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Sugar Valley Church History

In 1831, thirty-six years before the railroad came to Sugar Valley, pioneer settlers began coming to this area- which in those days was part of Murray County. The people cleared the land and built a place of worship. This first place of worship, supposedly a mud-chinked, one room log structure, stood behind and slightly to the west of the old church. At the time, the church was called Snake Creek because the area was known as the Snake Creek Militia district. The church's role during the civil war is unclear. However, it is known that Gen. Sherman and his troops came into they valley. Many sons of the congregation died in the
futile effort to stop Sherman.

In 1843, with a membership of 69, the church's name was changed to New Providence Baptist, then again in 1870 or 1871, it was changed once more to Sugar Valley Baptist. Several years later members decided to build a new church. Canvassing the district to raise money for construction of a larger building, a new sanctuary was built and services were held in the new church on May 11,1879.

Under strong leadership, the church continued to grow. Many accounts are recorded of great revival meetings. In 1906, a 15 day revival meeting was held and in 1938, Rev. Frank Cobb conducted a meeting that saw 66 people baptized.

In 1972, a building committee was appointed and plans were drawn up for a new sanctuary. With a gift from the Marvin Muse family, the church was able to begin with construction of the new building and two years later, the church held their first services. Church pews were donated by family members, a baptistry donated by the Dobson family and modern kitchenette donated by Mrs. Joseph in memory of her mother, Mrs. Ludie Walraven.

Once again Sugar Valley outgrew their sanctuary and in 2003 a new sanctuary was constructed with seating of 800+ complete with a state of the art sound system, projection system, and video set-up. A new fellowship hall/activity center was also built with a fully commercialized kitchen.

From the beginning, the church has felt the influence of many pastors. Some of those men are Rev. Bridges, who served in the church intermittently as pastor for almost fifty years, Rev. Frank Cobb, Rev. John Blevins, Rev. W.T. Colston, Rev. David Ray, Rev. Bill Wiley, Rev. Leroy Whitfield, Rev. Dan Boswell, Rev. Howard Duvall and our present pastor, Rev. Mitch Phillips.

Sugar Valley has grown considerably from the one-room log building to the present one. The present membership is over 500 with an average of 300 in Sunday Worship. As members worship with songs of contemporary praise, songs of old time hymns, and listen as the Word of God is preached, it is apparent that the many prayers of the church's founders have been answered.

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Sugar Valley Church History