Pine Bluff Seventh-day Adventist Church

A Brief History of Pine Bluff, Arkansas

The Work Begins

In January 1940, a little group of Adventists organized a Sabbath school at Pine Bluff. The members faithfully worked to share the Adventist message with their neighbors and friends (Record, 1940).

A New Church in 1947

Pine Bluff Church built in 1947. Photo courtesy of the Southwestern Union Record.

The little group of members at Pine Bluff was made up of six ladies and one man. They began meeting in a new church in 1947, although the outside was not quite finished (Wells, 1947). Their little church was on a spacious lot with beautiful oak trees for shade (Holden, 1947). In July 1948, the members finished up the new church with stucco and landscaping. The ladies of the Dorcas Society were busy making and selling potholders and aprons to raise money for the pews (Holden, 1948a). By November 1948, the new pews were in place (Holden, 1948b).

Pine Bluff Church Organized in 1949

Sabbath, June 11, 1949, the church in Pine Bluff was organized and the new building dedicated. Friends from out of state, Elder A. E. Eubanks from conference headquarters, and fellow-believers from Stuttgart, Monticello and Fordyce, joined with them in the celebration (Holden, 1949). In January 1978 it was voted for Pine Bluff to sell their old church and purchase property where they could build a new church (Minutes, 1977).

A New Church in 1997

In the spring of 1984 the Pine Bluff members bought six acres on Ridgway Road to build a new church (Minutes, 1984).

The Pine Bluff church was ready for open house in 1997. Charles and Lillian Gorman (inset) were charter members of the original Pine Bluff church.

Pine Bluff Church Dedicated

The Pine Bluff church was dedicated on December 1, 2001 (Newsletter, 2001).

Pine Bluff Church on Ridgway Road in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Southwestern Union Record..

Citations

(1940, Jan. 31). Southwestern Union Record, p. 3.

(1978, Jan. 5). Executive Committee Minutes. Shreveport, LA: Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of SDA.

(1984, Jun. 28). Minutes of the Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Conference Association. Shreveport, LA: Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of SDA.

(1998, Jan. 1). Southwestern Union Record, p. 14.

(2001, Nov. 1). Newsletter, Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, p. 10.

Edwards, Donna. (2018, Jun. 3). Watching God’s Power. Retrieved from
record@swuc.org.

Holden, C. Ray. (1947, Sep. 10). Southwestern Union Record, p. 3.

Holden, C. Ray. (1948a, Aug. 4). Ibid., p. 3.

Ibid. (1948, Nov. 3). p. 3.

Ibid. (1949, Jul. 6). p. 3.

Wells, Frank D. (1947, Sep. 3). Ibid., p. 3.