By Aiden McCoy Williams, Staff Correspondent
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Martins Creek – For the first time since the building burned down in 1994, Martins Creek Community Church’s bell from 1860 range again Sunday.
Members of the congregation celebrated the restoration of the original church bell by ringing it together after their service Sunday. The existing church building is the fourth that has sat on the same piece of land.
The original church was a small log cabin erected in 1860, but during the Civil War a battle destroyed it. Around 1878, the rebuilt church was again destroyed.
In 1994, a suspicious fire at night burned the next church building to the ground. Church member Johnny Stalcup grabbed the original bell before the building was lost to the flames and kept it safe for 30 years.
Following the fire, there was a lengthy dispute over the land, but the ruling ultimately favored rebuilding the church. The bell resided on the roof of three previous churches in the past, but today it’s in a dedicated bell tower next to the building.
For Martins Creek Community Church, this bell represents more than 164 years of history; the bell connects to those who have worshipped on the same land in the past and calls others to worship and celebrate with them every Sunday in the future.
“The bell tolls for everyone,” pastor Shelley Chastain shared during the service Sunday. “The bell tolls for our community.”
Restoring the bell also restores some of the church’s older traditions. Chastain shared stories of attending the same church as a child and how the children, herself included, were always eager for their turn to chime the bell to signal the start of service. She hopes to see a new tradition of ringing the bell together as a congregation each Sunday.
The church will place a plaque on the bell tower, especially thanking the men who volunteered their time and labor to construct it and restore the bell: Doug Loft, Rodney Sellers, Roy “Leroy” Stalcup and Ted Thistle. The plaque will also dedicate the bell tower to Johnny Stalcup, the bell-keeper, for helping the church restore this irreplaceable piece of history and symbol of faith, strength and community.
When asked what this day meant to him, Johnny Stalcup said, “I just thank God I’m here.”
Over the years, Martins Creek Community Church has alternated between Baptist and Methodist oversight, but today it’s a nondenominational church, with a main goal to worship and spread love for God.