The Wilmington morning star., 1945-10-07
Leland Baptist Church
Will Hold Homecoming
LELAND BAPTIST CHURCH

of the old school building, which
was wooden structure. While the
auditorium was very small com.
pared to the one now in use, ii
was ample for the church meet
ings. The church met in this build
ing until it was turned into a
teacherage for the convenience Of
the teachers, after the new, brick
building was constructed. At
tendance at all the meetings was
very encouraging and it looked as
though a real work was in the
making.
In the fall of 1925, sister
churches were notified of the plan
to organize a church and were in
vited to send representatives.
Among those who assisted in the
of the Leland Baptist
DR.. J. M. Kester, pas
tor of the First Baptist church,
Wilmington, the Rev. j. A. Sulli-
van, pastor of Calvary Baptist
Wilmington, and the Rev.
H. S. Strickland of Wilmington,
who was the sponsoring pastor.
The church. was duly organized
and called as her first pastor the
Rev. H. S. Strickland, who served
the church for some fourteen and
one half years. The church elected
the following officers to serve I'M
til their successors were named:
r. v. Williams, Church Clerk M.
v. Hufham, Sunday School Super
R. v. Williams, Church
Treasurer. The following were
elected and ordained to serve the
church as Deacons: E. A. Ganey,
M. V. Hufham, R. v. Williams,
Herbert Chinnis and c. M. Pickett.
For the first few years the church
had prea ching on the first Sunday
in each month. pa, ..,-...,-.-..
The lot on which the church now
stands was purchased in 1925. The
purchase price was $3.50 The
church later bought an adjoining
lot.
The church now had lot but
no building in which to meet. Per-
mission could not be secured to
hold meetings in the new brick
building which is the present
school building. Not to be denied
the privilege of a place of worship
until church building could be
erected, the church met in the
homes Of the members. This con-
tinued until the present church
building was finished and ready
for use.
The present church building was
erected at cost Of $3.50. Since
there were only six men that were
charter members of the church,
building in which to worship was
quite a problem. However these
men had faith. They were backed
by a little congregation who had
faith. One night these men gather
ed on the lot with the stars above
as the roof, and the earth beneath
as the floor, for the one purpose
Of asking God to make it possible
for church building to be erected
to His glory. There on their knees,
these men prayed to Him Who is
able to do all things. They prayed
for guidance, for the opening of
the way that they might have a
to meet in.
God works in mysterious ways,
His will to perform. After pooling
heir money and some $3.50. that
lad been contributed by several
churches outside the Leland COM
the church had a total of
$3.50. to start a building with. Lit
lie could be done with so small a
start, yet God was ready to ans
wer the prayers of this faithful
group of His children. R. T. Will
Jams, who resided in the Leland
community, wa approa ched and
offered to build the church build
ing on the terms that the church
pay the $3.50. as a cash payment,
and then pay the balance at
he rate Of $751; per months, with
out interest. The church gladly
agreed to these terms and the
building was started and in a very
short time was completed. The
church feels a deep sense of graft
,ude to Mr.. Williams for his help
n making it possible for the new
church to have a home. He never
charged the church one cent of
interest on the money due him.
He has since gone to his reward
n the Lord.
After the church building was
crude benches made of
boards and supported by nail kegs
md such like were used for a few
services. Now it was problem as
% how the church could get a pull.
pit furniture and pews. The church
was already about to the limit Of
heir ability in their obligations.
Here the hand Of sthe Lord was
seen again. The pastor remember.
ed an old church building in the
Castle Hayne section which had
aot been used for some time. Upon
investigation it was found that the
church was equipped with verv
good pews and pulpit furniture.
The church was on the property
IT Mrs. W. H. Shearin of Castle
Hayne. N. c. The pastor and his