It was a most welcome rain that greeted visitors and church members as they arrived on the afternoon of Sept. 26 at Mountain Creek Baptist Church in the Saluda Baptist Association for the dedication of a new sanctuary.
Members of Mountain Creek Baptist Church, including pastor Ray Thompson and Betty Bailey (center, with scissors), who has been a church member for 63 years, cut the ribbon Sept. 26 on a new building to replace a historic sanctuary destroyed by fire.Only 19 months earlier, on Feb. 9, 2009, a conflagration lit up the night sky over the rural southwestern border of Anderson County, and the picturesque white sanctuary that had served the congregation since 1870 was destroyed.
The Courier reported at the time that more than 100 firefighters from seven Anderson County fire departments answered the alarm at about 6:30 p.m. A large crowd, including many church members, gathered to watch. Onlookers said flames leapt 30 to 40 feet in the air. The sanctuary and adjoining classroom space were a total loss.
Investigators later determined that the fire was accidental and started in a malfunctioning heating-and-air-conditioning unit.
Pastor Ray Thompson said the church would rebuild. For a while, the church held Sunday school and worship services at Saluda Association’s office building. By February 2010, a new building was under construction. Seven months later, church members and visitors dedicated a new facility that includes a sanctuary, Sunday school classrooms, a choir room and offices.
Flames that destroyed the sanctuary of Mountain Creek Baptist Church lit up the night sky on Feb. 9, 2009.At the dedication, pastor Thompson welcomed more than 200 members and guests, and John Dill, director of missions for Saluda Association, challenged the church’s members to “keep the vision” before them and to “go out into the fields to bring the lost into the fold.”
Mountain Creek is one of the oldest churches in the area. Before Anderson County existed, before there was a Saluda Association, before any villages or towns were incorporated in the area, a small group of people constituted the Shockley Ferry Church about 1785. Mountain Creek would soon form as an “arm” of Shockley Ferry Church and was constituted in 1789.
Mountain Creek became a member of Saluda Association in 1812 and experienced one of its greatest revivals in October 1859.