Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in southwestern Cass County, in a little place called Sardis, a congregation planted its roots back in 1861. The church went by a different name then.

Black Cypress Church, they called it. But the world would come to know it as Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, and the story of how it endured is something worth pulling over for. Now, Sardis itself was already standing before the Civil War swept across the land.

It was a proper little community in those days, with several businesses doing their trade. And right there in the middle of it, this congregation organized and got to work. From the very beginning, the members ran things their own way.

They elected their pastors yearly, a tradition that held for much of the church's history, with a number of those pastors earning enough trust to serve multiple terms. The first recorded pastor was a man named John Massey, elected right there at the founding in 1861. Think about that for a moment.

A congregation coming together, naming itself, choosing its first leader, all in the same year the country started tearing itself apart. By the 1870s, the members had erected a church building, a physical place to anchor everything they were building together. And through the decades that followed, Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church became something more than a Sunday meeting.

It was a cornerstone of Sardis, a religious and community institution that held people together through whatever the years brought. And here is what makes this story land, it never stopped. Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church continues to meet the spiritual needs of the residents of southwestern Cass County to this day.

Some things take root and simply refuse to let go.

What the marker says

Originally named Black Cypress Church, Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church organized in 1861 in the community of Sardis, which was established prior to the Civil War. At the time, Sardis was a small community with several businesses. For much of the church's history, members elected pastors yearly, with a number serving multiple terms. The first recorded pastor was John Massey, elected when the church was founded. By the 1870s, the members erected a church building. Throughout the following decades, Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church served as an important religious and community institution in Sardis. It continues to meet the spiritual needs of residents in southwestern Cass County. (2007)