Mount Pisgah Baptist Church of Christ

The location of the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church of Christ has been determined, based on some new-found information. It was on the south side of today's High Dry Road, about halfway out the ridge between the McLemore Rock and the "old John Renner farm." All that remains of the building are a few cornerstones from the foundation. Services were still being held at the church as late as 1921.

The church's exact organization date is unknown. The first reference to it is found in the minutes of the Rockcastle Baptist Association in September 1872. There is also a mention of the church in the Line Creek Baptist Church records of October 1872: "The church agreed to send her official aid to Mt. Pisgah at their next meeting for the purpose of ordaining deacons." It may be that 1872 was Mt. Pisgah's first year of existence.

The church disappears from the Rockcastle Baptist Association records in 1919 and no further mention of the church can be found in those records. In 1919 membership was listed as 106, so the church appears to have been robust at that time.

In 1886 the church had the second-largest membership (135) of any in the Rockcastle Baptist Association (Mt. Vernon had the largest). Their numbers declined in the 1890s then began to rise again in the early 1900s, staying above 100 every year from 1906 until 1919, with the exception of 1915 when membership was 96.

Following is a list of known members of the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church (maiden names of known females are in parentheses). This list comes primarily from the messenger and obituary information in the Association records.


Barnes, James
Bullock, James D.
Bullock, William
Colyer, Pleasant D.
Debord, James
Debord, Nancy
Debord, William
Dixon, Eli
Dyer, Eldridge
Evans, J.
Francisco, Jasper
Gentry, Elizabeth
Graves, Wade
Grider, E.
Grider, John
Grider, Lucy (Renner)
Hayes, James C.
Kinley, William
Kirby, Harrison Carpenter
Kirby, Martha (Rowe?)
Lovins, Vica
McClure, Anna (Pitman)
McKinney, John Franklin
McKinney, Milton Green
McKinney, William Logan
McFerron, John A.
McFerron, Neal
McFerron, Parnie Lee
 Payne, W.E.
Pitman, David
Prator, B.F.
Prewitt, Joseph
Prewitt, P.
Price, John B.
Price, William D.
Renner, Angeline (Price)
Renner, Jacob Henry
Renner, John (s/Granderson)
Renner, Joseph
Renner, William
Roberts, S.
Rowe, Armilda (McClure)
Rowe, John Thomas
Rowe, John W.
Rowe, Joseph Thomas
Rowe, Solomon
Rowe, William Harvey
Sears, Nancy (Bethurum)
Sexton, Harve P.
Tackett, Robert
Tackett, Sarah
Woodall, C.C.
Woodall, J.
Woodall, Joel W.
Woodall, R.
Woodall, Sarah