Mt. Olive Church Logo

Mt. Olive Baptist Church was organized in the spring of 1885 by four men. Mr. Abram Brunson, Mr. George Butler, Mr. Julius Brevard and Mr. Sony Brown Belton.

These four men decided that five miles was too far for the children to walk to Sunday School, and they erected a brush harbor between two Sweet Gum trees and two cedar posts. This arrangement was situated about 2 1/2 miles northwest of where the present church structure is now. The area was called the Quarter at that time, and they had their first service under the brush harbor on the first Sunday in May, 1885.

One year later the brush harbor began to leak badly, so they decided to build a house to serve in. After they built the little building, it looked so good to the people they called it the: “Sunday School and Prayer House”.

Brush Harbor
They all decided to invite a preacher to preach the First Anniversary sermon. Rev. R.D.Gaither preached the anniversary sermon and that went so well, they decided to ordain three deacons and elect a Sunday School Superintendent. They also decided to call a pastor and give the church a name.

The first deacons were: Deacon Julius Brevard, Deacon George Butler and Deacon Abram Brunson, Chairman. Brother Sony Brown Belton was elected Sunday School Superintendent. Sister Effie Brunson gave the church the name of Mount Olive Baptist Church. Rev. Gaither was elected as the first pastor. Rev. R. D. Gaither served as pastor until he moved across the river making it too far of a distance for him to travel causing him to give up the pastor ship.

After Rev. R.D. Gaither left, the county moved the road from the Quarter to where the present church now stands. Seeing that they needed a larger church building, the people decided not to build in the Quarter, but instead they bought one acre of land from Mr. Henry White over the new road. They called Rev. T. H. McNeal as pastor and he remained as pastor for 5 years. They then called Rev. H. Moragne and he also served 5 years. Rev. McNeal was recalled and served 1 more year. Rev. Alfred was elected and in turn served 3 years. Rev. C.J. Graham was called as pastor and he served for 6 years until his death. Rev. W.D. Brown was elected and served 3 years until he died with the flu.

The church elected Rev. H.W. Adamson as their 8th pastor and he served for 48 years.

During that time, the third church burned one Christmas, and five months later they moved into the new church building on the first Sunday in May. When Rev. Adamson had an accident and died, the church elected, Rev. J. L. Perkins as pastor and he served for 4 years.

Rev. P.M. McCain replaced Rev. Perkins as pastor and served for 2 years until his death. The church then elected Rev. David Jones. While Rev. Jones was pastor, the church decided to build a new and more modern building. The present sanctuary was completed in September 1974 across the road from the old church which was finally torn down after several years.

Upon This Rock
When Rev. Jones became unable to serve in 1981, after being pastor for 10 years, the church elected Rev. Isaac K. Cloud. Under the leadership of Rev. Cloud a building and renovation project was launched. The project began in February of 1999, which included classrooms for Sunday School, a library, offices, audio/video room and a Fellowship Hall. On May 7, 2000, the work and the building were dedicated to God for His glory. Rev. Cloud faithfully served for 20 years until September of 2001. On March 9, 2002, Rev. Christopher Goff was installed as pastor and served until April of 2004. Rev. Reginald Belton was installed as pastor on March 20, 2005 and served until June of 2006. Rev. Rinzee L. Stansberry, Sr. was installed as pastor on February 15, 2007 and served until April of 2013. On April 3, 2014, Rev. Michael Rogers was elected as pastor and served until December 31, 2018.  Rev. Marcello R. Wheeler, Sr. was elected as pastor on February 17, 2019 and installed on April 7, 2019.