Members of Morse Mill Baptist Church will be “remembering the past, living the present and looking to their future” as they reach a milestone this year, and celebrate the church’s 125th anniversary.
The celebration will stretch over three days, Saturday through Monday, April 25-27, and will be a “Revival Under the Tent.” There will be an ice cream social on Saturday, dinner on the grounds on Sunday and evening services each night with music by Embrace. Former members and friends are invited to attend, said Diania McNulty, church secretary.
Morse Mill Baptist Church was formed Oct. 24, 1890 with nine charter members including: Joseph E. Blake, Sarah E. Blake, Isabel Davis, Nancy Graham, Alfred Williams, Mary Williams, Mary Drennen, Nancy Hanvy and J.H. Uljen, according to Becky Johnston and Lucille Curnutte’s historical research.
The first pastor was Wyatt W. Arnold, and the congregation first met one Saturday a month in the Mayfield School building on Old Orchard Lane, just off what is now Hwy. B about three quarters of a mile north of where the present church is located at 6955 Hwy. B in Dittmer.
Members first named the church Mount Hermon Baptist Church for the highest point in Israel. The church kept this name through two moves, from the school to the first church, which was built next door to the school in 1894 and then to its current location where it was moved in 1901 and beyond. The congregation did not change the name of the church to Morse Mill Baptist Church until 1937, Johnston and Curnutte said.
Morse Mill, along the Big River, was a summer resort town that served wealthy families from St. Louis in the early part of the 20th century.
“Morse Mill was a pretty big town back then,” said Curnutte of Dittmer, who first attended the church in 1951 and became a member in 1954.
Curnutte, who will be 92 this month, said members of Morse Mill Baptist Church greeted her and her husband, Bill, heartily when they moved to Cedar Hill from Chillicothe.
“When we went to Morse Mill, it was all country people. They greeted us and said they were glad to have us,” she said.
But then, so did the Baptist churches in Cedar Hill and High Ridge, but unfortunate circumstances brought them back to the church that was so close to their home, and it became a blessing to them.
“My husband broke his back and I was pregnant,” Curnutte said.
Lucille lost the little girl, who had a tousle of black hair, when she was born too early. Lucille had miscarried two other children before that. Her husband healed but finding work was difficult. Their daughter Sharon, though, was happy at the church’s Sunday School and through all life’s trials, the church helped the family get through.
“It means my life,” Curnutte said. “I don’t think we could have made it. We’ve lost children. Bill died suddenly. The church – I know they were praying. I could feel it. They didn’t leave me hanging here all by myself. I would get to feeling weak by the end of the week. Then on Sunday, they would just hug me and give me their strength.”
The church went from one Sunday a month to every other Sunday in 1944 and every Sunday in 1946. The congregation put in a basement next to the existing church in 1955, then built a new auditorium that was finished and dedicated in 1958. The former church was then razed. Adjoining ground was purchased in 1960 and the house there became a parsonage. In 1966, an educational building was constructed, according to Johnston and Curnutte.
Thirty ministers pastored Morse Mill’s congregation over the years. James Johnston, who began his ministry at Morse Mill Baptist in 1972, served the church the longest – 37 years, according to their research.
Johnston, his wife, said they are still members, although James retired in 2009.
“The church became our family. Oh, we had some problems, but overall we had a very rich ministry here,” Johnston said. “The people have been wonderful and so accepting of us and accepting of my crazy ideas.”
Johnston said she played a variety of characters during the Ladies’ Retreat over the years including Elvis, Cher and Dolly Parton.
“I used to rewrite pop songs and use Christian lyrics,” she said.
She also was forced to kiss a pig when the youth group’s Pennies for Missions campaign far exceeded its $300 goal, she said.
The acceptance of the church and the longevity of James Johnston’s service provided blessings for the whole family, Becky Johnston said.
“It used to be that they voted on a pastor every year, but once they voted to hire Jim, they didn’t vote on it again,” she said. “All our kids were able to go to the same school (Grandview) and stay there. We established roots here.”
As the church grew, there were new ministries and trials for the congregation. In 1973, Johnston started a bus ministry for the community and by 1974, there were 83 children in Children’s Church.
In 1990, the church held its Centennial celebration and began its Live Nativity program. Curnutte and her husband camped out at the church to care for the animals during the three-day event 100-year flood brought the Big River over Hwy. B, and members of the congregation fought to stop the flood with sandbags, Johnston and Curnutte said.
“B was covered and we couldn’t get to the church from Hillsboro. The water was up to the parking lot. It’s never been that high, not that I can remember,” Johnston said. “We sandbagged but groundwater still got in the basement.”
In 2002, the church began their Walk through Bethlehem Christmas program, a 40 minute, interactive walk on the church grounds where visitors follow in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph as they make their way to Bethlehem. The walk is still an annual event at Morse Mill Baptist Church today.
In 2010, a tornado hit their bus garage.
“But it really was a blessing because we built a bigger and better one,” Johnston said.
Today, the church has about 150 people in attendance each Sunday. It hosts Sunday School and morning and evening services on Sunday, and groups for youth and children as well as a prayer meeting on Wednesdays.
The Rev. John Weaver, pastor of Morse Mill Baptist Church, said the future is about continuity.
“Of course, our desire is to constantly glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and we will continue to minister in our community,” he said. “We have a food pantry. We’re having an eye glass clinic, and I’m going on a mission trip to Mexico.
“We minister alongside other churches and try to serve locally, in the state and abroad,” Weaver said. “Of course, praying is a big part of who we are, but so is giving and going.”
History books will be sold for a $5 donation at the church’s anniversary celebration.
For more information about the event, call the church at 636-285-2411.
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