Sunday School: 10:00 a.m.
Worship: 11:00 a.m.
Bible Study - 1st and 3rd Thursdays
Christian Women's Fellowship - 2nd Thursday
Youth Group - Periodically Meets
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This first section was written and compiled by Rev. John B. Walker in 1966
A Baptist minister, Elder “Raccoon”1 John Smith was the first minister of Somerset Christian Church. The church was formed in 1829 when a minority in the Grassy Lick Baptist Church2 on Old Grassy Lick Road had accused Smith of preaching heresy. The alleged heresy was that Smith would not agree to the old Baptist Philadelphia Confession which taught that God made up his mind before man was even created as to who would be damned and who would be saved.” This was called the doctrine concerning the Elect. The congregation, numbering about 120, first located in a heavily wooded area beside old Somerset Creek about a mile back of its present location. They called themselves “Disciples” and their church “a Church of Jesus Christ.” While plans were being made for a building to house them, “Raccoon” John used a crude stand for a pulpit and everyone sat on logs rolled together for benches. By 1832 the new log meetinghouse was completed and Smith agreed to be with them every third Sunday for preaching services. This must have been an exciting year for Somerset, for this was the same year that Elder “Raccoon” John Smith and Barton W. Stone, who preached at the Cane Ridge meetinghouse, met in Lexington, KY. to unite their two movements (Smith was with the “Disciples” and Stone was with the “Christians”) into one movement that would seek to bring about Christian union of all church members upon the basis of New Testament doctrine alone. This was the true birth of our present day Brotherhood which is called Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and had over two million members. Think what a contribution Somerset’s first minister made! By 1836 the congregation decided to start meeting weekly for communion, although Smith could still only be with them once a month. The church grew in those early years and by 1847 was the third largest Christian Church in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Until the War between the States about two hundred and fifty Negro slaves were listed on Somerset’s membership roll under their owner’s names. During this war no citizen was safe as soldiers camped in and around the woods near Somerset Creek. No women were safe outside the house and every good horse left unprotected was stolen. Three brave men named David Hathaway, Denman Highland, and Newton Lane, resolved that despite all obstacles they would be a Somerset every Lord’s Day for communion services. An interesting heresy trial arose out of their relationship. In the fall of 1874, the old Somerset Meeting House accidently burned and by a vote of approximately one hundred eighty to seventy, the members voted to move the church to its present site on Maysville Road. In 1882 a Sunday School was formed and has been called to order ever since. About this same time the church began to be served by students and professors from the College of the Bible (now Lexington Theological Seminary) and has continued to call upon men from this outstanding Christian Church seminary ever since. Almost every minister that has served Somerset has gone on to become an outstanding leader in the Brotherhood and we should be thankful for this opportunity to help train such young and potential leadership. The listing of ministers follows this narrative. In 1940, art glass windows were installed in the church as memorials and in 1955 a $5,000 Sunday School unit was added onto the back of the church. These much needed improvements mush have spurred the members to greater heights because in 1957 and 1958 Somerset received citations from President Frank Dickey of the University of Kentucky for outstanding community service rendered during those years. This award has since been discontinued. So many things could be mentioned in this brief history. Among these are our youth work and witness to youth in the community including the sending of many of them to summer camp and conference; our outreach by giving to the cause of world missions; our participation and sponsorship of community ball leagues; the participation of our ministers in the Montgomery County Ministerial Association, etc. Even today Somerset Christian Church is not content to stand still! In the of 1965 the church called her first full-time minister and wife team to serve the church in December of the same year, it purchased the first parsonage in its history on the Bunker Hill Road. This step has greatly added to the church’s outreach in the local community. Also, in March of 1966 another first for Somerset was the live broadcasts of the Sunday morning worship services over Radio Station WMST in Mt. Sterling. Surely today Elder “Raccoon” John Smith would be proud of the church which had such humble beginnings in 1829 by Somerset Creek and wold urge us onward toward greater love of Christ, the unity of all Christians, and deeper service to our fellow man. ------------------ 1. He was early nicknamed “Raccoon” to distinguish him from all the other John Smiths in the vicinity and because his home was in Cumberland County., Ky. where raccoons were among the major habitats of nature. 2. At the time it was located on Grassy Lick Road, Mt. Sterling, Ky., but is no longer in existence. |
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Known Ministers of |
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“Racoon” John Smith Powers |
1829 - 1860 |
C. A. Weesner |
1929 - 1932 |
Additional Information Concerning “Raccoon John Smith” The next section is a compilation of information taken from a research paper by William J. Bonner, a student at Lexington Theological Seminary. Dated May, 4, 2000. Elder John Smith (1784 - 1868), who always resisted the nickname “Raccoon John” was a man who lacked formal education, but was a canny, resolute and strictly Calvinistic Baptist when he arrived in Montgomery County and preached at several churches in a rotation schedule. In March 1822, while preaching at Spencer’s Creek Baptist church, he was “... urging sinners to repent, and to believe the Gospel. Jesus died for you,” said he; “but if you believe not, you must be damned: His mind was suddenly confused with the thought that, if the elect should not believe, his preaching was false, for they would not be damned; and, if the non-elect should believe, their faith would be false, for, according to his creed, Christ did not die for them. Must the non-elect, then thought he, be damned for not believing what is false? Or the elect be saved, though denying the truth? Too honest thus to exhort the people any longer, he closed his address. “Brethren,” said he, “something is wrong—I am in the dark—we are all in the dark; but how to lead you to the light, or to find the way myself, before God, I know not.” -- (quoted from John Augustus Williams, Life of Elder John Smith, (Cincinnati: R.W. Carroll & Co., 1870) p. 115) It was during this time that events led Smith to leave the strict Calvinistic doctrine and search for a more comprehensive rendering of the New Testament faith. Smith could not come to any illumination to resolve the dilemma involving the doctrine of the elect which had brought his Spencer’s Creek discourse to such an abrupt halt. Because of his inability to accept many of the other strict Calvinistic doctrines, he was led to reject the Covenant of fifteen articles based upon the Philadelphia Confession. In 1829 he attempted to resign as the pastor of Grassy Lick Baptist Church because of his inability to agree to the Covenant, but the church would not accept his resignation. He desired to leave them in peace, since he had no quarrel with the church, and he finally convinced the church to give him a letter in fellowship which would allow him to join another congregation. Two-thirds of the congregation followed, with a total of 120 receiving their letters without any allegations against their Christian or moral character. These individuals, in 1829, met together to form a church united by a common faith and constituted on the Word of God. After meeting in a wooded area near Somerset Creek, they built a brick meeting house 80 by 50 feet with four doors, four six-foot wood fire places, and two three-foot stoves. The seats were split logs with huge pegs 20 inches long to hold them up, and they had no backs. For the first three years, the floor was dirt. This new church became associated with the Barton W. Stone “Christian” and the Alexander and Thomas Campbell “Disciples” movements of Christian Churches and have remained in that association. |
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RECENT HISTORY Time has a way of changing all things physical, and the church building at Somerset had not escaped these changes. In the early 1990’s, the two large gas stoves which provided uneven heat to the members during the cold winter months, were replaced with central heat and air conditioning. This upgrade in facilities was due to a gift from Nancy Gilvin, a member at that time. Not too long after that, the congregation voted to add padding to the pews and to have the pews refinished. (Compare this to the first three years of the congregation in the original building as noted in the previous section!) Soon after that time, in the late 1990’s, another generous gift from a deceased member, Mrs. Virginia Calk, allowed the congregation, under the apt leadership of then chairman, Russell Highly, Jr., to build a fellowship hall behind the Sunday school rooms. This hall replaced the original fellowship hall in the basement, which had been prone to flood quite often. At the same time, the Sunday school rooms were repaired, the woodwork and walls sanded and repainted, the library enlarged by the removal of a closet, and the walls of the Sanctuary covered with sheetrock and painted. In addition, a vestibule was added to the front of the Church building, allowing a place to enter during inclement weather, without disturbing any meeting within the Sanctuary. All of this construction was accomplished without a building campaign since the donation from Mrs. Virginia Calk was set aside in a trust fund, and the interest from that fund paid for the repairs and expansion. It was also the great blessing of the church to increase their outreach during this time, in an attempt to give a “tithe” of their offerings to missions and charity work. On September 8, 2002, the congregation was blessed to participate in the ordination into pastoral ministry of one of their members, Brandon Gilvin, son of Billy Wayne and the late Nancy Gilvin. In 2006, the congregation called Dr. William Evans, their “interim” minister of the previous 15 years, to a full-time position. The church has experienced sorrows and tragedies, joys and blessings over the years, but we remain a dedicated group of Christians. Always family oriented, we are still united by a common faith constituted on the Word of God. The spirit of “Raccoon” John Smith lives on in this congregation as together we attempt to follow the Spirit of the Living God in all that we do, say and are. |
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