United Baptists

 Bethlehem B Split of 1907-1908

In the 1900s Bethlehem B kicked five churches out after a few years of conflict. The churches were Cove Creek, Mt. Calvary, New Mt. Olive, Sarah Church, and the Zion church. The Zion church was a founding member of Bethlehem and Cove Creek was formed 1 year later in 1872. The others were newer at the time.

In 1904 the Cove Creek church had ruled that they did not believe in secret orders (masonic lodges) and that would not receive members who partake of them and would exclude them.

In 1907 Cove Creek was dropped from the association. The other churches mentioned above agreed with them but still desired correspondence with Bethlehem B provided their beliefs would change. As was, Bethlehem B had masonic members and would not condemn them.

In 1908 the association voted to drop the “Spence faction” consisting of Mt. Calvary, New. Mt. Olive, Sarah Church and part of Zion church". Zion's membership dropped by about 50 next year.

The “Spence faction” was the name given to this side. It was named after William Spence, a prominent minister in the association. They were opposed to all “secret orders”.

In 1910 a committee was sent to investigate Zion. The minutes seem to suggest that Zion church was still in fellowship with the others and they were dropped from the association.

In 1922 we find another Bethlehem which I will call Bethlehem C. Bethlehem C seems to have been organized at least in part by the “Spence faction”. It consisted of Zion, Cove Creek, Mt. Calvary, and some other churches that were not from Bethlehem B.

In 1924 Bethlehem C sought admittance to New Salem Old Regular Baptist Association and was subsequently given as an "arm" and called themselves KYOVA Old Regular Baptist.

Lineage and “legality” were very important to these groups and still is to many. Prominent leaders in KYOVA were ministers William Spence, Christopher Cole (who both came out of and pastored several churches for many years in Bethlehem B), and Ruben Dyer.

KYOVA         

I don’t know much about KYOVA. KYOVA stands for Kentucky Ohio and West Virginia, and was a common name for the tri-state area that these churches were located in. The term is still used locally but has largely decreased.

The KYOVA association split somewhere in the middle of the 20th century and dissolved somewhere towards the end.

The Cove Creek church merged with Mt. Calvary at one point due to low membership. As of 2023 the Mt. Calvary church is located in Wayne County on Rt. 52 at the mouth of Garrets creek near the nursing home and a few miles from the town of Wayne. Pastor is Elder Bill Osbourne. The church has very few members left.

Elder Charles O Adkins was the pastor there the last years of his life. Charley O as he was known came out of Old Bethlehem and left in the 1988 split. He went with the Calvary Association and then the Mt. Sion Association in their 1996 split and at some point, left due to avoid another split.

He was “an island” for a few years as he told me before finding his way to Mt. Calvary.

Charley O was a kind and sincere man whenever I saw him. He was involved in controversies and strifes in his day, as most all the ministers were. They were raised in a culture of vying for church power, which he himself agreed to, and as I alluded to in the post about the previous split.

Charley O was the one who, along with Elder Jay Jervis collected our minutes from 1871 to the present and had them a copyist type them up. He printed books with the minutes from 1871-1945 for $20 or so a copy.

By the time I met him these were mostly out of print but he still had a few copies left. I was lucky enough to buy one off of him after which I scanned it so we could have digital copies. He was pivotal in my early knowledge of our church history.

The first time I preached at Mt. Calvary church was shortly before Charly O died. My instincts told me he wasn’t going to be around much longer, so I went and preached at his invitation. He died not too long after that.

Brother Bill Osbourne has been very open in letting Old Bethlehem preach at Mt. Calvary and he often visits Brush Creek regularly. In recent years there has been a slow but important shift to increasing fellowship and love among the churches that we once lost. I look forward to more of it in the future.

-Chris Hall