Mud Creek Missionary Baptist Association Celebrates 141 Years

Front Row (L-R): Deacon Ben Hall, 1st Vice Moderator; Dr. Nilous M. Avery, Sr.,  Mayor Terry M. Bellamy, keynote speaker, Dr. Charles R. Mosley, Sr., Rev. T. Richard Pea, Vice Moderator-at-Large. Back Row: Elder Alfred E. Blount, Rev. Frederick L. Gordon, Rev. James E. Roberts, Rev. Donald S. McDaniel, moderator. Dr. Avery, Dr. Mosley, Rev. Gordon, and Rev. Roberts have all served as moderators of the association.

Staff reports

Members of North Carolina churches in Buncombe, Henderson, McDowell, Polk, and Transylvania counties gathered September 26 at Tried Stone Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville to celebrate the 141st anniversary of the Mud Creek Missionary Baptist Association.

The Association was formed in 1868 by a group of seven Christian leaders who met at Nazareth First Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville. The name chosen was that of a muddy stream, called Mud Creek to this day, which runs through the Hendersonville and Flat Rock areas. Four brothers, all ministers, were the principal organizers: Frank Hemphill, then the pastor of Nazareth First Missionary Baptist Church, was joined by his brothers Charlie, Reuben, and Calvin Hemphill and leaders of three other churches to found the Mud Creek Association. Sixty-six years later, in 1934, the association purchased fourteen acres of land where all member churches still come together for fellowship, ministering, meetings, and training.

The 2009 anniversary celebration began with a “Call to Worship” and
invocation by Rev. James E. Lytle. The procession of Moderators and
their guests entered to a musical prelude by Minister Damion McDay.
Keynote speaker for the evening was Mayor Terry Bellamy of Asheville,
who spoke on the Association’s theme, “Remembering Our Roots As We Move
Forward to Accomplish Our Goals.”

Mayor Bellamy recalled the historic role of the church in
society, especially during the past half-century. “It was the church
that was instrumental in galvanizing the community in its participation
in the cause for human and civil rights,” she said. “The church was the
place that our children could come to for mentoring, help with
homework, safe environments. The church has to go back and reclaim it
position in the lives of its people. The mission of the church is to
help the homeless, the downtrodden, feed the hungry, visit the sick and
those in prison. When this is done we can truly hear the words of
Matthew 25:21 – ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’”

Also during the celebration, Academic Scholarship awards were
presented to Victoria M. Blount, a freshman at UNC Greensboro, and
Jasmon L. Carpenter, a senior at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC. The
2009 Moderator Awards were presented to Rev. Richard Pea (Blue Ridge
Missionary Baptist, Edneyville), Moderator-At-Large; Deacon Ben P. Hall
(Hill St. Baptist Church, Asheville), First Vice Moderator and the
first lay moderator elected to this position; and Rev. Marshall Erwin
(Bethel Missionary Baptist, Brevard), Second Vice-Moderator. Also
re-elected was Rev. Donald S. McDaniel (Mt. Carmel Baptist, Arden).

This year, the first annual “Layman of the Year Award” was
presented to Mrs. Zelma Massey in honor of her late husband, Deacon
Arthur Massey of Blue Ridge Missionary Baptist Church in Edneyville,
for his dedicated work with the Mud Creek Missionary Baptist
Association.