Skip to content
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
The Baptist Paper
The Baptist Paper
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds

Georgia’s oldest Southern Baptist church celebrates 250 years

  • September 29, 2022
  • Georgia's The Christian Index
  • Georgia, Latest News
A historical marker identifies Kiokee Baptist Church as the oldest Southern Baptist Church in Georgia.
(Photo courtesy of the Christian Index)

Georgia’s oldest Southern Baptist church celebrates 250 years

Kiokee Baptist Church, founded 250 years ago by a pastor who was converted during the religious revival that swept through colonial America, remains one of the state’s top baptizing churches.

And this past Sunday (Sept. 25), the church celebrated its semiquincentennial anniversary — Georgia’s oldest Southern Baptist church also baptized 15 new believers.

“Kiokee has an incredible heritage, but, more importantly, it is still impacting lives today,” said W. Thomas Hammond Jr., executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

“For 250 years, Kiokee has stayed true to its convictions, saving the lost, discipling the saved, sending missionaries and supporting missions,” Hammond noted. “Countless souls have been saved as a result of the ministries and faithful members of this church and hundreds of other churches that it has helped to plant.”

Priorities

Bert Pollard, a descendant of Kiokee’s founding pastor, Daniel Marshall, said the church is careful to make reaching lost souls its No. 1 priority.

“We still proclaim the timeless truth of the gospel,” Pollard said. “The greatest need of the human heart has not changed. The greatest need is Jesus, and our church proclaims Him as Lord and Savior. That’s why God has blessed us.”

Since the arrival of current pastor Steve Hartman 23 years ago, the church has baptized some 600 new believers.

The church’s overall membership now stands at about 1,400. Its building is anything but a colonial log cabin. By sheer dimensions, the massive church looks like it belongs in a major city, not rural Columbia County.

“Kiokee teaches the Bible and preaches the Bible,” said church member Nell Morris. “The people are the most loving, genuine and giving people. And there is such unity in this church.”

Consistency

Despite the massive changes in the world around them, Kiokee has managed to keep the evangelistic fervor of the group of hardscrabble farmers who started the church in 1772.

Marshall, the founding pastor, was a Connecticut native who planted churches in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina before arriving in Georgia.

Hartman noted, “He was threatened with imprisonment by Anglican authorities in Augusta if he continued to preach in colonial Georgia. He did preach, and he was arrested.”

History records that the constable who arrested Marshall was converted, as was his jailer, who later became a deacon at Kiokee.

Marshall was one of an army of preachers unleashed on colonial America during the Great Awakening.

“The world has seldom witnessed a more consecrated devotion to Christ than was displayed by these mostly untrained and unsophisticated preachers of the Gospel,” says a historic account compiled by Kiokee Baptist Church.

“During the day they would labor on their farms and at night study their Bibles until near the close of the week, and at the proper time, they would start to their appointments, which often were more than 40 miles away,” the church noted. “Sometimes pioneer roads were nonexistent and travel was extremely difficult. These dedicated and determined men of God would frequently endure extreme heat and cold and encounter rain swollen streams — but undaunted they would swim to the opposite side and continue their journey, determined to keep their engagements.”

‘The body of Christ in action’

Kiokee Baptist Church has had a huge impact on Georgia’s religious history, spawning numerous other congregations, including First Baptist Church in Augusta, the birthplace of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S.

“Literally hundreds of churches can be traced back to Kiokee,” said Southern Baptist historian Charles Jones.

Planting a church 250 years ago, Jones said, meant backbreaking work with men cutting trees and fashioning them into logs of appropriate dimensions to build what was typically simple, one-room meeting houses.

Demographics of the Appling area have changed dramatically, especially in recent years with the expansions at Fort Gordon, one of Georgia’s two largest military installations, as well as the opening of a John Deere manufacturing plant and two Amazon fulfillment centers.

The economic growth has brought new families into the area and has been a spiritual bonanza for the church.

Hartman said the congregation has welcomed the new families.

That hospitality, Hartman said, is a reflection of the church’s heart to reach the unchurched.

“Kiokee is the body of Christ in action, a blessed people who seek to declare God’s greatness to their community and the world by demonstrating his love and making disciples of Jesus,” he said.


EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Roger Alford and originally published by the Christian Index. 

Share with others:

Facebook
X/Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Latest News

  • Baptist Campus Ministry at WKU awarded ‘Best of the Hill’
    Baptist Campus Ministry at WKU awarded ‘Best of the Hill’
    May 17, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • First person: Celebrating the people you serve, love
    First person: Celebrating the people you serve, love
    May 17, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • Looking for the 2025 SBC Book of Reports? It’s available online.
    Looking for the 2025 SBC Book of Reports? It’s available online.
    May 16, 2025/
    0 Comments

Sign up for the Highlights

Get all latest content delivered to your email a few times a month.
Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

Related Posts

Baptist Campus Ministry at WKU awarded ‘Best of the Hill’

The Baptist Campus Ministry at Western Kentucky University was awarded with the Best of the Hill recognition by the College Heights Herald, the campus newspaper.

First person: Celebrating the people you serve, love

One of the joys of pastoring is celebrating the milestone achievements of the people you serve and love.

Looking for the 2025 SBC Book of Reports? It’s available online.

If you’re looking to brush up on your business and financial reports knowledge ahead of this year’s Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas (June 10–11), the SBC has released its 2025 Book of Reports online.

Second VP role gets second nominee, making it first contested SBC race so far

A second nominee has been announced for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, making it the first contested race for an SBC post so far this year. Craig Carlisle, current Alabama convention president, will be nominated.

Want to receive news highlights throughout the week? Sign up here!

Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

About

  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us
  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us

Explore

  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos

Submissions

  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy
  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
The Baptist Paper
Address:
3310 Independence Dr.
Birmingham, AL 35209
Copyright © 2025 TAB Media Group
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ

Email:
news@thebaptistpaper.org

About

  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church
  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church

Explore

  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news

Subscribe

  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate

Log Out?

Lost your password?

Log In

Lost your password?

Log in

Become a part of our community!
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy/Terms of Use

Reset password

Recover your password
A password reset link will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy/Terms of Use
Back to
Login
×
Close Panel