Snow Hill Baptist to mark 120 years

Sunday, Snow Hill Baptist Church in Dobson will be celebrating 120 years of service, with a service beginning at 11 a.m., followed by a meal in the fellowship hall.

A look at the early history and the oldest record available, of the founding of Snow Hill Baptist Church, is the deed to the land that the church was built on. This deed was drawn up on Feb. 9, 1904, and was filed by the Register of Deeds at the Surry County Courthouse on April 7, 1904.

Prior to that, anyone living around the Twin Oaks Road, Cave’s Mill Road, or on Zephyr Road, those attending churches would have likely attended Union Cross Baptist Church or Little Vine Primitive Baptist Church, according to church officials.

“They were about the only churches in that local area at the time,” according to Snow Hill officials. “Many of the Snow family attended Union Cross then, including Byrd Winfield Snow. He owned land in that area, and had built a grist mill down the road from Union Cross on Snow Creek.

“According to an account told by the late Roosevelt Snow (Byrd’s son), Union Cross Church had decided to discontinue having footwashings, but some members desired to keep having them, including Byrd, and they left Union Cross to organize a new church. Since there was no church at the Snow Hill Cemetery, and it was close by, that site was chosen to erect their new church.

“The land, the cemetery was on, at that time belonged to Columbus C. Holyfield and his wife, Cary. They sold the plot (an acre more or less) to the trustees of the Union Baptist Church. The trustees were Byrd Winfield Snow, J.H. Norton, and Columbus, himself, and these three trustees are regarded as the founding members. The land was bought for the sum of $10 and the deed specified that the land was for church and graveyard purposes only, and could never be sold by the trustees or anybody else.”

Roosevelt Snow’s father had donated timber to be cut off his land and sawmilled to furnish the lumber needed to build the new church, which was first known as The Union Baptist at Snow Hill then, Snow Hill Union Baptist Church, and, from 1970 onward, as Snow Hill Baptist Church.

As the years have passed, some things have changed at Snow Hill Baptist Church such as the footwashings that were replaced with Homecoming Services in 1965, “but all of the pastors and the congregation have built on programs their predecessors began, and the church has continued to prosper.”

Sunday School and preaching are still held every Sunday, night services are held every first, third, and fifth Sunday nights, and each Wednesday night. The original church bell is still rung every Sunday morning and its tone echoes through the community as it has for 120 years.

The church has two radio broadcasts that can be heard each week on GBI Radio Sundays at 8:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 2:30 p.m.

“The church is still an old-fashioned, a King James Version Bible-believing, independent Baptist Church, that supports missionaries and often has services where people cry, testify, and say ‘Amen’ during worship, just as they have since the founding of the church,” church officials said.

“The church has had many wonderful pastors, five of which went on to establish other great churches.” R.B. Wood organized Welcome Valley Baptist Church, Don Ball organized Thanks to Calvary Baptist Church, Jerry Sizemore organized Gospel View Baptist Church, Larry Stone organized Anchored in Jesus Baptist Church, and Roger Pickett organized Dayspring Baptist Chapel Church.

“Snow Hill Baptist Church has strived to be on the right path, and keep it a place where people can worship God in Spirit, and in truth, and the lost can be saved. The current pastor, Bro. Jason Johnson, and his wife Sister Sarah, have been at the church for the past 15 years,” the longest tenure of the church’s pastors.

“They have devoted their lives to the work of the Lord, and the church, and have worked tirelessly to spread the Gospel, and to help, not only spiritually, but in any way they can, to the people in the community. Their strong faith in the Lord, and in what He can do in someone’s life, is evident by their favorite scripture verse: Luke 18:27 KJV “And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”