Pleasant View Baptist Church History

The Pleasant View School House was built in 1923. The first school year was 1923-1924. The carpenters that built it were Mr. Arthur Smith and Mr. Carroll Worley. The first teachers were Miss Mattie Rachael and Mr. Joe Nordin. The first school board directors were Mr. Jim Underhill, Mr. J.C. Guest, and Mr. Leon Dixon.

Soon after, a community Sunday School was organized. Brother Patterson from the First Christian Church and Brother Boyd from another Russellville church took turns coming once a month to preach on a Sunday afternoon.

In 1948, the Pleasant View School consolidated with the Fair View School located at the top of Mill Creek. The Pleasant View Schoolhouse continued to support the community through Sunday School, church, and community services.

In the early part of 1954, Mrs. Ivern Shinn asked Reverend Eugene Speed from First Baptist Church to preach on Sunday afternoons at the Pleasant View School House. Later, he arranged for Brother J.D. Seymour, the Southern Baptist Associational Missionary, to preach there. He also held a revival, and many people dedicated their life to Christ.

A decision was taken to become a Baptist Church, and Pleasant View Baptist was a mission of the Russellville First Baptist for a few months. On June 18th, 1954, thirty-three members of the Russellville First Baptist met to organize a New Testament Church. We voted to call it Pleasant View Baptist Church. On that night, Reverend and Mrs. J. D. Seymour, Mrs. Mildred Shinn, Glenda, and Mary Shinn joined on the promise of a letter from Russellville First Baptist. The charter was left open until the last Sunday in July 1954. At the close of the charter, the church had 48 members. Brother Seymour agreed to be our first pastor with a salary of $6 per week!

Shortly after we organized, the church voted to purchase ¾ acre of land from the Russellville School District to build a new church. The building committee was Mr. John Higgins, Mr. Ronal Austin, and Mr. Leonard Anderson. The State Home Mission Board gave a gift of $1,000 to begin the building process. Most of the work was done by members and friends. The building was dedicated on December 30, 1959.

The church sold the old schoolhouse building to Mr. John Sanford in 1974. He moved it about a mile north of its original location and remodeled it into his home.

In July 1968, Brother Bill Storts was our pastor, and we purchased two more acres from the Russellville School District for $4,350. After Brother Kenneth Neil Edmonsom became pastor, we began a building fund.

The Lord blessed the church with many miracles that only He could have done. In 1989, Brother Larry Pettus was called to be our pastor. In March 1993, we started a new church building where the original schoolhouse was located. On October 17, 1993, the church had its first service in the new building. The following week on October 23, Miss Shelly Huffman and Mr. Jeff Maggard were married.

A revival was held April 10-15 with Evangelist Brother Gary Felton.

Our Homecoming and Church dedication was held on October 9, 1994.