In 1882 the New Hope Baptist Church was established in the community of Russ, Missouri, located southeast of Lebanon. Within nine years, in 1891, that church started a church in Lebanon, the county seat, which became First Baptist Church.
About three years ago, the New Hope Church had declined to the point that only a few members were meeting for Bible study – and it didn’t seem feasible to keep the church open. They continued to maintain the lawn, but services were suspended. Eventually they turned over the building to the Laclede Baptist Association.
But First Baptist Church of Lebanon continued to grow. They have about 900 attenders each Sunday, not including those who watch the services online.
So, the Laclede Association director of missions, Bradley Jemes, approached one of the lead pastors of First Baptist, Roger Sherrer, with a request to help the New Hope Church. The idea was met with open enthusiasm.
Sherrer used to be a Laclede County sheriff’s deputy, and he had patrolled the community of Russ many times. He had even met with area residents in the church building when they were setting up a neighborhood watch organization some years back. He welcomed the idea of helping the small church be restarted.
So First Baptist offered to go out to Russ, about 10 miles outside of town and hold a Tuesday night Bible study. Thirty people attended (some from First Baptist, but many from the Russ community). As Pastor Sherrer put it, “The church building is kind of a local landmark in the community of Russ. When the parking lot was full on Tuesday evenings, the people that live around there took notice.” Sherrer began leading the group through the book of Ephesians.
The people in Russ, many of them farmers, warmed quickly to the idea that the church was being assisted. They wanted a church in their neighborhood. Sherrer said “Many of them work in Lebanon and when they are home in the evenings and weekends, it is nice that they have Bible study and worship right there.” He added, “Many of them did not have much church experience, but they are open to what is happening to the church.”
A farmer called him the other day to say he noticed the cars were pretty much taking up all the parking lot, and he offered to brush hog the tall grass surrounding it to provide more parking spots.
Jemes and Sherrer found the building was usable once it was cleaned up. The 30-year-old fellowship hall was in good condition, but the old sanctuary’s wooden floors were sagging and are now in the process of being replaced. Everything else in the building was in good shape.
So with a larger church in town taking notice of the rural church that gave them birth 133 years earlier, plans are being made to restart the church with Sunday worship services in September. They are calling the new church Russ Church, since that is what most people call it anyway.
A pastor has been enlisted who lives in the nearby community of Oakville, about 10 miles to the northeast. Scott Pruitt had been a pastor a couple of counties to the west in Bolivar, but had resigned and was praying about where God would lead he and his wife, Heather. Sherrer and First Baptist Church enlisted Pruitt to become the church planter. Pruitt is working with the North American Mission Board’s SEND Missouri to be approved as a church planter and receive support.
And Jemes and the Laclede Association are rejoicing that the inactive country church can spring back to new life with the help of the “daughter” church in their county seat town.
Jemes said, “Lots of FBC Lebanon people have supported the work. It really is God at work. Scott (Pruitt) came into my office saying the Lord had impressed on him to seek a ministry location. He lived close by. People in the Russ area just began donating things and helping out.”
Sherrer said First Baptist Church has plenty of things going on already, but they are glad they jumped at the opportunity to help a small church out in the countryside. And to think that it was the very church that helped them be birthed in 1891 is an added blessing. He said: “Healthy organisms reproduce, and we need to reproduce in our community.”
Lebanon is a fairly typical Missouri Ozark town. There are a few industries there, some tourism and plenty of retail and restaurants. Sherrer said there are 26 Baptist churches in the area, but they are certainly not reaching all the people in the county. The town and region have the typical problems of drug abuse, and methamphetamine trafficking is a particularly difficult problem. Child abuse, sexual assaults, robberies, the list goes on – and Sherrer knows much about this from his law enforcement days.
But the Russ community now has a church being replanted in their neighborhood again. It is a light shining in the darkness, organizers say.
Pastor Pruitt said he takes music lessons in Lebanon, and a person in his class stopped him the other day to say he had heard about the new church and was going to be there. “God is putting things together,” he added. “God is not done with our small community. He is doing something new.”
This post originally appeared in The Pathway, published by the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Published July 30, 2024
