The Pine Knott Church of Christ Endures the Test of Time.

This is an article that I wrote several years ago about one of the oldest churches in my home town of Paragould, Arkansas. 

The Pine Knott Church of Christ Endures the Test of Time.

By Logan A. Bettis

 At age 20, a young preacher and farmer named James Hyde began preaching the Gospel. He was the first preacher of the Pine Knott Church of Christ (then called the Christen Church or Disciples of Christ. The name Church of Christ wasn’t used exclusively until the Church of Christ left the Disciples in 1906). This small church has survived for nearly 200 years and though the membership has changed over time, the faith of Pine Knott’s members is as strong as it was when Hyde, his wife Sara who was a full-blooded Cherokee Native American and a small group of founding members held their first service in a small log building with a dirt floor. Many of their children would become ministers for the church and continue to spread the Gospel across Greene country.

(Above) The building where the Pine Knott Church of Christ worships today which was built in 1967)

Pine Knott’s Foundation

The Pine Knott Church of Christ was founded in 1841 when James Hyde deeded forty acres for small church and cemetery. B. C. Treadway, an elder of the church also deeded part of the land where the Old Pine cemetery stands. L.C. Thompson and Benjamin Tennison were also ordained elders who helped finance and build the small church. The Pine Knott congregation was a "pioneer church" established by some of the first settlers of Greene County. It is the oldest congregation in Greene County and the oldest congregation west of the Mississippi River. According to History and Families Greene County Arkansas Est. 1833, Vol. 1, James Hyde was Pine Knott’s first preacher at age 20. In the early days, the services were held in a log building with a dirt floor. It is said that Hyde would sometimes preach barefoot. He and his wife came to Greene County from South Carolina. Other members of the Pine Knott Church of Christ’s first congregation who played a major role in its founding were Newell Greenway, L. C. Thompson, Benjamin Tennison and Res McClure.

In Arkansas Angels tells of a preacher from the Pine Knott congregation’s early days named James M. Higgins. He was said to be a faithful member of the Pine Knott Church of Christ who traveled by wagon regardless of how bad the weather became. Although he was born five years after the Pine Knott congregation was founded, James Higgins also served as an elder, tending to God’s flock for many years.

In Morgan’s Arkansas Angels article entitled "Unusual Happenings in Arkansas" Benjamin H. Crowley, the son of Cpt. Benjamin Crowley. Written in 1906 for a newspaper called Soliphone (now the Paragould Daily Press), Crowley speaks fondly of James Hyde. Benjamin H. Crowley called Hyde "one of nature’s true noblemen" and, "among the most honest and upright men the world ever knew" He recalled an account of a merchant who sold Hyde a pair of mules. The merchant was at first skeptical and refused to give Hyde the mules without a cash payment. Later, he asked a writer who knew Hyde about his character. The writer told the merchant that "men in this country could stand by Jim Hyde when they would not stand by themselves." The merchant later gave Hyde the mules and said he could wait until the fall when he sold his cattle to repay the debt.
A few years after the construction of the log building, a sturdier wood -framed church was built. In 1900, it was destroyed in a fire. A larger wooden building was built after the fire and remained in use until 1967 when a permanent brick structure was built. The brick church building is still in use today. Following the fires, the congregation moved its building from the north side of the road to the south and finally, back to the north were the brick building is today.

Sadie Toler, a long time member of the Pine Knott Church of Christ, and the great-niece of James Hyde, said the church’s founding congregation numbered three to four hundred members. Ms. Toler told me that each year on the fourth Sunday of June the church commemorates its anniversary. This year will mark the 168^{th many different pies, cakes and other deserts. Sadie Toler also told me that the church used to have outdoor picnics. Especially in fair weather, they would sit on Homecoming for the Pine Knott Church of Christ. To celebrate the anniversary of their congregation’s founding, the congregation will hold a fellowship gathering with plenty of food likely a pot-luck style meal with fried chicken, casseroles, and benches under the shade of pine trees in the church yard.}


Ms. Toler said that although some members came by horse-drawn carriage, most members of the early Pine Knott Church of Christ rode in simple horse-drawn wagons. The worship practices of the early Pine Knott Church of Christ were simple since they aspired to follow the examples given by the Apostles in the first century church shortly after Jesus Christ’s death.


The Way They Worshiped
The beliefs of the Churches of Christ especially in the days of "pioneer churches" of the early 19th-century Restoration Movement held to the teachings of Alexander Campbell, a Scotch-Irish immigrant and former Presbyterian pastor. Campbell left the Presbyterian church because he opposed the practice of the to the practice of infant baptism and also favored baptism by full emersion. Campbell's belief in religious free will as opposed to the Presbyterian doctrine of predestination-the idea that God long ago decided who would and would not be saved and this predetermined course cannot be altered by righteous behavior were also at odds with one another. Campbell deeply opposed to the Scottish Presbyterian Church’s policy of issuing small sliver coins called communing tokens. Each congregant was examined by the officials of the church called elders. If the church member was deemed too sinful or were told that they knew too little about the Bible or church teachings, they were denied common. Tough the practice of issuing communion tokens was seen as a way of discerning the faithful from the unfaithful, it was often abused and eventually was used as a means of control much like the way indulgences were abused by the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation that spared Martin Luther's decent from Catholicism. During the Restoration Movement, he was accredited as being the secular founder of the Church of Christ. This often leads to some people incorrectly referring to the Church of Christ as the "Campbellite" church which was often used as a slur against members of the Church of Christ. They referred to themselves as the Christian church, Church of Christ or the Disciples of Christ because those were the terms that they felt the Apostles used rather than referring to a man-made creed (Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian etc.)

How a congregation is organized.

The organization of the Church of Christ is simple and independently congregational. There is no diocese or central governing body like the Vatican or the Southern Baptist Convention. Each congregation is governed by a group of men called elders. Elders are elected by members of the congregation based on the qualifications given in 1Tim. 3:1-8 ‘He must only have one wife, he must be sober, he must have firm control over his household, he must be honest, etc.’ Elders have the authority to hire and dismiss preachers, deacons, and Sunday school teachers and handle disputes within the congregation. Deacons are just below elders and undergo further training and study before being ordained as elders. The duties of a deacon are similar to those of an elder. Organizing missionary programs, youth groups and community service projects like soup kitchens are all duties of a deacon. The qualifications for a deacon are similar to those of an elder and are mentioned in the same verses. The ministers’ duties are to preach behind the pulpit (and handle some of the duties of the elders if needed.) Though elders have much authority within the church, if they fail to meet the spiritual and physical needs of the church, they can be dismissed.

Unlike Pine Knott and other traditional congregations, a degree in the ministry is required in order to be ordained in many modern congregations Colleges associated with the Church of Christ are the most common places for ministers to earn their degree. The Sunday school teacher’s job is to teach the children in a congregation. Depending on the size of the congregation, the classes may be divided into age groups as would a public or private school.

How communion is served.

Communion was served each Sunday. Members of a congregation are only allowed to take communion after they have been baptized. A loyal member of the congregation named Amy Greeneway baked fresh unleavened bread and distilled the wine herself. The homemade wine was drunk from two separate cups by each member of the congregation. The practice of using two cups for communion was used for 80 years. Today, many congregations use the shot-glass sized communion cups in their worship services for sanitation concerns. Grape juice is often substituted for wine in many congregations because of the concern about alcohol usage.


The giving of alms in the church.
After communion is taken on Sunday, collection plates or baskets are passed around the congregation to collect donations from a congregation’s members. Donations are voluntary and each member can give any amount they wish. Members are not chastised if they can’t donate. The money is used for basic functions like utilities, paying the preacher, mission work etc.

How baptisms are preformed.

Baptisms were preformed by complete bodily immersion after a person confessed their sins and confessed a belief in Jesus as their Lord. There was not specific age for baptism though traditionally, a person is baptized at ‘the age of accountability’, the point when a person is able to discern right from wrong and understand the spiritual obligations that come with becoming a Christian. The first baptistry used by the Pine Knott Church of Christ was made of wood and was fed by a near by spring. A concrete baptistery was built one hundred years later and is used to this day.


Disfellowshipping
Disfellowshipping is the practice of refusing to associate with and shunning certain members who caused trouble in a congregation. The person is disfellowshipped until the troublemaker has repented of his or her sin and resolved the conflict. The Pine Knott congregation have never disfellowshipped any of their members.


Why the Church of Christ sings in acappella.
In 1906, the Church of Christ left the Disciples of Christ (also called the Christian church) over a dispute about the use of instrumental music in worship. The Disciples advocated instrumental worship whereas the Church of Christ sang hymns strictly acappella (vocal music with no instrumental accompaniment). The specific dispute was of the use of a piano during religious services. Gospel hymns were sung strictly acappella in accordance with Eph. 5:19 "Sing and make melody in your hearts." The principle behind the use of acappella music is the belief that the New Testament gives no description of instrumental music in actual worship services.


The Pine Knott Singing School.

The Pine Knott Singing School can be found directly across from the Pine Knott church. The school teaches basic music theory and how to apply musical theory in Christian worship. The school was only open two weeks during the winter season. Early Johns, who was a song leader and faithful member of Pine Knott was a teacher for the Pine Knott singing school and several others in various congregations around the area.

Students of the Pine Knott Singing School (left). The date of the above photograph is unknown. James Hyde, Pine Knott's first preacher (right).

The Old Pine/Honey Cemetery
The Old Pine/Honey Cemetery is the final resting place of James Hyde, his wife Sara and many members of Pine Knott’s very first congregation. The cemetery is located to the north of the Pine Knott church and was built around the same time as the Pine Knott congregation’s first church building. The cemetery plot is small and simple in structure. It is in a wooded area that unfortunately has fallen into disrepair. A newer cemetery was built most likely in the late 1800s and is still in use today.

          

The current Pine Knott cemetery (top) and the original burial cemetery (bottom)

My Final Thoughts
Though I am not a member of the Pine Knott congregation, it is still great to see that faithful brethren have served in my home town for over a century. It will be wonderful to see how they continue to serve the Lord in the twenty-first century and in the centuries to come.

. Some core principles of the Pine Knott Church of Christ still in practice today ^{are called the Plan of Salvation. They are:}

 

Plan of Salvation According to the Church of Christ

• Repent of your past sins.

• Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

• Be baptized into Christ' church.

• Live a faithful life of service to God until death.