Anchor Baptist Church Celebrates 100th Year Anniversary

By Kristopher Storey
Hottytoddy.com intern
kostorey@go.olemiss.edu

Anchor Baptist Church on Highway 7 South on the way to Water Valley is celebrating its 100th anniversary Sunday.

Anchor Baptist Church has been opening its doors to Lafayette County and Water Valley residents for 100 years.

Established back in 1919, the church is holding a special 100-year anniversary celebration during its regular worship time at 10 a.m. this Sunday. A potluck lunch will follow.

The church started as Live Oaks Missionary Baptist Church, where members first met at a school in Water Valley. The first pastor of the church was JR Hewlett, a circuit-riding pastor who would travel and preach at different churches.

The school later consolidated with a school in Taylor, which left Live Oaks M.B. Church without a building to meet.

Church secretary Katherine Mooney has been at Anchor Baptist Church for 30 years. She has served as secretary for the past seven years. She explained how the members at the time would meet in a four-bedroom house, but never stopped having church.

“It is not the building that makes the church, but it is the people who make up the church,” Mooney said.

After losing a place to meet, they were able to reorganize and rename the church in 1935 to Anchor Baptist Church. Florence Anderson gave the members land to build a place to meet. They were able to build a wood frame church that cost $1,150.

This land happened to be about 9 miles north of Water Valley and 9 miles south of Oxford. This area has since become known as “Anchor” stemming from the church.

Anchor Baptist Church is located at 1009 Highway 7 South.

The first pastor of Anchor Baptist Church after the reorganization was RL Breland. The pastor of the church now is Dr. Gerald Shook. He has been serving as pastor since Jan. 1, 1984.

The church has grown tremendously over the years, according to Mooney. They have around 200 people who attend Sunday school and almost 300 who come for worship service.