland's efforts that brought Elizabethtown First Baptist Church before the Historical Committee. He was convinced that Big Creek was the same church as Elizabethtown First. He kept on relating old stories that elderly members had shared with him, all of them claiming that Big Creek had moved to town back in 1877, and then only changed the name."
Our Reply
Harvestime on the Prairie, 1996, by Myron D. Dillow, pages 96-101.
BIG CREEK (1806). Two prominent pioneer Baptist preachers, William Jones, and Stephen Stilley, missionary to the Indians, met according to appointment with a group of settlers in the Big Creek settlement, Randolph County, Indiana, territory (now Hardin County, Illinois), to organize a Baptist Church!Our Reply
Article in the "Illinois Baptist," an organ of the "Illinois Baptist State Association" (a Missionary Baptist organization), dated July 19, 2006.
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ill. | Over 10,400 weekly services. Worshipping in a cave after the church building was burned down by Indians. Worshipping in homes and in school buildings. These are all part of the history of the First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown, which celebrated its two hundredth anniversary on July 9 with all-day services.Evangelist Randall Helms from the Atlanta, Ga. area opened a three-day revival with the Sunday morning service. During the service, Brother Paul Patton was presented with a plaque and a Bible in recognition of his 86 years of faithful attendance and participation. He started attending the church as a six year-old boy and was baptized and joined the church in 1991. He is now 92 years old. In addition, a new communion table was presented to the church in memory of Frank Tucker, who served as a deacon from 1954 until his death last year.
A barbecue lunch was served at noon. In the afternoon, Veritas Records recording artist, Eric Horner, gave a concert. Jack Shelby brought greetings on behalf of IBSA and preached a message on "The Faithfulness of God", and Dr. John Rogers, Director of Missions for Antioch and Big Saline Baptist Associations brought greetings and a brief message, encouraging the church to remain true to the task.
First Baptist has a rich history. William Stilley and William Jones founded the church on July 19, 1806, twelve years before Illinois achieved statehood. Stilley was a charter member of the Old Salem Baptist Church in Livingston County, Ky. Through his travels in Illinois, he became aware of the absence of Baptist work in southern Illinois. He and Jones felt led by the Holy Spirit to begin work in the small community on Big Creek.
They first met in homes and later built the first church building across the road from the mouth of Griffith Cave, which offered some protection from Indian attacks. Later, when the Indians burned the church building, they met in the cave. The larger cavern could hold a "good-sized congregation" according to early records.
In 1877, while Dr. John Blanchard was the pastor, the church built the present building with bricks from the local kiln. This building underwent extensive repairs during the 1990's and is still in use by the congregation. A two-story educational building and fellowship hall was also added.
The First Baptist Church of Elizabethtown is believed to be the oldest Baptist church in Illinois holding continuous services from their founding until today. Ed Lafferty is the current pastor, and Bob Schutt is Chairman of the Deacons.
