Members of Clarendon Baptist Church, Alcolu, in Santee Baptist Association, observed the congregation’s centennial with a weekend of celebration, Oct. 24-26.
Guest speakers for Friday and Saturday celebration services included Robert Alderman, a Baptist minister from Roanoke, Va., who grew up in the Alcolu community, and Tommy Barwick, pastor of First Baptist Church, Johnston, and a former youth minister at Clarendon. Former pastor Norman Rogers, now pastor of Saluda Baptist Church, Saluda, and current Clarendon pastor Kirk Carlisle led the two Sunday morning services.
Celebration events also included a barbecue pig pickin’, cooked by the men of the church, and a heritage display case containing articles, historical documents and pictures. Centennial memorabilia included prints and wooden replicas of the church sanctuary, cookbooks, Christmas ornaments and a church directory.
Organized March 19, 1908, Clarendon’s services were held at the Manning courthouse for its first two years. Membership had increased to about 85 in 1914, and the church’s first building was completed and dedicated that September. But in January 1935, fire destroyed the building. Membership then stood at about 350, and a new sanctuary, which still serves the congregation today, was constructed by October 1935. Educational facilities and a family life center were added in 1964 and 1996, respectively.
William Haynesworth was the first of 16 pastors who have served the Clarendon congregation, and P.O. Batson holds the longest tenure with 30 years. Sixteen ministers, including Carlisle, have been ordained or licensed, and two international missionaries have been sent out by the Alcolu congregation.