A CHURCH IS BORN
By Ruth Plemons
One of my mother’s ancestors, Richard G. Spurling Sr., was born in Tennessee in 1810. He married Nancy Norman in 1832. He owned grist mills and lumber mills. The Spurlings were farmers and millwrights by trade. Richard was also a Baptist minister, and performed the marriage for John James Plemons and Mary Adeline Irons on January 1, 1939. They were friends and attended the same little Baptist Church. These Plemons were my husband Clifford’s Great Grandparents, though he didn’t know any of his history. The research came after he died.
Richard was a charter member of Clear Creek Baptist Church in 1852. The church had twenty-four members and met on the fourth Saturday of each month. There was dissatisfaction with church creeds and by the summer of 1886, a small band met in a rough log building, erected by Spurling and others about two miles from the Tennessee/North Carolina line to form a new union. Without realizing how momentous was the occasion, the pastor invited the listeners to join together in Christian Union. Seven persons accepted the invitation. Besides Richard, John James and Mary Adeline Plemons; their daughter Margaret Plemons Lauftis (Loftis); John Paul and Ester Melinda Thompson Plemons, son and daughter-in-law of John James and Mary Adeline; Barbara, wife of Richard Junior; and Adeline Lauftis joined. The family thinks that Melinda was Cherokee. They are Clifford’s Grandparents and are buried at Christianburg Baptist Church Cemetery.
When a second call was given, Richard Jr. stepped forward. This was a blessing because he also was a licensed minister, and was to become the heart and soul of the new church for more than three decades. Richard Sr. was the first pastor, but he was old and ill, and did not live to see the results of his prayers, tears, and labors of love. He ordained his son as pastor on September 26, 1886. He died soon afterward at the age of 74.
Richard G. Spurling walked and preached in the mountains alone, amid ridicule and persecution, while building grist mills for a living. The church struggled until 1896 when a revival came to a group in Cherokee county, North Carolina, led by three laymen who did not preach, but led the group. Richard G. and the members of the Christian Union moved to North Carolina and the two groups became one. Because Richard G. traveled so much, he chose William F. Bryant to serve as leader of the services. The two men became partners and friends for the rest of their lives. In 1902, the name was changed to Holiness Church. In 1903, A. J. Tomlinson joined the church and was chosen pastor. In 1906, the First Assembly met in North Carolina. Leaders then moved to Bradley County, Tennessee, and, in 1907, the name was changed to Church of God.
The church now numbers over two million members worldwide, and has headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee. It would have been inspiring knowledge to nine people in Monroe County, Tennessee if they could have known on August 19, 1886, that they were playing so important a part in so vast a movement.
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Article written by Ruth Plemons, Madisonville, Tennessee from research by Pauletter Spurling Morrison, Rocky Face, Georgia.