The first meeting for worship of the church was held on September 23, 1951, in the Henderson County Courthouse. Several members of the group were visitors in the area from Florida. One person, William Roe, and his family were leaders in this original effort. His granddaughter, Becky Levi, and her daughters are current members.

The congregation was larger in the summer months due to area visitors while in the other times of the year there were few, sometimes only two or three, who were gathered. Brother and Sister Claude and Bonnie Justus were faithful members for many years and were on occasion the only ones attending on Sunday morning.

Shortly after the beginning, the church moved to meeting in the W.O.W. building downtown. W. L. George was the first minister. Brother Roe found a lot for sale on Oakland Street which he purchased and donated lumber from trees on his property a short distance from the present location to help erect the building. He was a contractor and directed construction.

In Nov ember, 1954, Jim Davis and his family moved to Hendersonville to work with the church as the first full-time minister. His son, Bruce, is a current member. Brother Davis continued to work with the church until 1965 except for a brief period when he preached in Valdese, North Carolina, while Roy Fudge served here.

During the years from 1954 to 1965 the community grew with the building of the General Electric plant in Hendersonville and the Olin Corporation plant in Brevard. Several new families moved in with these plants. In 1965, the decision was made to start a church in Brevard and Jim Davis along with his family and several others moved to begin that work. The work in Hendersonville continued to grow with ministers Kelly, Willis, Geer and Milton. During a period of about one and a half years Ken Hyder and Tom Ledbetter, local members, preached after Brother Geer.

In June of 1976, Don Wood and his family moved from Florida to work here. Membership had grown to about eight-five. That year two major decisions were made that had a major impact on the future of the church. Elders and deacons were appointed. The first elders were Bud Gibson and J.B. Henderson. The first deacons were Ben Cochran, Bud Dill, Floy d Grindstaff, and Frank Love. A short time later Ken Merritt, Sr., was appointed as an elder and Bill Beech and Bob Ledford as deacons. Later, Hagood Godley was also made an elder.

The other major decision was to purchase the present site and construct a new building. Construction began in April 1979 and on December 30, 1979, the first worship service was held with 179 in attendance. The building with a seating capacity of approximately 300 has been very useful to the work. It has been recently renovated after thirty years use. An educational building and fellowship area was constructed in 1992, and a picnic shelter was built in 2003.

When Don Wood moved away in 1982, Franklin Moore served as the minister until 1984 when he and his wife, Patty, moved to Scotland as missionaries. With his departure, Jerry Senn and his family came. He preached for twentytwo years when he resigned due to health reasons. During the latter part of his stay he served as an elder along with Jim Keevert and J.B.
Henderson until J.B.’s illness and death.

The current minister, Stephen Teel and wife Dianna came in 2006. The present elders include Lloyd Cain, Jim Keevert, Duncan Blake, Gary Riv ers, Hugh Price, Sam Williams, and Bill McKelvey. The current deacons are Blain Bice, Tom Bullard, Wes Davis, Frank Edney, Floyd Grindstaff, Mark LaFever, Rod Price, Mike Walls, and Don Yelton.

Over the past twenty-five years youth ministers have included Jeff Golson, Danny Boggs, Jonathan Tucker, Will Tucker, and presently Rob Fraser.

— Tom Ledbetter