The Early Years
On October l3, 1981, services were started on Haralson Island in a brick house belonging to Frank and Betty Thomason. The services were the result of efforts by a missions’ committee from Marshall Memorial Baptist Church and a group of people from the lake area. Prayer services were held there and the group began to grow in numbers.
The Sunday School began meeting December 6, 1981, and the first preaching service was held with Billy Cumbie, a deacon from Marshall Memorial, as speaker. There were 13 people in Sunday School and 23 in the worship service.
Early in the new year when the Thomasons relocated, the group moved into a single wide trailer furnished by Mr. and Mrs. Okey Bowen on their property. The missions’ committee secured a pastor, Rev. David Long, in October of 1982.
Soon land on Crooked Creek Road was made available by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Manley. Members and many friends throughout the community cleared the land. A double wide mobile home was secured from Horton Homes and placed on the lot, debt free, with the aid of the Central Baptist Association. Dedication of the building was held November 6, 1982, with 35 mission members present.
Eventually, sponsorship of the mission was transferred to the Central Baptist Association Missions Committee when a petition, signed by 34 mission members, requested that they be constituted as a church and that their present pastor, Rev. Long, be retained.
Correspondence from the Missions Committee Chairman of Central Association is quoted as follows:
“Missions Committee of the Association met with representatives of the Lake Sinclair Baptist Mission on 27th of January 1983. We examined the mission’s proposed constitution and by-laws and after a lengthy session of questions and answers by both parties, we were thoroughly satisfied as to the soundness of doctrine and their plans to be a part of the Central Association.”
“We have chosen, therefore, to let that meeting take the place of an examining council and recommend to this group today that we proceed with the constituting of this mission into Manley Memorial Baptist Church.”
On March 20, 1983, the church was constituted as Manley Memorial Baptist Church with 56 charter members. Rev. Benny Pate, from Haddock, Rev. Bryant Steele, and Bill Slagle of the Department of Evangelism of the Georgia Baptist Convention participated in this program.
Rev. David Long had been serving as pastor of the mission, and it was decided that official action should be taken to name the pastor for the newly constituted church. The church elected a pastor search committee to seek a pastor, and Rev. Long was unanimously elected May 4, 1983.
The members purchased another double wide on January 20, 1984, to be used as an education/fellowship hall. In September 1985 the mortgage note on the education/fellowship hall was burned. Both buildings were debt free.
Rev. Long served as a bi-vocational pastor from October 1982 until his resignation effective May 31, 1987, because of increased responsibilities at work. One of his last acts as pastor was to call a conference for the purpose of selecting a pulpit committee to seek another pastor.
On June 29, 1987, a call was extended to Rev. Robert M. Cash, and he preached his initial sermon at Manley Memorial on the first Sunday in July 1987. With a full time pastor, outreach ministry was accelerated and there was a rapid growth in membership. Soon additional space was needed in the sanctuary and Sunday School. The existing building was modified in March 1988 to provide the needed space.
As a result of the growth, the members realized that a new sanctuary was needed, and in 1989 a building committee was elected. Jesse Thompson was chairman of this committee until his death, and Jerry Chambers was then elected chairman. In September 1990, he suggested that we proceed with building plans since we had reached our previously set goal of $100,000 in the building fund.
Mr. Tilmon Chamlee, architect, and Mr. William Harden, engineer, were selected. It was also recommended that we secure a loan with Peoples Bank in Eatonton and secure the services of Mr. Horace Avant and “Carpenters for Christ” to construct the new sanctuary.
Ground breaking day was February 10, 1991, and actual construction began. By Friday of the third week all walls were standing. On Saturday, 25 Carpenters for Christ from the nearby Washington Baptist Association Brotherhood organization arrived accompanied by three wives who helped with meal preparation. They were laymen/laywomen from Milledgeville, Sandersville, and Sparta. Ten to 12 more volunteers were from Manley Memorial.
Progress on building the sanctuary continued at a rapid pace and was completed much sooner than expected. The first service was held on July 21, 1991. On August 18, 1991, the dedication service was held with many visitors, former members, and numerous distinguished guests who participated in the service. There were 127 people in Sunday School.
Our Tenth Anniversary Celebrated
On Sunday, March 21, 1993, members of the Church celebrated the 10th anniversary. A written history was published and given to those present. Rev. David Long, the first pastor, returned as a guest speaker. Lunch was served followed by a ground breaking ceremony for a new church sign in memory of Hobart W. Crowe Jr. Those in attendance enjoyed a bit of reminiscing and a music program with the church choir and special music guests.
The Next Twenty Years
Rev. Robert Cash resigned as pastor to become interim pastor of the Black Springs Baptist Church in Milledgeville, effective August 28,1994.
November 20, 1994, Manley Memorial called Rev. Vinson E. Gammage as interim pastor. He was then called as the full time pastor in January 1995.
In June of 1998 an additional 14 acres of land were purchased for future growth of the church.
Rev. Gammage resigned from the church in December 1998 to establish Crossroads Baptist Church in the Eatonton area. Approximately half of the active members at Manley Memorial accompanied him in starting the new church.
Dr. Harry Michael was asked to be the interim pastor of Manley Memorial December 23, 1998. He was elected pastor March 10, 1999. His previous position was Senior Adult Minister at the Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta.
In the summer of 2000, a small working lighthouse was built by T.P. Bramblett and his brother-in-law, Walt Johnson; and it was installed in the parking lot of the church. The idea for the lighthouse came from the Vacation Bible School’s theme that year, ”Ocean Odyssey.”
Plans to construct a fellowship hall began in February 2001 with the purchase of a metal building from Arco Steel for $30,770. It took two years to complete this project which included a large dining/meeting room, fully equipped kitchen with pantry, and Sunday School rooms. Everyone worked extremely hard in completing this endeavor, and all were grateful for the new building.
The church’s twentieth anniversary and the dedication of the new fellowship hall were observed May 23, 2003. Rev. Bobby Sunderland and his wife, Wanda, were honored guests. He was from the Evangelism Department of the Home Mission Board in Atlanta and delivered the dedication message. Special music was presented by Debi Nichols. At the close of the morning service, all visitors were invited to join the church members for lunch in the new dining facilities. Because of health issues, Dr. Harry Michael resigned as pastor April 27, 2008.
Dr. B. Carlisle Driggers was called as interim pastor in the late summer of 2008. He was elected to become pastor the last Sunday in February 2009. He accepted the call of the church March 9, 2009. He had retired in 2007 as Executive Director-Treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, a position he had filled for 15 years.
In the fall of 2009, the Wednesday evening services were devoted to prayer and casting a biblical vision for the church. After weeks of discussion, studying Scripture passages about the kingdom of God, discovering the strengths of the church, and hearing ideas from everyone present, the following vision statement was adopted: “Manley Memorial Baptist Church is Kingdom focused for Jesus locally, regionally, nationally and to the ends of the earth.”
Soon thereafter, specific core values were added to help keep the church focused: Bible Study and Prayer, Worship, Reaching People, Making Disciples, Unity, and Missions and Ministry.
In March 2009, during the 26th anniversary of the church, the debt for the fellowship hall was paid which left the church debt free.
Work on the annex to connect the fellowship hall and the sanctuary began in February 2010. This addition was built by several church members led by James Brock and a group of dedicated workers called “Campers on Mission” led by Kenny Owen. The campers drove their motor homes from South Carolina and stayed in the church parking lot for several weeks until the work was completed. It is difficult to express how much their hard work and fellowship meant to the church family.
When the structure was completed, there were five new adult classrooms, a storage room for Sunday School supplies, and an enclosed passageway between the buildings. A new office for the pastor was also constructed. The annex and office were dedicated October 31, 2010.
Betty Carswell Day was held October 10, 2010, with a special Sunday service in her honor after her retirement in May 2010 at the age of 90. A much beloved servant of the church, she passed she away later that year.
At the October 10, 2010 quarterly business conference, the deacons, led by John Addleton as chairman, presented a motion to study the possibility of a new name for the church. A seven member committee was elected with Tom Hill as chairman. The committee prayed, reviewed original documents about the starting and naming of the church, and listened to discussions from the long-time church members and the current ones about the possible name change. A church-wide forum was called for December 11, 2010, to discuss changing the name of the church. December 27, a form was distributed for persons to recommend potential names for the church. From the recommendations presented, the committee selected the name Lake Country Baptist Church. The new name was agreed upon by an overwhelming majority through a secret ballot vote at the January 19, 2011, quarterly business conference.
The church has held revival meetings through the years with good preaching and singing. One of the recent favorites was the appearance of “The Strength Team” from Montana in September 2011. It was a special event using a large tent on loan from the Georgia Baptist Convention. The team consisted of professional athletes who travel the country and also make international mission trips. Four of the team members performed a show of amazing feats of strength under the large tent set up on the softball field. Once they had everyone’s attention, they directed their remarks to the youth, in particular, about the value of hard work, education, and moral values. The athletes gave their testimonies and invited the attendees to accept Christ into their lives. There was an outstanding response during each service with many decisions to accept Christ or for rededication. The attendance for every night was remarkable even though it did rain for two of the services.
In 2015 the church took on several new projects. The carpeting in the dining area and hallway of the fellowship hall were replaced as well as the carpet in the sanctuary. The parking lot was extended and both parking lots were resurfaced with several additional spaces added. Also, a short retaining wall around a portion of the parking lot was built to alleviate a drainage problem
The church has worked tirelessly to raise funds and, with donations from our generous members and friends, it is anticipated that all costs will be met as the projects are completed so that the church can remain debt free.
In March, 2017 our church celebrated their 35th anniversary!
August 27, 2017 Dr. B. Carlisle Driggers and Jeanette announced their retirement effective December 31, 2017.
February 18, 2018, Lake Country Baptist Church members voted Pastor Pete Mattix to take the position as their Pastor.
February 25, 2018 Pete Mattix preached his first sermon as Pastor of Lake Country Baptist Church.