South Fork Baptist Church

  A Brief History of 240+ Years of Connecting People to Jesus!

As we celebrate and thank God for the 240+ years of our church family, we look forward to the Lord’s continued work in the years ahead.  We are grateful for our ancestors in the faith who were faithful in serving Christ and looking to Him for guidance.  We never want to forget Jesus’ saving and sanctifying work in the many generations of our South Fork family.

South Fork Baptist Church is unique in the fact that we were organized as a church before Kentucky became a state.  Benjamin Lynn and James Skaggs organized South Fork Baptist Church in what is now LaRue County in the year 1782.  The church was constituted under a large oak tree where it met for the first summer.  Seven people were approved for baptism and were baptized by Elder Lynn in the South Fork of Nolin River.  These were probably some of the first persons to be baptized in Kentucky.

The times were troublesome.  Only a short time before, Indians had massacred Elder John Gerrard, pastor of the Severns Valley Church.  Armed citizens guarded the candidates for baptism at the water from Indians lurking in the surrounding forest.  Brother Lynn, pastor of South Fork for 20 years, was called the “Daniel Boone of the Kentucky Pulpit” or the “Hunting Preacher.”

In 1804, the first church building, made of logs, was erected in the back part of the graveyard overlooking South Fork Creek.  The first service in the log cabin was held July 24, 1804.  Elder Jonathon Paddock was pastor at that time.  While Abraham Lincoln’s parents, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, were attending South Fork, it split over the issue of slavery.  In the years 1811 and 1812, a great revival swept Kentucky.  South Fork felt the effects and reported 37 members.  In 1818, there was another great revival with 19 new members.  Elder Paddock resigned as pastor in 1820 and Elder John Hodgen was called.

In 1828, Elder W.M. Brown was called as pastor.  He served as pastor of South Fork Church continuously from 1829 to 1861, a period of 32 years.  It is said that he baptized over 400 converts into the church.  By the mid-1840’s, the membership had outgrown their little log church.   Royal Hankle and his wife sold the church one acre of land for $1 and they built a new church from October 1848 to March 1849. 

The Lynn Association of Baptists was constituted in the South Fork Church on November 8, 1856.  Sunday School was organized by J.L. Smith in March 1874.  In 1885, they decided to build a new brick church and bought additional ground from E. Abbe Layman.  On April 5, 1888, the new brick church was dedicated.  In January 1891, Brother W.J. Puckett was called as pastor, serving the church until January 1900.

Later on, the Lord would provide a 4th church building in 1949, a parsonage in 1959, a fellowship hall in 1991, and a 5th church building in 1999.  The Women’s Missionary Society and Baptist Young People’s Union started in 1924 and 1932 respectively, breeding a heart for evangelism and missions within the church. Evangelism and missions giving increased during World War I (1918), increasing until it was greater than the pastor’s salary (1921).  Eventually 20% of the church budget (2015) and then 25% (2017) were given to evangelistic and missional causes.  Short term mission trips began domestically in 1975, eventually spreading to at least 24 states and 8 countries (Russia, Ireland, Haiti, Iraq, Mexico, Ghana, China, and India) with over 100 total mission trips.

God has blessed us in many amazing ways since 1782.  May the Lord continue to bless our church with faithfulness to Him in His love and truth until His magnificent return, so that we might be found prepared and ready, as good and faithful servants!

Hebrews 12:1–2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (ESV)