Weakley County Baptist Association
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
A Family of Churches
 

 

Corinth Baptist Church
327 Corinth Rd.
Sharon, TN  38255
(731) 456-2364

 
Pastor: Michael Brown  

     Corinth Baptist Church was organized after the Civil War in the late 1860’s, making it one of the oldest churches in this area.  Graves Fonville and H. C. Roberts donated approximately two acres of land for the building of the church in March 1869.  Some of the charter members of Corinth Baptist were Redding Witherington, Mrs. Bede Fonville, Mr. Charles Owen, Bro. Bill Allen, and Mr. M. E. Bruce.

            During the summers from 1880 to 1900, members built brush arbors and placed straw on the ground for revival meetings.  They would hold the Sunday School from spring to late fall and close out for the winter.  One of the first preachers to serve the church was Rev. Holliburton.  Some of the preachers following him were L. H. Pettit, 1870,  W. B. Clifton, 1892-1898, and W. B. Russell, 1899-1904.

            Information gathered from reading old minutes stated that in the early 1900’s there was much discussion about the need for a church in town.  It is not known whether any members of the Corinth Church went to help organized the First Baptist Church in Sharon.  There was an older member of the Corinth Church, who died a few years ago, that remembered when his daddy took him and some boys with his mules and wagon and helped haul logs for the building in town.

            The first Corinth Church building stood on the same spot from 1869 to 1905.  The second church building was hit by a tornado two different times.  The second time around, 1944, the tornado completely destroyed the church building.  The present building was build at that time.

            On August 1, 1884, land for the Corinth Cemetery was purchased from S. T. Witherington and his wife for $25.00.  It is said that the first person buried in the cemetery was the child of Mr. Monroe, a workman helping to build the Illinois-Central Railroad through Sharon.  While preaching in a revival meeting at the Corinth Church in the early 1930’s, Oscar Phillips collapsed in the pulpit and was DOA at the hospital.  Rev. Phillips, his son, and a grand son are buried at the Corinth Cemetery.

            Additional pastors who have served the Corinth Church, through the years are:  Bro. Walters, 1904-1905;  W. C. Underwood, 1905-1906;  L. D. Summers, 1907;  W. C. Glen, 1907-1910;  C. H. Felts, 1910-1915;  H. W. Jackson, 1915-1917;  W. C. Tharp, 1918-1919;  W. A. Butler, 1919-1921;  A. A. Jones, 1921-1923;  J. O. Yates, 1924-1925;  Cletus Moore, 1948-1950;  Harold Grissom, 1950-1964;  Robert Wall, 1964-1965;  Ben Kimbrough, 1965-1967;  Glen McDaniel, 1967-1969;  Donnie Smith, 1970-1971;  E. F. Caldwell,  1971-1977;  Billy Hicks, 1977-1978;  Virgil Blankenship, 1978-1980;  Phillip Mansfield, 1980-1982, Mayo Mansfield, 1982-1988;  John Clark, 1988-1994; Gerry Gallimore 1995-2008; Thurman Neal Penick 2008-2012

 

 
 

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