Begun in 1835
The year 2008 will mark the 173rd year of our cooperative ministry. The heritage of the Pickens Association is a proud one. Founded in 1835, it weathered three crises early in its life—it decided to be missionary and lost several churches to the Calvinist Baptists. It decided to be moderately Calvinistic and lost a church and some members to the Freewill Baptists. Following the War Between the States about 700 former slaves left the churches of the association to form churches of their own. Most of the congregations were desperately poor from after 1865 to the1950s. Almost all of the pastors were bivocational and/or preached to several congregations. In the early years most of the congregations met only once a month to deal with business, discipline and help members who had violated the terms of the church covenant, and to hold worship. Yet, the churches and the association kept focused on being Great Commission oriented, and God blessed.

Early Life and Missions
During the 19th Century the association was primarily an annual event which brought the people of the affiliated churches together for a three day “homecoming.” Saturday and Monday focused on business. Reports or letters indicating the growth, or decline, of each cooperating congregation would be heard. Should a church be troubled, a committee would be formed to go and seek to “bring it back in order”. Questions from the churches concerning doctrine or ethics might be brought from a church to the association for deliberation and counsel. The need to plant new churches in places “destitute of a Gospel witness” might be addressed. A “circular letter,” actually an essay on some point of doctrine, would be read, and if accepted, sent to the churches of the association for their enlightenment. Sunday was devoted to worship. Several messages by beloved local pastors and visiting ministers would be featured. Perhaps the highlight of the day; however, was a joint celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Prayer and inspiration for the task of evangelizing and disciplining the people of the county were intertwined in the event.
By 1870 many of the churches had added weekly Sunday Schools. These were formed into an auxiliary organization that meet quarterly in four districts across the association. The women formed missionary groups, and these were treated also as an auxiliary. (About 1900 women began to serve as messengers from the churches to the annual meeting.)
Missions and evangelism have been a central themes of the association across the years. Martha Foster Crawford went from the association to China along with here husband in 1852. She was one of the first sent by the Southern Baptists. She severed until 1908. She mentored the famous Lottie Moon who served in the same mission station. When China was closed to missionaries (1951), another daughter of the association, Addie Cox, was among those expelled. Several others from the association have gone to South America, Africa and Asia as missionaries. Others have served as home missionaries and pioneer church starters. Someone from the association has been under appointment by Southern Baptists for overseas missions continually since 1851. Currently, there are four. We are proud of this heritage. In early times from year to year the association would hire one of its ministers to serve as an evangelist. But in the 1880s the State Convention began appointing area evangelists who performed this task.

The Impact of the Railroads
The coming of the railroads to the area at the dawning of this century brought very significant changes in where and how people lived. Wisely, the leaders of the association recognized the need to form congregations in the emerging population centers of Gordo, Reform, Ethelsville and Aliceville. They entered into partnership with the State Board of Missions. New congregations were planted in Gordo and Reform. Ethelsville, the old South Carolina church, was strengthened as a field of churches with Mineral Springs, Pine Grove and Hickory Grove sharing a pastor. And Enon, the oldest church in Pickens, relocated in Aliceville.
Apparently, in response to this missions challenge, the association elected an executive committee and assigned to it the task of looking after the mission work and the Sunday School work of the association during the bulk of the year when the association was not meeting. Gradually, then, the association took on the added dimension of being an on-going organization. The reports and business of the association early in the 20th Century addressed issues such as temperance, world missions, ministerial education, aid for retired ministers, printed resources for study (communication), women’s work, and the emerging programs of the denomination such as Baptist Young People’s Union. After 1925 promotion of the Cooperative Program and the missions offerings were added.
In 1924 the association changed its name from Union to Pickens. By that time most of the churches in surrounding counties had united with an association that served its county. So, it seemed appropriate to take on the county name. Most of our neighboring associations have done the same.

Work of Associational Missionaries
The end of World War II found only four of the churches worshiping every Sunday. Many of the churches were small and poor and stagnant. This was true all across the rural South. With help from the State Baptist Convention, the association hired its first year around missionary, Miss Emma Burgin, in 1948, a product of the Hebron Church and a graduate of Southwestern Seminary. She was followed by J. W. Caldwell and by Joseph M. Dean. A layman, Mr. Dean served from 1956 to 1972. He seems to have greatly expanded the on-going promotional role of the association. In 1960 the constitution was greatly enlarged to include an expanded set of ongoing committees and job descriptions for associational officers and program leaders. The association became the distributor of programs developed by the SBC and State Convention which aided in strengthening the work of the local churches. Many of the churches moved from being part-time to full-time, at least in the sense have having worship twice each Sunday. Most became “Four Star” churches offering the standard programs of SBC life. The next 17 years saw the ministry of Oel Hendrix. He was gifted at building relationships and networks among people. Many of the leaders of the PBA today became involved in the work because he recognized their potential and mentored them. He further institutionalized the work of the association and focused upon promoting programs and events that would strengthen the churches. The first half century of having a regular associational missionary was rounded out by Ernie Carroll. He focused an expanding ministry activities such as the Baptist Center Thrift Store and the building of the new office with excellent facilities for associational events.

The year 1998 opened with a new missionary, Gary Farley: ‘My sense is that the program promotion role will be shifting more to the state convention. I see the association cooperating with the State in providing training which is contextualized to the needs and opportunities of our churches and their communities. We will need to partner with the state convention to help the churches be strong and effective Each church will be encouraged to provide unique ministries and stretch out even beyond their traditional community boundaries to reach those who need that ministry or who are gifted in providing it.’

Articles going further in depth into the history of our association (all files are in pdf format):