Church History

A Family after God's own heart

Roddey Baptist Church

The History of Roddey Baptist Church

Roddey Baptist Church began as a mission with a small group of people led by Rev. W.C. Blackmon. The first services were held in the old Roddey School on May 9, 1954. The mission was organized on May 16, 1954. Then church voted to hold Sunday School each Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM followed by Worship Service at 3:00 PM. It was agreed upon to list all the names of those who joined the church by September 5, 1954 as charter members.

The mission became Roddey Baptist Church on July 24, 1954. Roddey Baptist Church was accepted into the York Baptist Association in 1955.

The old record book shows that Mr. & Mrs. Harley Waters, Mr. & Mrs. Curtis Bundy and Mr. & Mrs. David Ratterree were very instrumental in the work of the church during the first few months. Monroe Campbell and David Ratterree were elected the first two deacons.

At the first Baptismal Service on July 13, 1954 nine people were baptized. Roddey Baptist Church accepted 40 people into their membership during the first year by Baptism. The first Communion Service was held on October 31, 1954. The first Homecoming was held on July 24, 1955. The first wedding ceremony conducted in he church was the marriage of Richard Totherow and Lola Watts on June 5, 1955. The Wedding took place after the Worship Service with 112 people present. This was the largest congregation since the church had been organized.

In June of 1955 Roddey Baptist Church purchased the old Roddey School building from Friendship Methodist Church for the sum of Seventy-five dollars ($75.00).

The sixties brought much growth to the church. The new auditorium was erected in 1961 and the old building was remodeled to serve as Sunday School rooms. The R.A. Boys sponsored a successful drive to raise money to build a recreation building. A site was purchased in 1963 for the purpose of erecting a Pastorium.

In the seventies our church continued to work and grow. The choir room and baptistery were added to the auditorium as well as central air and heat. In 1973 the church purchased a mobile home to serve as a Pastorium.

We remodeled the Sunday School rooms and fixed the parking lot in 1986. During the summer of 1987 we had a great tent revival. As the church continued to grow a site for a new church building was purchased at the intersection of U.S. Hwy 21 and Hall Spencer Road. The property which consisted of 6.326 acres was purchased from Carolina Fabricators Inc. for the sum of $30,000.00.

The Lord continued to bless us and the land was paid for in about a year. The older building on Roddey Road was sold in 1989. On November 1, 1989 the name of Roddey Baptist Church was changed to New Covenant Baptist.

Work on the new church began in early 1990. Since we were a small congregation with sixty five members we could not afford to pay a contractor. The church voted to build the new building themselves. Only the masonry work was contracted. The men of the church and weekend help from other local Baptist Churches built the new church building. Through much prayer, hard work and God�s help we moved into the new church building on August 5, 1990.

At the present site on August 5, 1990 Bill & Zettie Paris were the first two new members who joined New Covenant Baptist Church. The first Baptismal Service was held on December 2, 1990. Lynda Caulder was the first person to be baptized in the new building along with four other people during this service. The first Communion Service was held on December 2, 1990. This was a candle light service. On the first Homecoming at the new site was held on August 4, 1991. Fifty-Three people attended Sunday School on that day and eighty four attended Worship Service, lunch and afternoon singing. The youngest member of our service was John Dillon Hunter who was eleven days old. The oldest member at seventy five was Virginia McDaniel.
The Sunday School rooms located on the first floor were completed and in use as of June 7, 1992. The kitchen and fellowship hall were completed later.

The church name was changed from New Covenant Baptist Church back to Roddey Baptist Church on December 2, 1992.

Because of the first small group of people that started Roddey Baptist Church many have come to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

We celebrated being organized for fifty years on August 1, 2004. Rev Calvin Morrow brought the message for the Worship Service, he had been the interim pastor for eight years at this time.

In January of 2005 we were able to pave our parking lot. In July of 2005 we had a back yard Bible club with assistance from the youth of Ridgeland Baptist Church from Richland, SC. We had a great turn out for this Bible Club followed with a great turn out for a community cook-out and special children�s games.

On October 9, 2005 Pastor Ronnie Helms was called to be our Pastor at Roddey Baptist Church. We have continued to be a blessed church from the beginning and continue to grow in the Lord! Each day we are thankful to have Pastor Ronnie and his wife Mrs. Vicki who have a vision to reach the lost in the community..

We welcome you to come and learn more about our history of a church and share in the blessings that we continue to experience with our ministry. We continue to grow in membership and baptisms have been in abundance since 2005. We enjoy knowing that souls are being blessed into the Kingdom of God and that lives are being changed.