Greer Baptist Camp Meeting
This Camp Meeting is a rock,
an island, of stability in an unsettled, sinful world. It has not
changed at all in these 50 years. Think of that the next time you
pick up a magazine or see recently made Disney movies or shows on
television. Camp Meeting is a blessed refuge from the world for
sinners and for God's people. Why has this meeting not changed?
Because truth is here, as revealed in the Bible. Jesus said "I am
the way, the truth, and the life". And because His people have been
a people of the Book, you see New Testament Christianity here
exactly as it was when first proclaimed to a world as burdened by
sin and turmoil as our day now is.
If you come within these walls your life will
be permanently affected, your son may be called to preach or to
serve the Lord full time as a teacher or missionary, may meet his
wife here, may carry on the old time religion we have given our
lives to. And what could be better? How can you live a worthwhile
life in this old world unless your steps, the smallest ones," are
altered of the Lord".
A hundred examples of this good influence come
to mind now. I wish we could recount them all...someday we will. Tom
Leonard, saved at Pelham, taught me in Sunday school, pastored 30
years and now lives on the spot where the pasture prayer meetings
were held...James Daugherty, whose family came here for years as he
grew up, married a fine girl, Elizabeth, daughter of Brother Zeb
McDaris, and now lives here and takes care of this place, made it
look so good...Columbus Aiken, came from Woodruff and was saved at
Pelham, his boy, Melvin, grew up around here, preached his first
sermon at age 12 at Tabernacle and now is its pastor...Jess
Stephens, one of the early preachers called out of Pelham Baptist
Church, now has three sons in fulltime service. Hobart, born in July
1950 just after the fourth camp meeting, named for that year's
preacher, Hobart Goolsby, served for years as school principal at
Tabernacle, now is at Gospel Light in Walkertown, and has been at
this camp every year since I can remember, at considerable personal
effort and expense...our missionaries David Edens, Bob Garrett,
Jimmy Rose, Donnie Whitlock, Maxine LaFoy, and Evelyn Chambers were
all here as children...Winky Redmond sang and picked here with Frank
Lark and Furman Nelson, and his grandson Paul preached here this
afternoon...then Bryan Ramey, whose family came from Tennessee to
attend Tabernacle, the least serious student Tabernacle High ever
graduated, became a serious lawyer, has served Tabernacle Children's
Home in critical matters and now has helped set up the new governing
board for the Camp...Benny Carper, raised right here, second least
serious student at Tabernacle High, now a serious preacher, Bible
teacher, and director of the Bright Spot Hour...Jim Black, directed
Tabernacle Children's Home and not only raised his own children in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord but also took Eddie Frampton
under his wing, led him to the Lord, and supervised his education,
so that Eddie, who used to sing here with the Burns trio, now is an
assistant pastor in Sylva, N. C....Elizabeth Harrelson grew up in
the Children's home, married a good Christian boy, Ray Rochester,
and is here for the meeting, raising her children in the old paths.
How did all this, and so much more, come about?
By the prayers of God's people. Psalms 56:8 reads: "Thou tellest my
wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy
book?", and Revelation 5:8 " and when he (the Lion of the tribe of
Juda) had taken the book(the same book referred to in the Psalm),
the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the
Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of
odours, which are the prayers of the saints". Wade Huntley told me
Monday night that his dad died in 1927 praying "God bless my
children". Buck was preaching by 1937, and Wade was saved in 1947.
Buck told of aunt Edna Pryor and aunt Duge Connor who prayed daily
at his church during World War II, fervently enough that all the
boys from that community came back after the war. But aunt Edna and
Aunt Duge kept right on praying, for the salvation of those boys and
for revival, which came in 1947. At Pelham only three people were
baptized in 1945, so through the first five months of 1946 the
church was left open day and night and people began meeting at the
church, praying for revival, which soon came.
My dad had become pastor of Pelham and Mauldin
churches in 1943, while he was still a student at Furman. There at
Furman he was taught that Baptists began, not in the days of the
apostles as we know to be true from the Lord's promises in his word,
but in England in 1641 with Smith and Helwys as an offshoot of the
Puritan movement. He was taught that the events in Revelation had
all taken place in 70 A.D. at the fall of Jerusalem, that there
would be no millennium, that the Westcott-Hort Greek text was better
than the text behind the KJV, that church services should be formal,
and that the Broadman hymnal had everything worth singing in it. But
he listened to other teachers with a pure and true message: Joe
Parsons, Preston Garrett, J. Harold Smith, Oliver and Jack Greene,
B. B. Caldwell, Maze Jackson, Earnest Driggers, his pastor who
preached his ordination, Charlie Mount, and Otto Harrison. Perhaps
most important of all was a group of earnest brethren at Pelham who
were hungry for revival and who still remembered what old time
religion was... J. Henry Greer and Mrs. Greer, Morris Satterfield,
Harold Satterfield, Virgil Smith, Odell Good, Dan Norris, Dewitt
Moree, Isaac Moree, John Cox, Hubert Kirby, Mr. Gosnell, Furman Ross
and Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Kirkham, Horace and Lloyd Jones and many others.
Many things had happened over the years to prepare the way,
including a monthly Southern shape note singing school, taught by an
old musician from Victor Baptist church in Greer, through which
Horace and Lloyd Jones learned to sing and developed their talent. I
believe God prepared my dad for Pelham and prepared Pelham for my
dad.
At the same time revival broke out in
Greensboro at Brightwood Baptist church under H. P. Gaulden, in
Hendersonville in Buck Huntley's church, in Tennessee and Georgia,
in Anawalt,West Virginia in Long Point Baptist church which Don
Farmer grew up in, in the Ozarks, and in Mississippi. It wasn't
limited to our area by any means.
This Camp Meeting began in 1947 in a summer
revival at Pelham held in a brush arbor in a field about 200 yards
from the church directly in front of Mrs. Kirkham's house. It was
built by Odell Good and Dan Norris. My Dad and Odell Good did the
preaching, and Dan Norris led the singing. God blessed this meeting.
In 1948 another Summer meeting was held on the same spot in a small
tent belonging to Harold Horne, who also preached in that meeting.
To accommodate a larger crowd, which was
anticipated because of the overflowing crowds at Pelham Baptist
Church and in the brush arbor and tent, the meeting was held in 1949
at Southside Baptist Church in Greer during the last two weeks in
August. At that time it was an old wooden tabernacle with a dirt
floor and shavings. Its pastor was Walter Satterfield, who had been
called to preach under R. P. Lamb at Victor Baptist Church in Greer.
The preacher was H. P. Gaulden of Brightwood Baptist Church in
Greensboro. This was the first meeting to be called the Greer
Baptist Camp Meeting.
In 1950 the meeting was held in a tent
belonging to Hobart Goolsby of Atlanta. Preacher Goolsby and
Preacher Gaulden preached. The tent was pitched in a field across
the street from Southside Baptist Church.
In 1951 the meeting was held in J. Harold
Smith's brick tabernacle in Greenville on Hampton Avenue near the
old Southern railway depot. Percy Ray, pastor of Myrtle Baptist
Church in Myrtle, Mississippi, preached. He also was involved in the
formation of two other camp meetings, Bethel in Spartanburg and the
one at Myrtle. The meeting was growing and the number of churches
cooperating increasing. Just before the 1951 meeting my sister,
Carolyn Grace, was killed in an auto accident. My mother was in the
hospital during that meeting. God used hundreds of camp meeting
people to comfort our hearts. I remember in particular an old
silver-haired railroad engineer from Erwin, Tennessee, Horace
Stanberry, who I believe God sent to speak peace to us for our
relief.
It was at this time that C. J. and Bonnie Burns
sang at the camp meeting, and by 1956 the Burns trio was singing.
And if you listened carefully to the singing we've had this week,
especially when the whole congregation is singing without the
instruments, you will hear echoes of the music of the first Baptist
camp meetings 200 years ago, "Brethren we have met to worship" or
Holy Manna, first published in the Baptist Harmony in 1825, which
God led Brother Tom Hayes to remind us of last night, illustrates it
perfectly...echoes of past blessings and faint visions, as through a
glass darkly, of what God has in store for us in a better and
brighter world to come.
In January, 1952 the Greer Baptist Camp Meeting
Association bought the present 12 acre site for 1600 dollars. I was
taken along by my Dad in 1951 when the land was inspected and the
decision made to buy. Percy Pay, Odell Good, B. B. Caldwell and Dan
Norris were right here. Percy Ray, who was a very serious person and
always dressed in black suit, black shoes, and black tie, but white
shirt with a normal collar, got down on his knees in the pine
needles with all the others and prayed for the Lord's guidance in
the matter.
The meeting in 1952 was held in a tent pitched
here, just a little closer to the road and with the long axis of the
tent parallel to the road. I can remember helping to pitch that
tent. I remember my dad and Odell Good and Dan Norris driving tent
stakes made from Model A Ford axles. Some of the wooden benches were
made with lumber my dad had salvaged from unloading boxcars at
Thomas & Howard in Greenville where he had worked; some of them had
been bought from Oliver Greene and used in my dad's tent meetings.
My uncles, Aubrey and Carey Sightler, wired the tent for lighting. I
believe Percy Ray again preached the meeting. Harold Taylor led the
singing in this meeting and continued until 1957.
Also in 1952 Buck and Wade Huntley organized
the Blue Ridge Baptist Camp Meeting. This was the first daughter
camp meeting of the Greer meeting. For years my dad preached the
opening sermon. On a hot Sunday in July, right after church, we'd
get in the car and on the way to Hendersonville we'd eat a lunch of
sandwiches made by my mother. Usually two carloads of our members
would follow along, Norman Long, Jack and Guy Strickland, Mr.
Barrett, Benjamin Ross, Winky Redmond, Mr. Aiken and Melvin, Don
Wardlaw, Virgil Pepper, Harold Taylor...then we'd be back at
Tabernacle by 7:30 for two Sunday night services.
From 1952 to 1958 the meetings were held in
tents on this site here at Greer. Arthur Blackburn, pastor of Landis
Baptist Church in Landis, N. C. preached several times during these
years, as well as Buck Huntley of Hendersonville. In 1957 Buddy
Mullinax became pastor of Pelham Baptist Church and director and
song leader for the Camp Meeting. In l958 the tent blew down but the
meeting was held that night in the open air and then moved to
Pleasant View Baptist Church.
In 1959 Billy Kelly, from Oliver Springs,
Tennessee, preached for the first time, invited by Buddy Mullinax,
and was then involved with singing, songleading, and directing the
camp until his death last April. Remember the text, "Thou tellest my
wanderings". A permanent Tabernacle was built that year by Billy,
Buddy Mullinax, Harold McKinnish, Street Burns, Virgil Smith, who
fell from a rafter during the construction and broke his leg, and
Hal Dixon.
In 1960 Billy preached at the opening and
closing services on Sunday afternoon, Buddy Mullinax led singing,
Percy Ray preached the first week and Arthur Blackburn the second.
In 1961 Billy Kelly and Shelton Jones preached. In 1963 Joe Parsons,
Bob Gray, Clyde Billingsley and Buck Huntley all preached at various
times. In 1964 Bob Marshall opened the meeting, Billy led singing,
and Buck Huntley preached the first week and Curtis McCarley the
second. 1965 was the same.
By 1975 that building had deteriorated
seriously and my Dad called a meeting of a group of cooperating
preachers. A decision was made to make Billy Kelly permanent
director and caretaker and to put up a new building. But the
cooperating churches did not finance the new building which still
today keeps the sun and rain off our backs, and did not provide a
salary for Billy. During the years of his tenure Billy supported
himself by love offerings from his revival meetings. He raised money
from these meetings to put into the camp but did not take a salary
from the camp meeting. As a result of the 1975 meeting the 12 acres
of land here was given to Billy, and he immediately mortgaged the
land on his own signature alone to obtain the money to build this
tabernacle. A few individuals and churches made donations from time
to time but most of the mortgage was paid with money given in the
offerings here at the camp. Through it all Billy was personally
responsible for the debt and willingly shouldered the burden. He
gave the property back to the Greer Baptist Camp Meeting Association
in 1988. My Daddy never told me this...nor did Billy. I learned
about it only yesterday when, perhaps too boldly, I asked directly
how it was done. Billy kept that burden to himself. Do not forget
that it was also Mrs. Kelly's burden, and that she was as willing to
carry it as Billy was. But that was their character...that was their
love for the Lord, for the camp, and for all or us...that was the
practical effect of those tears in the text, those tears and prayers
recorded in God's account book which is going to be opened some day.
There have been many times when the camp survived on those tears in
God's bottle. Praise the Lord for his providence.
In 1981 God led Miss Judy Smith to come and
help take care of the camp and to supervise the building of the
dining hall and the cooking and the renovation of the platform. What
a wonderful person she was, faithful member of Tabernacle, good
gospel singer, knew the old time singers and singing school
teachers, did a wonderful recitation of the song John 3:16. How we
miss her..."Sisters will you join and help us, Moses' sisters aided
him", as Tom Hayes sang last night at the end of his sermon. Through
the last few years Billy has led singing and moderated as no one
else could have. In 1981 he started the morning services taught by
Billy Kannoy which continued until 1995, when Dr. Kannoy went home
to be with the Lord. We thank God for all those who have helped so
much...Gary Wagner, Ricky Satterfield; God bless them all. We have
heard the same good Bible preaching from Billy Kannoy, Maze Jackson,
Tom Hayes, who also grew up in this meeting and in the Blue Ridge
Campmeeting, and Buster Seaton that was heard in the early days.
Now the camp will be directed by Brother Joe
Arthur, pastor of Jonesboro Baptist Tabernacle in Jonesboro,
Georgia...taught by Billy for the last 15 years...just as Billy
wished. A new five member board has been set up to help in the
operation of the camp. The members of this board are: Dr. Melvin
Aiken, Dr. Jerry Clark, Pastor Ray Stuart, Pastor Tony Finney, and
Pastor Gary Tate. There soon will be an advisory board of all the
cooperating pastors...every voice will be heard. Churches are
giving. The camp is in God's hands, as it has always been. This week
the old landmarks have been carefully cleaned, and we have seen them
again. God was with us last night. I'm encouraged.
James H. Sightler, M. D.
This article was written and delivered by Dr. Sightler July 4, 1997
at the campground.
Sightler Publications
175 Joe Leonard Road
Greer, SC 29651
Used on tabernacleministries website by permission of the author.
Copyright all rights reserved.
