About Us

Church History – The Early Years

In the early 1930s the residents of the rural community known as Locust Grove came to the conclusion that an elementary school was needed for their area. After several community meetings and discussions, it was decided to approach the County Board of Magistrates and propose a plan for organizing and building such a school. Community members selected Oakley K. Chaffin to be their spokesman and present the idea for a school to the board.

The plan was relatively simple. If the county would supply the materials, the men of the community would furnish the labor to construct the building. County officials were receptive to the idea and in a few months the Locust Grove Elementary School was underway. The school was built on the corner of Buffalo Valley and Locust Grove roads. As with most other rural schools in the county, the Locust Grove School accommodated first through the eighth grades with one large room and one smaller room. One, sometimes two, teachers taught all eight grades.

It was not long after the school building was erected and classes underway that Christians living in the area saw the need for a local congregation of the Church of Christ. So, in 1933, the Locust Grove Church of Christ began meeting in the school. Early church leadership included Oakley K. Chaffin, Frank Featherston, Lanny Keen, Marlin Apple and George Farmer and attendance in the early meetings ran around 30 for Sunday morning services. Some of the early preachers were J.T. Spivey, Luther Ward, Malcolm Countis, Haskel Newman and Ray Kinslow.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, the county began to consolidate many of the rural elementary schools creating larger, more central schools. Locust Grove Elementary School held its final classes in the spring of 1954. In 1948, the congregation of Locust Grove Church stopped meeting in the school and a new building for the church was built across Buffalo Valley Road on land donated by George Farmer.

For years the congregation flourished but during the 1990s, membership began to decline. Older members passed away and few new members were added. By the summer of 1990, the number of families had dwindled to a small congregation of mostly ladies and their regular minister, Ralph Dunn, was facing medical problems. The decision was made to close the doors of Locust Grove Church of Christ and the members began to worship with other area congregations. But this was not the end…

Revitalization

The Walker and Chaffin families began to meet in 2000 to discuss the re-opening of the church at Locust Grove. Many phone calls and contacts were made to encourage people to attend services on the first Sunday of November. Most of those calls and contacts weren’t made to the former congregation now meeting with other fellowships, but to people who were not attending church services anywhere.

On the first Sunday in November 2000, the first meeting of the current congregation of the Locust Grove Church of Christ took place. As a result of their outreach, the majority of those attending these services were not “churchgoing” people but a fresh, new congregation, hungry for God. In attendance that day were the Rippetoes, Thomases, Massas, Meadows, Murphys, Vinsons and Ms Faye Moss. Gordon Smith was invited to preach and, much to everyone’s delight, there were several in attendance that first service.

For the next few months, the church met on Sunday mornings for Bible study and worship services and several different preachers were invited to speak. David Flatt began working with the congregation in early 2001and meetings were extended to include Sunday evening services and Wednesday night Bible classes. As the church grew, classrooms were added to the existing building and numerous activities and fellowship meetings were added. Attendance continued to increase and a larger place was needed for the meetings. In 2006, construction of a new fellowship hall was completed and it has proven to be a great asset to the work of the church.

In October 2012, David Flatt resigned and Mark Charlton was hired to work with the church through this transition period. After about a year, Mark Charlton returned to Nashville to be closer to his aging mother. In early 2013, we welcomed John Birdwell as our preacher-evangelist.

John Birdwell has been working with the Locust Grove Congregation while attending college at Heritage Christian in Florence, Alabama. He has a passion for preaching all of the Bible in truth and has a unique ability to express this passion for the truth to his audience. In these last few months, Locust Grove has seen a growth in numbers and in Spirit!