Historical Events

  240+ Years of Connecting People to Jesus!

Here are some of the historical events of God’s work at South Fork baptist church

South Fork Baptist Church

Significant Historical Events - Longer Timeline

HISTORY SURROUNDING SOUTH FORK

1754-1763 - French & Indian War

1772-1786 - Revolutionary War

1773 - Boston Tea Party

1774 - First Kentucky Settlement

1776 - United States of America formed, Declaration of Independence signed

1782 - Benjamin Lynn and James Skaggs constitute No-Lynn Church (now South Fork Baptist)

1782-1783 - First baptisms in Kentucky at South Fork - 7 persons

1787 - U.S. Constitution approved

1787 - South Fork joins South Kentucky Association of Separate Baptists at Tates Creek

1789 - George Washington inaugurated as President of United States

1789 - Bill of Rights takes effect

1792 - Kentucky becomes 15th state in Union

1793 - Cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney

1797 - South Fork becomes member of Green River Association

1798 - Kentucky and Virginia pass resolutions regarding state's rights

1800 - Washington, DC designated as Capitol of United States

1803 - Louisiana Purchase

1803 - Lewis & Clark expedition begins in Kentucky

1804 - South Fork regularly records its monthly business in its first remaining record book (1804-1840)

1804 - South Fork erects first church building - log structure overlooking creek at cemetery (first meeting July 24)

1804 - South Fork becomes charter member of Russell’s Creek Association

1804-1806 - Lewis & Clark Expedition

1811-1812 - Great Revival swept Kentucky

1811 - Little Mount Church planted by South Fork by division over slavery, including Abraham Lincoln’s family

1812 - Jesse Friend (great uncle to Abraham Lincoln) listed as member of South Fork

1812 - Battle of 1812 with Great Britain

1812 - First missionaries sent from America to another country

1813 - South Fork member of Tate's Creek Association (formed by split from South KY Association)

1819 - Nolynn Association of Separate Baptists constituted at Little Mount

1826 - First photograph taken

1833-1834 - Obed Hussy and Cyrus McCormick design similar reaping machines

1836 - Battle at the Alamo

1837 - Telegraph invented by the Samuel Morse

1837 - General Association of Baptists in Kentucky was organized (now Kentucky Baptist Convention)

1838 - First Baptist Church planted by South Fork

1843 - LaRue County formed from Hardin County (March 1)

1845 - Southern Baptist Convention organized

1846-1848 - Mexican American War

1847 - John Deere invents the first all-steel plow

1849 - South Fork constructs 2nd church building on 1 acre bought for $1.00, membership at 193

1851 - I. M. Singer invents sewing machine

1856 - South Fork increases pastor's salary to $50 per year

1856 - Lynn Association constituted at South Fork

1856 - Mt. Moriah Church planted by South Fork

1858 - The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is founded

1859 - Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (evolution) presented

1861-1865 - Civil War

1862-1863 - No services recorded at South Fork due to fighting in Kentucky

1863 - Emancipation Proclamation signed

1865 - President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated

1867 - South Fork lists membership of 305

1874 - Sabbath School first organized at South Fork (now “Sunday School”)

1876 - Telephone patented by Alexander Graham Bell

1878 - Buffalo Baptist constituted by South Fork

1879 - Electric lightbulb invented by Thomas Edison

1885 - South Fork constructs brick church in 3 months (3rd church building)

1886 - South Fork ordains its first Deacons (rather than being appointed)

1887 - Lottie Moon encourages contributions for international missions (now an annual Christmas offering)

1891 - South Fork raises pastor salary to $150 annually (held services on 2 Sundays per month instead of 1 Sunday per month)

1892 - Pulpit Bible purchased

1893 - Annie Armstrong writes letters for donations for American missions (now an annual Easter offering)

1898 - Spanish-American War

1899 - Oneida Baptist Institute - founded by James Anderson Burns in Eastern Kentucky

1903 - First Model-A car manufactured by Ford

1903 - Wright Brothers conduct first airplane flight

1903 - WMU (Women's Mission Union) organized in Kentucky

1907 - Pastor's salary at South Fork raised to $430 annually

1910 - South Fork meets only 1 Sunday per month again

1912 - South Fork used goats to clean brush from graveyard

1913 - First Annual offering for Kentucky State Missions (now Eliza Broadus offering)

1914 - 1919 - First World War starts in Europe

1914 - Oct. 1914-Feb. 1915 no church services at South Fork due to rain

1918 - Sept. 1918-Feb. 1919, no services conducted at South Fork due to influenza (Spanish Flu pandemic)

1919 - Nov. 1919-March 1920, no services conducted at South Fork due to influenza (Spanish Flu) and rain

1920-1933 - Prohibition (alcohol becomes illegal)

1920 - 19th Amendment passed - Women have the right to vote

1920 - First commercial radio on the air

1924 - Women’s Missionary Society (WMS) organized

1927 - Television invented

1927 - Charles Lindberg completes first non-stop flight across Atlantic Ocean

1928 - Penicillin discovered as an antibiotic

1929 - Stock Market crash - beginning of Depression Era

1932 - Baptist Young People's Union (BYPU) organized at South Fork

1933 - South Fork celebrates 150th anniversary in September

1935 - Social Security begins

1939-1945 World War II

1941 - December 7 - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor - U.S. enters war

1944 - First (Vacation) Bible School at South Fork

1945-1991 - Cold War

1949 - Lincoln Memorial Church planted by South Fork

1949 - South Fork builds larger brick sanctuary (4th church building)

1949 - Billy Graham Crusades begin

1950-1953 - Korean War

1951 - Dedication and note burning (debt paid off) on fourth sanctuary (April 29th)

1954 - Training Union organized on Sunday nights

1955 - Polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk

1955 - First McDonald's restaurant opens

1957 - Sputnik satellite launched by Russians

1958 - Computers in use by general public

1959 - Pastorium (home/parsonage) for pastor’s family is built

1961-1975 - Vietnam War

1962 - Dedication and note burning for pastorium (September 30th)

1962 - First American in space

1962 - Prayer in schools found unconstitutional

1962 - Cuban missile crisis

1963 - President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Texas

1965 - Sunday School rooms added to fourth church building (March 14th)

1966 - Southern Baptist Disaster relief formed

1967 - Disaster Relief's first response to emergency - Hurricane Beulah

1968 - Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinated

1969 - U.S. has first man land on moon

1970 - (April 12th) Air conditioning, steeple, and front porch approved for fourth building, steeple installed 7/30/1971

1972 - South Fork celebrates 190th anniversary with homecoming

1974 - President Richard Nixon resigns

1977 - South Fork has first mission trip to Tellico, Tennessee

1982 - 200th anniversary celebrated at South Fork

1991 - Fellowship hall dedicated

1991 - Operation Desert Storm

1999 - Construction begins on current (5th) church building

2000 - Hispanic Ministry begins at South Fork

2001 - South Fork begins worship in current (5th) church building

2001 - 9/11 attack on World Trade Center and Pentagon

2001 - Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan

2003 - Operation Iraqi Freedom

2005 - Hurricane Katrina hits U.S.

2005 - Parking lot paved around South Fork

2006 - South Fork sponsors construction of first church in Ghana, West Africa

2007 - South Fork celebrates 225th anniversary with time capsule in cemetery (coffin next to stone marker by the original location in the rear of the cemetery)

2012 - South Fork celebrates 230th anniversary with digitized records

2015 - 5th Church Dedicated and Note Burned (January 4, commemorated with step from 1885 building as a bench with a plaque), evangelism and missions giving increased to 20%, installs 1885 church building’s front step as a memorial bench & plaque

2016 - Building Fund Begins to Save for New Building by 2040 (to replace 1959 parsonage, 1949 sanctuary, and fellowship hall)

2016 - Online streaming begins with goal of helping a mission team still be a “part” of our service from afar, begins digital missions efforts through multiple websites and social media channels

2017 - South Fork begins annual Bible reading focuses, initiates daily text messaging

2017 - Church Evangelism & Missions Giving Increases to 25% of General Offerings

2020-2022 - Outdoor and “Drive In” Church added as a safe way to Worship in person during COVID-19 Pandemic (plaque and digital time capsule emplaced on covered drive)

2022 - South Fork celebrates 240th anniversary with compiled church records in a book and online, 100+ mission trips to 9 countries & 24 states to date

Dedication of 1999 Sanctuary on January 4, 2015

(read responsively)

A similar dedication was read at the 1951 dedication of the 1949 Church Building (“Old Sanctuary”)

Leader: To the glory of God our Father, from whom comes every good and perfect gift.  To the honor of Jesus Christ, the Son, our Lord and Savior.  To the praise of the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, source of light and life;

Congregation: We dedicate this House of Worship.

Leader: In grateful remembrance of all who have loved and served this church; with hearts tender for those who have moved to their heavenly home;

Congregation: We dedicate this Sanctuary.

Leader: For worship in prayer and song; For the preaching of the Word; For the salvation of the lost; For the observance of the ordinances;

Congregation: We dedicate this Building.

Leader: For comfort to those who mourn; For strength to those who are weak; For help to those who are tempted;

Congregation: We dedicate this House.

Leader: For protection of the family; For the purity and guidance of childhood; For the promotion of brotherhood;

Congregation: We dedicate this Sanctuary.

Leader: For promoting the Gospel; For the Making of Disciples; For the suppression of evil in all forms; For the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth;

Congregation: We dedicate this building.

Unison: We, the people of this church and congregation, compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, do now dedicate ourselves afresh to the worship of God in this place, and, by the grace of God, will make this house a place from which will shine forth the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through this community and unto the ends of the earth.

Unison: Now unto Him who is able to exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think, unto Him be the glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.