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| In August, 1902, our church was originally organized by the Baptist State Board and Rev. W. N. Swain, a member and ordained minister of the First Baptist Church of Tupelo, Mississippi, as Leighton Baptist Church. The church was located on the Belden-Endville Road in the Belden Schoolhouse not far from the Railroad tracks. In October, 1903, the name was changed to Belden Baptist Church and the first building was completed in 1905. In 1915 the Church joined the Lee County Baptist Association and it is believed that C.W. Mabry and B.S. Dillard were the first Ordained Deacons.
One of the first large hurdles that BBC faced was in 1917 when the first building was destroyed by wind. It was rebuilt in 1922 and remained until it was replaced by a brick building in 1945. In March, 1949, that building was destroyed, but this time it was by a tornado. In June, 1949, the first services were held in the new building. After that our building was damaged in April, 1956, by another tornado, but we never missed a service. Belden School allowed us to conduct services in their facilities until we could get the damage repaired. In November, 1962, 4 acres were purchased up the hill from our then location and in November, 1963, construction was set to begin on a new building. After facing financial difficulties and lots of hardships it was decided to salvage the old building and incorporate it in the new building. Designing the new one with this in mind; that the men of the Church do such work as they could, construction finally began. On May 17, 1964, the first services were held in this new building and we completed our first major building project.
In 1977 BBC was the first church in Mississippi to receive Merit Awards in all departments for Church Training. In 1991 we experienced some tremendous growth and had to go to two worship services. That is also when we elected our first Associate Pastor,the retired Rev. Banks Hardy.
There have been a lot of changes since the original building project. We added the Activities Building/Gymnasium in 1980 and a new Education Building in 1998. We have continued to see steady growth over the years and finally out grew our then current facilities. Ground was broken on the new Worship Center in 2001 and completed in May of 2003.
Today we have been blessed with this wonderful Worship Center. The Education Building is now the Children's Wing and the old Sanctuary has been remodeled with class rooms and is now the Education Building. We were also able to leave a large room in the old Sanctuary which is now the Chapel. By the Glory of God we have been able to see His vision for Belden Baptist Church and He has seen us through. | |  | |
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