Church History:
The Pine Grove General Baptist Church had its beginning when residents of the Banner community began having Sunday School classes in the old Banner Mountain schoolhouse building in the fall of 1930. Jim Baker of Morganton to be the evangelist. The group decided, in the spring of 1931, to organize a permanent church and to call Rev. Baker as pastor. Some of the familiar names associ
ated with the church in its early years include; Bradford, Caldwell, Carroll, Clark, Coley, Cook, Hensley, Hooten, Huggins, Maulden, Nixon, Sowell, Sturdevant, Swafford, Teague, Weaver, Whillock and Williams. A church building, built on property provided by Zack Cook, was completed in December of 1949. The Van Buren County Democrat recorded this accomplishment in an article which read, “One of the most recent church buildings completed is that of the Pine Grove General Baptist Church on Banner Mountain, six miles east of Clinton near the Weaver Cemetery. All construction work was donated by people of the community, thereby reducing the cost. The building was erected by volunteer cash contributions by persons living in the community.” Rev. Rhoden of Solgahachie was pastor at the time, holding two Sunday services each month. A parsonage was constructed in 1969 on property provided by Herbert Clark. This property was returned to Bro. Clark in 2007 by a grateful church due to non use. The congregation decided to start a building fund in 1974 to construct a new building to accommodate increasing attendance. Work began on the structure, located on property provided by Terrel Teague, in late July of 1975. A loan was obtained in June of 1976 for completion of the building later that same year. The mortgage on the new red brick building was paid off in December of 1985. Dinners and other special functions are held in the old building which was partially remodeled as a “Fellowship Hall” in 1993. A list of pastors at Pine Grove (other than those previously noted) includes; Allison Duncan, Noah Moody, Roy Dale Clark, Bill Scott, Orville Bennett, James Corder, Roland Knight, Charles Barnett, Tom Jolly, Garvin Reid, David Watts, Jim Cates, James Lovell, Al Alters and Dean May. Presently, Sunday morning, and evening services are held at Pine Grove.