By Gerri Miller
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
Millbrook First United Methodist Church is gearing up to celebrate its 100th Anniversary with special events happening on Sunday, Sept. 19th.
That special Sunday will include one worship service at 10 a.m. The Rev. Dan Morris, who was pastor of the church from 1992 to 2006, will lead the service. District Superintendent Dr. Mike Pearson will also attend. A barbeque lunch will be provided after the service.
The public is invited and anyone related to the church’s charter members is encouraged to attend this special day of recognition.
Church member Cheryll Bass is heading up the celebration. She said church members are providing 300 recipes for a “Taste of a Centennial” cook book. The cook book will be available on that Sunday for $20, online, or through the church office afterwards. T-shirts are also being ordered and will be available for $20 at the event, through the church office or online at www.mfumc.org
Bass said there will be a wall display featuring a tree showing a history of the church’s pastors as well as a history table filled with antique mementoes such as communion plates, crosses, and photographs.
The church was founded by a group of Methodists living in the Millbrook area who because interested in organizing a Methodist church in 1920.
The group approached the Rev. J.O. Lawrence, who preached at the old Robinson Springs M.E. Church, Rocky Mount, and five other points in the Deatsville circuit. Rev. Lawrence consented to preach on the fourth Sunday, which was January 1921 at the Millbrook school house. He announced that if those who were members of a Methodist Church elsewhere would return on the fourth Sunday with their certificates of membership, he would organize a church.
On that day, 34 people assembled and the church was organized with D.T. Day and Doris Turnipseed as the first stewards. There were 23 charter members with the records showing that roll grew to 50 members under Rev. Lawrence’s leadership.
Charter members included Frances Jemison Gilmer, Margaret J. Gilmer, Lucinda Gilmer Millson, Eddie H. Gilmer, George W. Brown, D.D. Frazer, Charles Boswell Turnipseed and Mrs. Charles B. Turnipseed (Elizabeth Bettie Warner), Aline Turnipseed Lowry, Doris Turnipseed Cobb, Charles P. Turnipseed, Martha Elizabeth Turnipseed McCampbell, Mary Turnipseed Lowry, Samuel Brackin Cobb, Sr., Mary Hall Cobb Wheelus, Janie Delilah Cobb Horne, James Calvin Cobb, Sr., Thomas Warren Cox, Mrs. T.W. Cox (Amanda Greene), Dewitt Talmage Day, Mrs. Dewitt Talmage Day, (Julia Lee Maddox) and Mrs. Price Chapman (Mary Dee Vaughn).
The service continued in the school house on the fourth Sunday of each month. In February of 1922, the members made a request for a Methodist Sunday School. It was organized on the fourth Sunday of that month with A.L. Day as Superintendent and John Bagwell, Mrs. D.D. Fraser, Mrs. R.M. Rawlinson and Doris Turnipseed as teachers.
In the meantime, a Woman’s Missionary Society had been organized in the home of Mrs. Bagwell, with Mrs. Frasier as president.
During the summer of that same year, a meeting was held to discuss getting a building for the church. A fund was started and in the fall a residence in Millbrook was purchased. On Thanksgiving Day of 1922, the Methodists invited people to join them in a day of work to prepare for the newly-acquired church building.
The congregation grew and worshipped there until 1926, when the building was sold. The church moved to the school house, which had been vacated to consolidate at Robinson Springs. In 1927 the school property was purchased and remodeled into a church.
During the next few years, the church, like businesses and individuals, suffered during the depression. During World War II, the church had to struggle to exist but began to grow again after the war. It progressed into a three-point circuit with Elmore and Robinson Springs.
In 1954, the Annual Conference recognized the growth and needs and regrouped churches so that Millbrook and Robinson Springs became a two-point charge with the Rev. Clyde Bass as Minister.
With steady growth came demand for more educational facilities and in 1955 a new Annex was constructed for classrooms and recreation. In 1957 the church purchased a parsonage and vacant lot adjoining the church property and got its first resident minister.
In 1959, a full program was launched for the church. One new group organized was the Methodist Men’s Club, with Sam B. Cobb, Jr., as its first president.
In 1962, the congregation moved into its new $45,000 Sanctuary, which would seat 230 people. A balcony was added to make the ultimate seating capacity 300. The church continued to grow and in the early 1980s, Sunday School rooms and office space were added to the back of the Sanctuary.
In 1994, with an increase in the number of young people in the church, a recreational building was constructed adjacent to the Fellowship Hall building.
In the mid-1990s, the church constructed a Family Life Center consisting of 10 additional classrooms and a fellowship hall with kitchen facilities. On March 17, 2013, church members broke ground for a new sanctuary. The beautiful new complex, complete with ornate stained-glass windows and state-of-the-art lighting and sound, was dedicated on June 5, 2014.
Church members are active in the community, working with the local food bank as well as providing coats for those who need them. The church has provided respite care for families who have children with special needs as well as yearly vacation bible schools, youth, and children’s camps.
The church has a nursing home ministry and a senior adult ministry called PrimeTimers, which will resume in September. PrimeTimers meets the first Monday of each month at 10:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. A special program on a variety of community issues is planned for each month. After the program, the group has a covered dish lunch.
For more information on the church, call the church office at (334) 285-4114 or e-mail the church office at [email protected]
