Attendance at Lucile Baptist Church nearly tripled Aug. 8, as about 90 people gathered to mark the Bibb Baptist Association church’s 100th anniversary.
“Although we know the year the church began, we don’t know the exact month,” longtime member Robert Ingram explained. “We’re celebrating the anniversary along with our annual homecoming this year.”
Two former pastors, Ed Thomas (1981–1991) and Bobby Terry (2004–2007), attended the celebration, as did Greg Findley, who became Lucile Baptist’s pastor Aug. 22. Thomas delivered the morning message and Terry provided special music.
Afterward those in attendance enjoyed a meal in the fellowship hall, followed by more special music.
One hundred years ago, the church was established as a collaborative effort of the two mining communities of Red Eagle and Lucile. Other than that, little is known about how it began because there are no church records from 1910 until 1914.
The church’s first documented building was completed in 1924. Members continue to meet there today.
Creating that place of worship also was a collaborative effort.
“Somebody donated an old house and had it moved to Lucile,” Ingram explained.
“They took out the walls and made it into a sanctuary. Later somebody else donated another part of a building and had it moved to the back part of the church. Later they added to both of the buildings and made it into what we worship in today.”
In 2006, the church bell was removed from the attic, refinished and relocated to its current position above the church sign.
Currently the church has an active Brotherhood and plans to re-establish its Woman’s Missionary Union. Though the church is small, congregants give faithfully through the Cooperative Program and to Bibb Association and Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries.
Findley is planning for the church’s future by making reaching the younger generation his top priority. “I’d like to see the church get out into the community and search out the lost and bring them in,” he said. (TAB)
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