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 OF 
 
 CHURCH 
 
 By 
 
 C. J. BLACK 
 
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 1923 
 

 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. MASK I: S.JO. 
 
REV. C. J. BLACK 
 
PREFACE 
 
 History is our natural trend of mind. We 
 have always had the greatest admiration for it, 
 and because of this we have written some his- 
 torical tracts, we have gotten out the history 
 of some of the Baptist churches of North Caro- 
 lina. We wish that we might have done far more 
 than we have. 'Nothing interests us more than 
 Baptist history. It is wonderful when you get 
 down and study it real carefully. When we get 
 at it as it is, we must begin with the history of 
 the individual church. The Baptist Historic 
 Commission of this State is urging all of the 
 churches of the State to have their histories 
 written. Knowing this to be the desire of the 
 Commission, we decided that we would put the 
 story of Loray Baptist church in writing before 
 all of the living witnesses were gone. This we 
 have done the best we could. The work is not 
 as well done as we wish that it might have been, 
 but since the church records are in very bad 
 shape, many of the records cannot be under- 
 stood, and since she has passed through some 
 very trying times, we had quite a difficult task 
 in getting what data we have. Many of the 
 things recorded in this little book were' gotten 
 from living witnesses such as W. H. Nolen, S. L. 
 Smith, L. J. Waldrop, Mrs. S. A. Waldrop, and 
 many others we do not remember just here. 
 We have done all that we could to get the facts 
 in every case. We have not tried to write a 
 story, but we have tried to record the things the 
 church has done. We trust that every mem- 
 ber we have will appreciate what we have done, 
 and that it may call forth the very best there is 
 within us. 
 
 Brethren, remember your pastor stands ready 
 to help you make the history of Loray Baptist 
 church far greater than it has been. 
 Affectionately, 
 Your Pastor, 
 
 C. J. BLACK. 
 
 Gastonia, N. C, December 28, 1922. 
 
RULES OF ORDER 
 
 I. The pastor, or in his absence any mem- 
 ber appointed, shall act as Moderator of all 
 business meetings of the church. 
 
 II. It shall be the duty of the Moderator to 
 keep order; and in case the Church is equally 
 divided on any question, he shall give the cast- 
 ing vote. 
 
 III. The meeting shall be opened and closed 
 with prayer. 
 
 IV. The order of business shall be : 
 
 1. Reading of minutes of previous 
 
 meeting. 
 
 2. The reception of members by ex- 
 
 perience or letter. 
 
 3. Granting letters of dismission. 
 
 4. Reports of committees. 
 
 5. Unfinished business. 
 
 6. New or miscellaneous business. 
 
 V. A motion before the church must be dis- 
 posed of before another motion can be enter- 
 tained, unless the motion be to amend, post- 
 pone, adjourn, or call for the previous question. 
 
 VI. The Moderator may speak on any ques- 
 tion by calling on any brother to preside in his 
 place. 
 
 VII. Every member who speaks shall rise 
 and first address the Moderator. 
 
 VIII. The church in conference shall enter- 
 tain no proposition for discussion which has not 
 been presented on motion of one member and 
 seconded by another. 
 
 IX. On any point of order a member may 
 appeal from the Moderator to the church, 
 whose decision shall be final. 
 
 X. All questions, except that on reception 
 of members, shall be decided by the vote of a 
 majority. 
 
ARTICLES OF FAITH 
 
 I. We believe that the Holy Bible, written 
 by men divinely inspired, and full of unmixed 
 truth, is a perfect rule of faith and practice. 
 
 II. We believe in one God — Father, Son and 
 Holy Cxhost. 
 
 III. We believe that man, one holy, fell by 
 voluntary transgression from that happy state, 
 and is now utterly void of holiness. 
 
 IV. We believe that sinners are saved by 
 grace alone. 
 
 V. We believe that men are justified by 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 VI. We believe that salvation is free to all 
 who will accept the Gospel. 
 
 VII. W~e believe that, except a man be re- 
 newed by the Holy Spirit, he is not qualified or 
 prepared for the kingdom of Christ on earth, or 
 to enjoy his glory hereafter. 
 
 VIII. We believe that repentance toward 
 God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are the 
 duties of every one who hears the Gospel. 
 
 IX. We believe that election is the eternal 
 purpose of God, by which he graciously re- 
 generates, sanctifies and saves sinners. 
 
 X. We believe that sanctification, begun in 
 regeneration, and ever progressive, is the pro- 
 cess by which we are made to partake of God's 
 holiness. 
 
 XL We believe in the preservation of the 
 saints ; that they are kept by the power of God 
 through faith and salvation. 
 
 XII. We believe that God's law is the only, 
 the eternal and unchangeable, rule of his 
 church and moral government. 
 
 XII. We believe that a church of Christ is a 
 congregation of baptized believers, united in 
 the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observ- 
 ing the ordinances and obeying the laws of 
 Christ ; and that its officers are pastors and 
 deacons. 
 
 XIV. We believe that Christian baptism is 
 the immersion of a believer, in water, by a prop- 
 erly qualified administrator, into the name of 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 XV. We believe that only such as have been 
 properly baptized and received into the fellow- 
 ship of a regularly organized Baptist Church, 
 
should partake of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 XVI. We believe that the Lord's day or 
 Christian Sabbath should be devoutly observed 
 and sacredly devoted to religious services. 
 
 XVII. We believe that civil government is 
 of divine appointment, and that the governors 
 of States and nations should be obeyed, when 
 the laws they seek to enforce are not in con- 
 flict with the Gospel. 
 
 XVIII. We believe in the future resurrection 
 of the dead. 
 
 XIX. We believe in the final judgment ; and 
 that, in that day, the righteous and wicked will 
 be separated forever. 
 
 XX. We believe that the righteous will be 
 made happy forever in heaven, and the wicked 
 miserable forever in hell. 
 
CHURCH COVENANT 
 
 Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit 
 of God to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our 
 Saviour, and on the profession of our faith, hav- 
 ing been baptized into the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we do 
 now in the presence of God, angels, and this as- 
 sembly most solemnly and joyfully enter into 
 covenant with one another, as one body in 
 Christ. 
 
 We engage therefore, by the aid of the Holy 
 Spirit, to walk together in Christian love ; to 
 strive for the advancement of this Church in 
 knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote 
 its prosperity and spirituality ; to sustain its 
 worship, ordinances, discipline and doctrines; 
 to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the 
 support of the ministry, the expenses of the 
 Church, and the relief of the poor, and the 
 spread of the Gospel through all nations. 
 
 We also engage to maintain family and secret 
 devotions ; to religiously educate our children ; 
 to seek the salvation of our kindred and ac- 
 quaintances ; to walk circumspectly in the 
 world ; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our 
 engagements, and exemplary in our deport- 
 ment; to avoid all tattling, back biting and ex- 
 cessive anger; to abstain from the sale and use 
 of intoxicating drinks as a beverage, and to be 
 zealous in our effort to advance the kingdom 
 of our Saviour. 
 
 We further engage to watch over one an- 
 other in brotherly love ; to remember each other 
 in prayer ; to aid each other in sickness and 
 distress ; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feel- 
 ing and courtesy of speech ; to be slow to take 
 offence, but always ready for reconciliation, 
 and mindful of the rules of our Saviour to se- 
 cure it without delay. 
 
 We moreover engage that when we remove 
 from this place, we will as soon as possible 
 unite with some other church, where we can 
 carry out the spirit of this covenant and the 
 principles of God's word. 
 
 10 
 
LORAY BAPTIST CHURCH 
 
 11 
 
THE FIRST PREACHING IN 
 WEST GASTONIA 
 
 In beginning to write the history of the Lo- 
 ray Baptist Church it is necessary for me to no- 
 tice why the Baptists thought it wise to build 
 another church in Gastonia since there were 
 two there already. It is so often the case that 
 churches are built to satisfy the fancy of some 
 deluded mind, either a preacher's or some one 
 else, but it was not so in the case of Loray Bap- 
 tist Church. West Gastonia had taken on new 
 life. Several mills had been built and others 
 were under way of construction, and every evi- 
 dence showed that this end of the city was des- 
 tined to become the most populous part of Gas- 
 tonia. Business houses were going up and fi- 
 nancial interests were being developed so much 
 that something had to be done to care for this 
 end of the city from the Baptist point of view. 
 Baptists have always been missionary to the 
 core, and when things demanded that they take 
 hold of a situation they usually have a man to 
 look after the job for them. The man who 
 came to the rescue of the situation this time was 
 Rev. J. A. Hoyle. Hoyle was one of the great- 
 est missionaries we have ever had in our state. 
 He was not an educated man, but could preach 
 well, and his business ability was such that he 
 could finance the building of a church without 
 very much difficulty. He held his services in 
 the Arlington school house. We do not know 
 just how long he preached here, but it must 
 have been a year or more since the State Mis- 
 sion Board helped in this work. They did not 
 take hold of a work until they were sure that it 
 would be a paying proposition. Brother Hoylo 
 preached here until things were ripe for the or- 
 ganization. He must have held several meet- 
 ings here, and he is likely to have baotized sev- 
 eral before the church was organized. At any 
 rate, he organized the forces sufficiently to take 
 ground for the church. Hoyle was a very de- 
 termined man. Sometimes he was rather am- 
 bitious, but for the most part he was a great 
 man. He meant much to the Baptists in this 
 section, and the church at Loray and East Gas- 
 tonia are some of the monuments of his indefa- 
 tigable labors. 
 
 12 
 
ORGANIZATION OF LORAY 
 BAPTIST CHURCH 
 
 After Rev. J. A. Hoyle had preached at the 
 Arlington Mill school house for some time, it 
 became necessary for the Baptists living in the 
 west end of the city to organize themselves into 
 a church. Accordingly they met June 4, 1905, 
 for this purpose. The introductory sermon was 
 preached by Rev. W. H. Reddish, pastor of the 
 Fi:s ! - Baptist Church of Gastonia, and who 
 sometime since has passed to his reward. His 
 text was Matt, 28:19-20. He preached a very 
 instructive and stirring sermon. After this ser- 
 mon, a nresbytery composed of Rev. J. A. 
 Hoyle, W. H. Reddish, R. G. Kendrick, S. F. 
 Conrad. W. J. Clifford, J. D. Moore, L. L. Jen- 
 kins, W. F. Marshall, J. S. Torrence and Jonas 
 Jenkins, deacons from the First Baptist Church, 
 with J. E. C. Ford. N. A. Jenkins, and W. E. 
 Beaty from Sandy Plains, was organized as fol- 
 lows : W. H. Reddish, Chairman, S. F. Conrad, 
 Clerk. The door of the church was opened and 
 twenty-six with letters from regular Baptist 
 Churches presented themselves. We are not 
 sure that we have all of these names correct, 
 but we have done the best we could to gather 
 them. We cannot find them on any church 
 book, so we have had to gather them from dif- 
 ferent sources. We have then as follows : Julia 
 Harry, Harriet Settlemyer, Ida Pearson, Su- 
 san Scis.r., Lou Chaney, Carria E. Hoyle, Anna 
 Grady, Nevada Nolen, M. F. Mauney, Martha 
 Fisher, Rosa Fisher, Mrs. Sam Smith, Mrs. J. C. 
 Smith, Mrs. M. L. McKensie, S. L. Smith, J. C. 
 Smith, W. H. Nolen, J. A. Hoyle, James Seism, 
 E. C. Fisher, Elam Settlemyer, M. C. Mauney, 
 R. L. Chaney, J. S. Hawkins, L. A. Reynolds, 
 Mrs. L. A. Reynolds. 
 
 After the reading of the above letters, the 
 Articles of Faith and the Church Covenant were 
 read and adopted. Brother J. D. Moore pro- 
 posed to give the church a building lot on the 
 corner of Webb Street and Franklin Avenue. 
 The church accepted the lot and gave Brother 
 Moore the privilege of naming the new church. 
 He named it West Franklin Avenue Baptist 
 Church. The church accepted his suggestion 
 and adopted the name. If you wish to see why 
 13 
 
the name was changed, please see later on in 
 this history. The first name was a good one, 
 and we expect it would have been better for it 
 to have remained that since things change so 
 much. The brethren thought it best to change 
 it to the name of the Loray Mill since it had 
 done so ir uch for the church. It is perfectly 
 all right for it to be what it is. The church has 
 had no truer friend than the Loray Mill. This 
 mill has stood by the church in all of its under- 
 takings. We will not say more about the chang- 
 ing of the name, or what the Loray Mill has 
 made the church able to do. This will be dis- 
 cussed in another chapter. 
 
 After the church was named, the moderator 
 declared the new organization to be a regularly 
 organized Baptist church, and as it was the 
 custom, the presbytery extended the right hand 
 of fellowship to the members of this new body. 
 The charge was then delivered by Revs. J. A. 
 Hoyle and R. G. Kendrick. The brethren then 
 took up a collection for State Missions which 
 amounted to five dollars and thirty cents. This 
 was most splendid beginning for the new body. 
 We are glad to say that it has ever remained 
 missionary. All real Baptist Churches are mis- 
 sionary. A church cannot be Baptist without 
 being missionary. The first Baptist church was 
 organized out of twelve missionaries, and every 
 church from that time until now that has been 
 organized after the New Testament model has 
 been missionary. Missions lie at the base of a 
 New Testament church. 
 
 14 
 
DIFFERENT MEETING PLACES 
 
 The most difficult thing for a Baptist church 
 to do is to locate a good meeting place. Many 
 things enter into this matter which make it very 
 difficult. Sometimes opposition is so severe that 
 it cannot be determined what is best to do. 
 Baptists have always had a hard ti:r.e of it. 
 Many a time they have been driven out because 
 they had not been careful enough about having 
 deeds recorded and surveys made as they 
 should have been. We know of some places in 
 North Carolina where such has been the case. 
 In one instance (Hopewell), the house was tak- 
 en and converted into a barn ; in another (Piney 
 Woods) it was converted into a church of an- 
 other denomination. The old grave yard is still 
 to be seen. The original house stood for years, 
 but was finally torn down. Loray had many 
 difficulties in locating a permanent meeting 
 place. The first meeting place was a small 
 school house at the Arlington Mill. Services 
 were held here until the church was organized, 
 but when the organization was completed, they 
 did not hold services there much longer. We 
 do not know why, but there must have been 
 some opposition ; possibly the school began and 
 crowded them out. The second meeting place 
 was a small school house, or a house for public 
 meetings in the Loray section to the rear of the 
 Presbyterian Church. This was used by other 
 deno.r inations. This made it very difficult for 
 the Baptists. The Lord never intended that two 
 families should live in the same house, and we 
 are almost sure that he never intended that 
 Baptists should worship in houses used by other 
 people. This practice has never brought any- 
 thing but evil results. We have observed this 
 carefully at several places where the mill com- 
 panies have tried to harmonize the denomina- 
 tions. It just will not work for Baptists. It 
 did not work at Loray. When the Baptists 
 wanted a meeting, the other folks wanted it, 
 too. The Baptists were shut out, and because 
 of this, they had to hunt another meeting place. 
 This was very difficult for them to do at this 
 time. They had no public hall available, so 
 they had to preach in their homes. We do not 
 know how many homes they held services in, 
 15 
 
but we find two named. One was Brother L. A. 
 Reynolds. Some important matters were trans- 
 acted in the meeting* held in the horr.e of 
 Brother Reynolds. One was the changing: of 
 the. name of the church from West Franklin 
 Avenue Baptist Church to that of Loray Bap- 
 tist Church. The second meeting place was in 
 the home of Brother W. H. Nolen. He lived 
 near the church in the house now occupied by 
 Mr. W. P. Cargill. A great meeting was held 
 in Brother Nolen's home. Two of our mos f 
 useful members, and we are glad to say, two of 
 our best deacons were converted during this 
 meeting and joined the church. We refer to 
 L. J. Waldrop and W. D. Davis. These are 
 men you can depend on. 
 
 The fourth meeting place was Bradley Hall 
 We find that on August 17, 1906, at a meeting 
 held in the home of Brother L. A. Reynolds, 
 the church accepted Mr. Mack Bradley's 
 proposition to rent the house for six months and 
 longer if necessary. They rented the Bradley 
 Hall for six dollars per month and appointed 
 the following committee to arrange the seats : 
 D. A. Mauney, L. A. Reynolds, J. C. Smith., and 
 L. J. Waldrop. This committee acted at once 
 and arranged seats. A meeting of days was 
 begun in this hall the second Sunday in Septem- 
 ber, 1906. The pastor, Rev. J. A. Hoyle, was 
 assisted by Rev. C. F. Felmet. The meeting 
 lasted two weeks. Good interest was mani- 
 fested, but there were not many conversions. 
 Three were received for baptism — James Kes- 
 ter, Maggie Arrowood and a Massagee. Sev- 
 eral joined by letter. 
 
 The church used Bradley Hall for ten months. 
 During this time, they were building a house on 
 a near-by lot. The brethren did all they could 
 to get the house ready for service, so at the end 
 of ten months in the Bradley Hall, they were 
 ready to go into the new house which was not 
 completed but was in shape for them to hold 
 services in. This was the greatest victory ever 
 achieved by the church, and it gave much impe- 
 tus to the work. 
 
 NOTE. — While the church had no regular 
 meeting place, the pastor held services a few 
 times in the White Church and Wesleyan Meth- 
 odist also. 
 
 16 
 
These three men are our oldest members, save one, 
 E. C. Torrence. 
 
 S. L. SMITH 
 
 D. W. BLANTON 
 
 S. L. Smith and W. H. Nolen are two of the original 
 building committee who made the first building possible. 
 They are among our most earnest workers even if they 
 are growing old in years. 
 
 17 
 
THE FINAL LOCATION OF THE 
 CHURCH 
 
 The location decided upon originally was not 
 the one where the building is now situated, but 
 a lot on the corner of Webb Street and Franklin 
 Avenue. This lot was donated by the late J. D. 
 Moore, but he died before the deed was deliv- 
 ered and the relatives for some reason never 
 gave it over. This put the church to much in- 
 convenience, but the Loray Mills offered the lot 
 where the building now stands and the church 
 gladly accepted it. The Loray Mills Company 
 has always been a great friend to Loray Baptist 
 Church. It has made several important under- 
 takings possible. 
 
 As soon as the lot was decided upon the 
 church began to get ready to build. The first 
 thing they did was to appoint a building com- 
 mittee. The committee was composed of Sam- 
 uel L. Smith, Stephen Waldrop, W. H. Nolen, 
 and Dave Mauney. These were all intensely 
 interested in the work, and their being ap- 
 pointed meant the construction of the house. 
 The plan was gotten up by Brother Hoyle and 
 the construction of the house was placed in the 
 hands of Caleb Crowder, who was a member of 
 the church at that time. The job was not con- 
 tracted, but he was hired to oversee the build- 
 ing of it. 
 
 The next question to arise was where the 
 money was to be had from. The church was 
 poor and labor was so cheap that it was a diffi- 
 cult proposition, indeed, but God always pro- 
 vides. The first gift they received was one 
 thousand dollars, from the Loray Mill Com- 
 pany. This put them on their feet. Work was 
 begun on the building at once. The foundation 
 was laid, the walls were raised, and the roof 
 was soon on. An enemy to the cause came by 
 one day and said, "Those Baptists have begun 
 more than they can finish." They have never 
 done such in their history. The house was fin- 
 ished because the people had a mind to work. 
 Rev. Hoyle had the money ready for every pay 
 day as soon as they came. 
 
 THE FIRST ADDITION 
 
 It was soon realized that the original house 
 18 
 
was too small to accommodate the fast growing 
 congregation and the Sunday School, so plans 
 were laid for the enlargement of the house. 
 The plan was to build rooms to the front of the 
 building. This they did at a cost of about $1,- 
 800.00. The money was soon raised and the 
 debt was paid. This addition helped the work 
 very much, and is still quite a convenience. It 
 was the rooms immediately in front of the au- 
 ditorium, but did not include the toilets. They 
 were added later. Rev. Stoudenmire was pas- 
 tor when this was done. The second addition 
 was built to the West end of the church along 
 the Southern switch track. This was to ir.ake 
 room for the Sunday School work. This sec- 
 ond improvement added much to the church. It 
 now had considerable room for the Sunday 
 School work. We are glad to say that Loray 
 Baptist Church has always taken great interest 
 in this line of work, and because of this it has 
 had to enlarge the house again and again. 
 
 The third addition was on the auditorium. 
 At first the building had a level floor. But as 
 the church increased, it became necessary for it 
 to have an elevated floor, so this too was under- 
 taken and was soon a reality. 
 
 The last two additions were built by Rev. 
 G. P. Abernathy. The fourth addition was the 
 construction of a large Sunday School room at 
 the rear of the church. This was built to ac- 
 commodate the Berean Class. The class be- 
 came so iarge that there was no room large 
 enough to hold it. The only thing that could 
 be done was to construct a room large enough 
 for it. The boys contributed largely toward it 
 and the Loray Mill Company furnished the ma- 
 terial. The room was erected in three weeks 
 and the class was housed in it, but this soon be- 
 came too small for the large number of boys 
 who gather there every Sunday, so another 
 room had to be built. Mr. F. L. Jenckes gave 
 the boys $T?500.00. Mr. Hall and Mr. Hayes 
 gave much material. This enabled the boys to 
 erect a room 40x50 at the rear of the church. 
 This will hold four hundred and fifty men. The 
 class now has more than five hundred men in it, 
 and is growing from time to time. 
 
 The last addition was the gallery. The con- 
 gregation became so large that more room had 
 19 
 
to be made. The only thing we could do was 
 to build a gallery. This we did and seated it 
 with opera chairs. This makes it possible for 
 us to accommodate a very large congregation. 
 We hope that the next improvement we make 
 will be to erect an up-to-date church with all 
 conveniences to take care of the situation. 
 
 20 
 
THE PASTORS WHO HAVE 
 SERVED LORAY 
 
 Loray has not had but six men to serve her 
 as pastor. Five of these are living and the 
 other one has gone to his final reward. The 
 one we refer to here is Brother J. A. Hoyle, the 
 man who worked so hard to found the church. 
 He died some months ago. His widow and 
 children are still living at Maiden, N. C. All 
 of the others are still living. They are A. T. 
 Stoudenmire, Union, S. C ; J. D. Moose, North 
 Charlotte, N. C. ; C. M. Robinson, Erhardt, S. 
 C ; G. P. Abernathey, Morganton, N. C. ; and 
 the present pastor. All of these men did good 
 work in many ways, and have left their impress 
 upon the community in some way. We have 
 not a word of criticism to make of any of the 
 pastorates. True, these were all men, they 
 were not angels, and because they were men, 
 they made mistakes. We can see their mis- 
 takes very readily now, but at the time, they 
 could not be seen so well. We are glad that 
 these men are all doing good work now, and 
 that they all have splendid churches to serve. 
 Loray rejoices in their achievements. May 
 they all live long and do all that they can for 
 the Master. 
 
 ELDER J. A. HOYLE 
 
 Elder J. A. Hoyle was the man who made 
 Loray a reality. He did the first preaching at 
 the Arlington school house some time before the 
 church was organized. He must have 
 preached there for sometime before the church 
 idea was sprung as he was working under the 
 State Board when it was organized. He was 
 a great pioneer preacher. His faith was won- 
 derful. He was called to be the first pastor 
 and served from the orgainzation in June 1905 
 until some time during 1908. He did not serve 
 the year out because there was some dissatis- 
 fation. He quitely gave away and Brother J. 
 D. Moose was called to take his place. But 
 what ever may have been the misunderstand- 
 ing, all will have to say that he did a great 
 work. Some men can build better than they 
 can maintain. This seems to have been the 
 case with Brother Hoyle. He was one of the 
 21 
 
ELDER J. A. HOYLE 
 
greatest church builders in North Carolina, but 
 he could not hold the churches well after he 
 had gotten them upon their feet. When ho 
 built Loray, he had built a church for every 
 year of his ministry. This was remarkable. 
 
 The present pastor held him in the very 
 highest esteem. When just a boy, he was bap- 
 tized by Brother Hoyle. We shall never forget 
 his wonderful labors in the community where he 
 was raised. The following lines written by a 
 friend when Brother Hoyle died give the in for- 
 mation we need here. We give space to these 
 lines because he is the only pastor of Loray who 
 has passed to the great beyond. 
 
 Brother Hoyle was born in Burke County, N. 
 C. on the 21st of March, 1850, and died October 
 3rd. 1918, He was nearly to the sixty- ninth 
 mile post in life. 
 
 At the age of nineteen he was married toMiss 
 Ellen Crowder and to this Union were born 
 s?ven children. He was Married the second 
 time to Miss Carrie Beaty, who with four chil- 
 dren survive. 
 
 He was converted under the preaching of 
 Brother A. C. Ervin in August, 1880, and bap- 
 tized into the fellowship of Mt. Zion Church. 
 He was licensed in March, 1881, and was or- 
 dained to the full work June 16th of the next 
 year, bv Brethren T. Dixon, A. L. Stough and 
 G. M. Webb. 
 
 When a young man in the minis' ;ry N ~ did 
 nuch preaching at mission points and built up 
 the cause in destitute places. He had been 
 greatly blessed as the introducer of Baptist doc- 
 trines into communities, the organization of 
 churches and the building of good houses. He 
 has built more church houses and baptized 
 more members than any minister that has 
 labored in our bounds. He has served 
 churches in Catawba, Lincoln, Cleveland, 
 Burke, Gaston, and many other adjoining coun- 
 ties. 
 
 Brother Hoyle did great work in his early 
 ministry as a pioneer preacher. He did much 
 of his preaching under arbors, in school houses, 
 and dwelling houses. For this mission work 
 he received very little compensation. He pre- 
 pared the way for many churches that are now 
 strong organizations and are now doing much 
 23 
 
for the cause of Christ. Though many of these 
 church houses have given way to nicer and bet- 
 ter equipped buildings, yet it should not be for- 
 gotten that it was through his untiring efforts 
 and sacrifice that these churches had their 
 origin. I am of the opinion that Brother Hoyle 
 will never get the honor due him, and our 
 churches will never fully realize what he has 
 done for us, in preparing the way, especially in 
 the South Fork Association. 
 
 Brother Hoyle was a man that was firm in 
 what he believed to be right. He was a man 
 that spoke out his convictions and stood for the 
 same. He was a good citizen, a faithful 
 preacher of the gospel, and an affectionate hus- 
 band and father. 
 
 He leaves to mourn his loss a wife and ten 
 children and a number of friends. 
 
 "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
 from henceforth : Yea, sayeth the Spirit, that 
 thev may rest from their labors : and works do 
 follow them." Rev. 14 :13 
 
 J. D. MOOSE 
 
 November 1, 1908-January, 1910. 
 
 Brother J. D. Moose served Loray as pastor 
 two terms. We cannot say very much about 
 the second term, as the minutes are so very 
 poor. If we had to depend on the minutes of 
 the church as they appear in the church re- 
 cords we could not tell whether there had been 
 any church for a part of the time or not. 
 Some of the conferences are not mentioned at 
 all. At least four years of the records have 
 been destroyed. We wish so much that this 
 had not been done. Our minutes are our his- 
 tory. Poor church clerks have given us no lit- 
 tle trouble and Loray seems to have had her 
 share of them. We are not criticising, but 
 when one undertakes a task like we have in 
 writing this little book, it is so disappointing 
 to try to do a thing and you cannot because you 
 cannot get the material you must have to give 
 the facts as they took place. The following 
 things seem to have taken place during Brother 
 Moose's pastorate : The Duplex Envelope Sys- 
 tem was introduced and made to work. Sev- 
 eral new deacons were ordained, namely, W. P. 
 Glover, E. C. Roberts, and J. A. Alexander. 
 24 
 
J. D. MOOSE 
 
 'Jo 
 
Rev. J. L. Vipperman preached the ordination 
 sermon and Rev. J. J. Beach gave the charge 
 when these brethern were ordained. 
 
 When this pastorate began the church had 
 sixty members, and when it closed it had three 
 hundred and thirty three members. Moose 
 baptized one hundred and forty-four members 
 while he was pastor the first time. He held 
 two meetings himself. These were among the 
 best meetings the church has had. When he 
 took charge the church owed $1500,00, when 
 he closed it owed $450.00. This was paid dur- 
 ing the pastorate of Rev. C. M. Robinson. 
 
 Brother Moose is still remembered here, and 
 is loved as one of the pastors of this church. 
 He is now pastor at North Charlotte where he 
 has done the best work of his life. May he 
 still keep moving forward with the great work 
 of the Master. 
 
 REV. C. M. ROBINSON. 
 
 The third pastor of Loray church was Rev. 
 C. M. Robinson. He succeeded Rev. J. D. 
 Moose. He began his pastorate the first of 
 April, 1910, and served until April, 1912. 
 During this pastorate many things were accom- 
 plished which meant much to the cause at 
 Lorav. The first thing that was worth v/hile 
 was the payment of all of the indebtedness of 
 the church. The church had to keep building 
 and equipping all the time so far as to care for 
 the growing work, and to do Ois it had to go 
 in debt again and again. Brother Robinson 
 raised all of the indebtedness that was against 
 the church while he was there. 
 
 He had a hot air system for heating the 
 church put in. This cost considerable, but the 
 church paid for it without very much trouble. 
 The furnace is still in use, but will soon have to 
 be discarded and something larger put in so as 
 to accommodate the folks. The furnace is en- 
 tirely too small, though it has served the pur- 
 pose well. 
 
 The third thing that was done during this 
 pastorate was the painting of the church. We 
 do not know whether it had been painted be- 
 fore or not, but it was painted during the pas- 
 torate of Rev. C. M. Robinson. 
 26 
 
C. M. ROBINSON 
 
 27 
 
The fourth thing they did was to carpet the 
 floor and put in a nice pulpit set. This was 
 worth while. Too many of our preachers do 
 not think anything about carpeting the floors, 
 or anything of this kind. 
 
 Brother Robinson is now pastor of Erhardt 
 Baptist church in South Carolina. We are 
 glad that he is still doing a noble work for the 
 Master. 
 
 A„T. STOUDENMIRE. 
 
 Rev. A. T. Stouden.nire was the fourth pas- 
 tor of Loray Baptist church. He began his 
 pastorate March 15, 1914, and remained for 
 fifteen and one half months. The church did 
 remarkably well during his pastorate. Many 
 things were done for the cause that are still 
 being felt. Stoudenmire worked out a splen- 
 did financial system that many of the deacons 
 speak of yet. Some of them are anxious to 
 re-establish it. He had the mill sections so 
 organized that they gave systematically. A 
 captain was appointed over these different sec- 
 tions and they were worked in such a way that 
 there was some little rivalry, just enough to 
 keep the work interesting. The new plan en- 
 abled the church to carry on its finances with- 
 out any trouble. Report blanks were kept for 
 the group captains, and reports were made 
 monthly. The Sunday School took on ncvs life 
 during Stouden.i: ire's pastorate. New rooms 
 had to be built. The addition cost about eight- 
 teen hundred dollars. The debt was paid dur- 
 ing his stay. 
 
 The Y. W. C. A. was organized while Stoud- 
 enmire was here. This is one of the best or- 
 ganizations we have, It is very much alive 
 yet, but does not have as :r. any members as it 
 ought to have. We are glad to say that nearly 
 all of them are on the tithing list. 
 
 Rev. A. T. Stoudenmire is still living. He 
 is pastor at Union, S. C. He has been there 
 for some years. We hope how long he may 
 live to bless the Lord's work. 
 
 G. P. ABERNATHEY. 
 
 Brother G. P. Abernathey began his pastor- 
 ate with Loray the first of Septmber, 1915. He 
 was called July 18, 1915, but did not begin his 
 
 28 
 
A. T. STOUDENMIRE 
 
 29 
 
pastorate until the first of the following Sep- 
 tember. He served until September 1920 
 when he resigned to accept the pastorate of 
 East Morganton Baptist church where he is still 
 serving very acceptably. 
 
 Several notable and essential things were 
 done during his pastorate. The church was 
 enlarged for Sunday school work. Several 
 rooms were built, the floor was elevated, the 
 financial system was reorganized, and one of 
 the best things of all was done. It was that of 
 building a nice six room parsonage. This cost 
 about five thousand dollars. The building 
 stands immediatly in front of the church at 
 1108 West Franklin Avenue. Every church 
 whether in the country or in the city ought to 
 have a good parsonage. It is impossible to 
 have the pastors that churches need without 
 having a good p.arsonage. Preachers connot 
 own their own homes and make it as they 
 should. They have too make too many sacri- 
 fices to do what the Lord calls them to do, so the 
 best thing to do is to have a good parsonage for 
 all of the churches. Loray has a magnificent 
 one. 
 
 The membership was greatly increased dur- 
 ing this pastorate. The membership was 
 nearly doubled during this pastorate. Rev. 
 J. W. Hickerson held a great meeting during 
 this pastorate and more than one hundred were 
 added to the church, or about a hundred at 
 least. This meeting did not do the good that 
 it ought to have' done because it came just as 
 the tear-up from The World War came. This 
 like to have put all of our churches out of com- 
 mission, but many of the members who joined 
 during this meeting are still standing by the 
 work as faithfuly as any one can. 
 
 The membership became somewhat scattered 
 during the last two years of Brother Aberna- 
 they's pastorate because of internal troubles, 
 but it has since become united and is working 
 as harmoniously as any church can. 
 
 Brother Abernethey closed his pastorate here 
 during the summer of 1920. He left behind 
 him here at Loray many loyal friends who still 
 love him and honor him as a faithful pastor. 
 
 30 
 
G. P. ABERNATHEY 
 
 31 
 
C. J. BLACK. 
 
 The present pastor took charge of Loray the 
 first Sunday in November, 1920, He was called 
 the fifth day of September, 1920, but could not 
 take charge of the work until the following No- 
 vember because of the pastorate he was leaving 
 at Norwood, N. C. It was quite difficult for him 
 to get away fror. that church, and it was with 
 the greatest regret that he had to leave them, 
 but he felt the call of God to come to Loray, 
 and because of this he came. He left many of 
 the very best friends behind him at Norwood, 
 but has found many to take their places at Gas- 
 tonia. When he took charge of the work at 
 Loray, things were in a very deplorable con- 
 dition. The church was disorganized, the 
 membership scattered, the Sunday school very 
 small, the B. Y. P. Y. a mere organization, and 
 the missionary society very small and lifeless. 
 The first thing he undertook was to build up his 
 congregation. This was not a very hard task 
 as the people seemed anxious to hear the old 
 time gospel. It was not many Sundays before 
 the Sunday school rooms had to be opened to 
 accommodate the crowds that came to our Sun- 
 day rorning services. 
 
 The next thing he undertook to do was to 
 build the membership up. It had gotten in a 
 very bad condition. Many had taken letters 
 many had. been excluded, and some had jus'; 
 fallen out, others had moved into the commu- 
 nity and had not brought their letters with 
 them. It was not long before all of this was ov- 
 ercome and the membership was normal once 
 more. Many brought their letters, many were re- 
 stored, and numbers were baptized upon a pro- 
 fession of faith. Two hundred and nineteen 
 were added the first year of his pastorate. This 
 was done without a revival. We had a revival 
 all of the time on Sundays. We do not know 
 how many me.r.bers we had when we took 
 charge here. The membership was in such an 
 awful condition. There was no roll that could 
 be depended on. We found more than a hun- 
 dred names of the very best members not on 
 the roll, and yet they were among the best con- 
 tributors we had. Many had moved away, 
 others had died, and some had never belonged 
 to the church at all. We are still trying to get 
 
 29 
 
C. J. BLACK 
 Pastor 
 
a correct roll, but it is a very difficult matter 
 to do. It is much better than it was a year 
 ago, but is far from correct yet. We hope to 
 have twelve hundred by the end of another 
 year. If things move on as they have for the 
 past year, it is going to be an easy matter to 
 get them. 
 
 Here are some of the things that have been 
 done since the present pastor took charge : 
 
 1. The congregation has been greatly en- 
 larged, so rr.ueh so that the auditorium will 
 scarcely hold it although a nice gallery has been 
 put in. 
 
 2. The Sunday school has become the largest 
 in the city. It now numbers two thousand, and 
 more, and before this goes into print, it may be 
 more than twenty-five hundred. This is the 
 largest we have heard of in the state. 
 
 3. The missionary society has grown from a 
 very small organization to six circles. Some 
 of these arc very active. 
 
 4 .The house has been enlarged consider- 
 ably. Two large Sunday school rooms have 
 been built, the primary department has been 
 very much improved by being cut up into small 
 rooms, and kindergarten chairs have been put 
 in for the little ones. 
 
 5. The B. Y. P. U. work has been greatly en- 
 larged and strengthened. We now have four 
 good working organizations of this kind. We 
 have two senior B. Y. P. U.'s and an interme- 
 diate and junior. All of these are doing fine 
 work now. 
 
 6. A new gallery has been put in which will 
 seat about one hundred and thirty people with- 
 out taking a single foot of auditorium space. 
 
 7. The parsonage has been greatly enlarged 
 and ir. proved. Cement walks have been laid, 
 the back yard fenced in, and two new rooms 
 have been added to the house. 
 
 8. The board of deacons has been more 
 thoroughly organized and put into better work- 
 ing order. 
 
 9. An assistant has been added to the work- 
 ing force of the pastor. The first was Mrs. 
 E. S. Iverywho did but partial work, but very 
 effective service. She had to give up because 
 of the serious illness of her husband who died 
 July 19, 1922. The nastor's daughter, Ruth, 
 
 34 
 
was then elected by the church to take the work 
 for all of the time. She worked for a few 
 months and rendered great service to the pas- 
 tor by doing his office work and all the outside 
 work she could get to. She could not continue 
 because of engagements at Sylva Collegiate In- 
 stitute, and Miss Nell Barbee was elected to 
 take her place. 
 
 10. A sexton has been put on for all the time 
 so that the church can be cared for as it should 
 be. 
 
 11. The indebtedness of the church though 
 large has been cancelled. Many more insig- 
 nificant things have been done that we will not 
 mention here. All of these has been for the 
 real advancement of the cause of the Master at 
 Loray. 
 
 12. A Ford roadster has been purchased 
 for the pastor and his assistant to visit the mills 
 in. This has helped most wonderfully in the 
 work. 
 
 13. A nice new pipeless furnace has been 
 put in to heat the auditorium. This has done 
 much for the heating business of the church. 
 We did not have sufficient heat for all of the 
 building. The sexton now can make the audi- 
 torium too hot to be comfortable. We are 
 proud that this work has been done. 
 
 14. A large basement has bee dug under the 
 south end of the church building for the Junior 
 department of the Sunday school. This is go- 
 ing to give us a room eighty feet long and about 
 forty feet wide on an average. It is not the 
 same width all the way. This is going to help 
 considerably with the children's work. We 
 hope to have an assistant pastor before very 
 long who can preach to the children in this 
 room while the pastor is preaching to the con- 
 gregation in the main auditorium. 
 
 15. The parsonage has been re-painted, the 
 garage enlarged, and a nice coat of white paint 
 put on the church building. 
 
 16. We have added a fine orchestra to the 
 music department with other improvements. All 
 of this makes the work much more attractive. 
 
 Many acts of kindness and appreciation have 
 been shown the pastor. The first great act 
 was the presentation of a nice Knight Templar 
 
 35 
 
watch charm by the Berean class. The second 
 thing was a check for eighty dollars with an 
 application of the Shrine attached to it. ,: No 
 one knows just how much these things were ap- 
 preciated. He has been pounded many times, 
 while he felt very unworthy, yet he has appre- 
 ciated all of these acts of kindness more than 
 tongue can tell. He hopes to be able to do all 
 that the cause demands of him here for many 
 days to come. 
 
 36 
 
PREACHERS WHO HAVE 
 GONE OUT FROM LORAY 
 
 Loray Baptist chuvch has not sent out very 
 many preachers. The only one we have been 
 able to locate who has gone out from Loray 
 as a full fledged preacher is Rev. J. J. Waldrop. 
 He was licensed and ordained by this church. 
 He was ordained October 3, 1911, at Loray Bap- 
 tist church. J. J. Beach preached the ordi- 
 nation ser .1:011, L. M. Hobbs delivered the 
 charge, and G. P. Abernathy presented the Bi- 
 ble. Rev. C. M. Robinson was pastor. Brother 
 Waldrop has made good in the ministry, having 
 served several important churches in the Gas- 
 ton County Baptist Association. Especially is 
 this true with Lowell Baptist church. He served 
 here about eighteen months and put the church 
 on its feet. He is now pastor of West Albe- 
 marle Baptist church at Albemarle, N. C. This 
 is a noble church and we are sure that he will 
 make good there. 
 
 Brother R. G. Short, who is now pastor of 
 West Concord Baptist church was licensed by 
 this church. He was licensed the same day 
 Bro. Waldrop was. He was a member here for 
 some time and was superintendent of the Sun- 
 day school. He was ordained at Cherryville, 
 N. C. 
 
 Recently we licensed Brother I. R. Ingle. He 
 is a noble young man ; we hope he will do much 
 for the Master. He is consecrated and earnest. 
 It takes this as well as many other things to 
 make a succesful preacher. 
 
 We have many more young men who have 
 expressed then: selves as being called of God to 
 preach, but as yet they have not surrendered. 
 We hope that many of them may have grace 
 enough to step out and do what the Lord would 
 have them do. The older preachers are fast 
 giving way ; new ones must take their places, or 
 they are going to leave some terrible gaps for 
 the devil to step in and occupy. Let us pray 
 that many of these who say they are called to 
 preach may step out and do what the Lord 
 would have them do. 
 
 We have the following young ladies who 
 have volunteered to go as missionaries : 
 
 37 
 
Miss Lela Cobb, who is a senior at Meredith 
 College. She goes to China. 
 
 Miss Alma Kee, who is a student at South 
 Mountain Industrial Institute. 
 
 Miss Myrtle Allred, who is a student at Boil- 
 ing Springs High School. She is being educat- 
 ed for a pastor's assistant. All of these girls 
 are as fine young women as you generally see. 
 We are very proud indeed of them. 
 
 May we not pray that the Master of the viner 
 yard will send more laborers into his vineyard 
 from Loray Baptist church ? 
 
 38 
 
W. LEE SMITH 
 
 Chairman Board Deacons 
 
 Superintendent Sunday School 
 
 39 
 
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 The first Sunday school that Loray had was 
 organized in the old building where the Bap- 
 tists and the Methodists held services for some 
 time. This was on Ransom Street, just below 
 the Presbyterian church. We do not know 
 whether it is still standing or not. If it is, it 
 is being used for a dwelling. This church has 
 always been very enthusiastic along this line. 
 The 'school was very large for the advantages 
 it had in the very beginning. It had more than 
 a hundred present the most of the time, though 
 they did not have any thing like the people we 
 now have, and then, they did not have any 
 church house they could call their own. We 
 have noticed in one place that the records show 
 they had one hundred and forty present on a 
 rainy Sunday. This was more than we had 
 the first Sunday we held services with this 
 church. The Sunday school has been the one 
 organization that has kept Loray going. If it 
 had not been for the Sunday school, lonq; ago 
 Loray would have had considerable trouble to 
 exist, but the work has gone forward all the 
 time because the church has maintained a good 
 strong Sunday school It now has the lar^st 
 Sunday school in Gas' on county, if not in the 
 state. Secretary Middleton tells us that we 
 have the largest in the state. We have more than 
 two thousand enrolled, and by the time this 
 goes into print, there may be three thousand. 
 This is a great school for a church in a suburban 
 section. We have two classes that number more 
 than eight hundred. The Berean class has five 
 hundred and ninety-four, the Fidelis class has 
 two hundred and twenty-two. Both of these 
 classes are doing well. We have many other 
 classes that are doing excellent work. Among 
 them are the T. E. L. and the Kings Messengers. 
 We might say all of them are doing good work 
 now. 
 
 We now have a fine Home Department and 
 Cradle Roll. We have not worked this as it 
 should have been, but we are hoping to make 
 this department much better the coming year. 
 We are sure that we can have five hundred en- 
 
 !0 
 
rolled in this department of the work. 
 
 The Sunday school at Loray has grown grad- 
 ually since its organization in its early life. 
 The growth has been so steady that the house 
 has had to be enlarged many times to take care 
 of it. The first enlargement was made during 
 the pastorate of Rev. A. T. Stoudenmire. 
 This was the addition built to the front of the 
 house. This addition gave them four new 
 Sunday school rooms, but this was not sufficient 
 and stilll others had to be built. The next sec- 
 tion was built to the west side of the house. 
 This addition gave them several new rooms and 
 added much to the convencience of the Sunday 
 school. This addition was built during the 
 pastorate of Rev. G. P. Abernathey. This im- 
 provement added much to the work, but still 
 was not enough to care for the ever growing 
 work of the Sunday school at this place. This 
 last addition had to be arranged in rooms and 
 all of the space so divided that it could not be 
 used for classes. Kindergarden chairs were 
 placed in several of the rooms and better con- 
 veniences that were able to make. We hope 
 now to be able to put chairs in all of the rooms 
 in the primary department so that we can care 
 for the little ones as well as any church in our 
 city. We do not lack very much now of hav- 
 ing this arrangement, and if Brother F. N. 
 Wood continues to care for this department, it 
 will soon need another house. It has grown 
 from about two hundred to nearly one thou- 
 sand since he took charge of it less than one 
 year ago. Our aim is to make this the best 
 primary department in the south. 
 
 We have a most excellent suprintendent now, 
 and when we get a few more teachers trained 
 for the work, we are going to have one of the 
 best Sunday schools in the south. We have 
 some of the most consecrated workers we have 
 ever seen working in this Sunday school. 
 They never tire at all. Now, as we grow, we are 
 anxious to add more teachers of the same cali- 
 ber as those we now have. 
 
 The following have served as superintendents 
 of the Sundav school at Lorav : J. J. Smith L. 
 J. Waldrop, C. L. Chandler, W. E. Hull, A. H. 
 Mitchem, R. G. Short, Archie Smith, R. C. 
 
 41 
 
Fisher, J. R. Broom, G. W. Corn, R. F. Little- 
 john, and the present superintendent, W. Lee 
 Smith. There may have been others who ser- 
 ved but we have not been able to learn who 
 they were. These are all that we have been 
 able to secure the names of. 
 
 Now we have this last word to say about this 
 work. We have been pastor for many years. 
 We have had many Sunday schools to look 
 after. We have had many suprintendents to 
 contend with, but this we are compelled to say, 
 we never have had a more enthusiastic bunch 
 to contend with in all of our ministry. Every 
 one of the Sunday school workers seems to have 
 all the enthusiasm any one needs to make the 
 work a glorious success. With our church 
 growing as it is, with the people taking the in- 
 terest in the Sunday school as.they do, and with 
 the people we have to draw from, there is not 
 any telling what the results are going to be. 
 We hope to have one of the best days the first 
 Sunday in October we have had since Loray be- 
 came a church. We are going to have a grand 
 rally day then and make our new roll for the 
 year 1923. Let us all work and pray that we 
 may be the equal of the task before us. We 
 have one of the greatest opportunities at all 
 along this line. Our only trouble is equip- 
 ment. We do not have what we need to care 
 for a school like we have. We need more 
 house, and a better arrangement to care for the 
 little ones. 
 
 We have large rooms now, but if we had 
 what we really need, it would take thirty nice 
 rooms, twenty by twenty to care for the little 
 ones as the school increases. We hope to see 
 a nice modern church building erected here for 
 this kind of work before we leave this field. 
 Oh, how we do need it. 
 
 Let us work for our Sunday school, let us 
 pray for it, and then let us be so proud of it that 
 we will always attend it to the best of our 
 ability. All of this will make it a continual 
 blessing to the kingdom of God in our section 
 of this city. 
 
 42 
 
OFFICERS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
THE BEREAN CLASS 
 
 This class was organized under the ministry 
 of Rev. A. T. Stoudenmire about the year of 
 1914, but did not have many members until 
 
 1921. It was first the Baraca class, and was 
 changed from Baraca to Berean. 
 
 When the present pastor, C. J. Black, took 
 hold of the class in 1920, he found about 
 eighteen in it. He did not intend to teach the 
 class, but since the pastors had always had this 
 class, he could not afford to fall down on the 
 job, so he took hold of it with all the strength 
 he had. It was not long before the class had 
 grown to enormous proportions. The old 
 room had to be abandoned. The class then 
 went in the main auditorium for a few Sundays, 
 but this was not satisfactory. The pastor then 
 weny to Mr. Hayes, the General Agent of the 
 Loray Mills, for some kind of relief. He let 
 the class have the Bradley Hall for the time 
 being. It was not long until it too was entirely 
 too small. The next step was to build a room 
 for the class. The Loray Mill Company of- 
 fered the building material, and the class paid 
 for the work. Three weeks from the time we be- 
 gan work on the new room we had a meeting 
 in it. This room was built to the rear of the 
 church building. It was thirty by forty feet. 
 This did much for the class. The boys were 
 very proud of it, and worked like beavers to 
 fill it, and they did to the overf ow. In April, 
 
 1922, it became very evident that a new room 
 would have to be built as the one recently built 
 became too small. The class met in the West 
 School xA.uditorium for several Sundays, but this 
 was not satisfactory. It became very evident 
 that something must be done, so they began to 
 cast about to see what they could do to make 
 it possible for the class to meet without inter- 
 ruption. The plan decided upon was to build 
 another room to the South end of the church 
 building, but this would cost several hundred 
 dollars, and what must be done to secure it? 
 The pastor, with the assistance of Mr. W. P. 
 Cargill and Mr. M. H. McLendon, secured a 
 check for $1500.00 from F. L. Jenckes, the 
 Treasurer of the Loray Mill Company. This 
 made the new room a reality. E. L. Quinn, a 
 
member of the class, took the work in hand and 
 in three weeks this room was finished, as Joe 
 Alexander had finished the former one. The 
 class is now holding its meetings in the new 
 room, and has comfort and convenience suf- 
 ficient to attract any one desiring to attend a 
 strictly first class Sunday school. The room is 
 well equipped. It has two nice electric fans 
 with fifty-six inch blades, a nice piano paid for,, 
 and with money still in the treasury, and any- 
 thing else the boys desire for their convenience 
 or pleasure. A social is held by the class once 
 a month. The boys get together and crack 
 jokes for awhile, then they serve some kind of 
 refresh rents. This is not a misspent hour at 
 all. It has done much good. 
 
 Now here aie some of the things this class 
 has done : It took care of one orphan for sev- 
 eral zronths prior to 1920. During 1920 it fed 
 many widows and orphans. It is now caring 
 for two orphans at Thomasville, and has a mis- 
 sionary girl at South Mountain Baptist Institute. 
 It is caring for her by paying all of her ex- 
 penses. It has a weekly bulletin, and has 
 spent several hundred dollars advertising. 
 The class now numbers five hundred and nine- 
 ty-four. The aim of the class for this year 
 was five hundred, but we are going far be- 
 yond that number. We are going beyond the 
 six hundred mark if things keep moving as they 
 have been. The following are the officers of 
 the class : 
 
 OFFICIARY OF CLASS. 
 
 PRESIDENT: C. P. Gardner. 
 
 TEACHER: C. J. Black. 
 
 1st VICE-PRESIDENT: W. P. Cargill. 
 Com. : Johnie Lowe, J. T. Phillips, Flay Wof- 
 ford, Joe Alexander, Lee Corn. 
 
 2nd VICE-PRESIDENT: M. H. McLendon. 
 Com. : E. L. Quinn, R. F. Adams, James 
 Queen, W. B. Vickers, W. M. Ledford, J. V. 
 Green. 
 
 3rd VICE-PRESIDENT : W. D. Davis. Com. : 
 Forney Lowe, George Moore, E. E. Bolick. 
 
 SECRETARY: C. T. Settlemyer. 
 
 ASSISTANT : Russell Jenkins. 
 
 TREASURER : W. Gray McArver. 
 45 
 
ASSISTANT : Will E. Black. 
 
 REPORTER : W. L. Hawkins. 
 
 PIANIST: W. D. Davis. 
 
 ORCHESTRA: J. S. Hall, W. W. Francis, 
 Lee Corn, John Lynch, W. D. Davis, Y. D. 
 Smith and Hugh "Chick" Srith. 
 
 We cannot tell what this class may do in the 
 future. It has done wonders in the past, and 
 if it is kept in tact for the coming year, there is 
 not anything reasonable that will be too great 
 for it to undertake. It is composed of as fine a 
 body of men as any one ever saw. May it go 
 on doing good for years to come. 
 
 -16 
 
THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY 
 SOCIETY 
 
 The Women's Missionary Society at Loray is 
 almost as old as the organization of the church. 
 It was organized in 1908, if we have been cor- 
 rectly informed. We have not been able to get 
 the data we ought to have had to write this ar- 
 ticle, but we have searched all we can to get at 
 the facts in the case. When the society was or- 
 ganized, it was composed of both single and 
 married ladies. We are not quite sure who 
 was the first president. It may have been Mis, 
 J. D. Moose, or it may have been Miss Etta Wal- 
 drop; Mrs, W. V. West was the first secretary. 
 The young ladies took hold and did all they 
 could until the Young Women's Auxiliary was 
 organized while Rev. A. T. Stoudenmire was 
 pastor. 
 
 The society did not give very much at first, 
 but was heroic in its efforts. The members did 
 not make very much money at that time but 
 they were willing to give as liberally as they 
 could of what they made. They have given the 
 following amounts: 1908, $2.75; $1909, $6.00; 
 1910, $21.12 ; 1911, $17.75 ; 1912, $10.65 ; 1913, 
 $5.40; 1914, $26.52; 1915, $25.95; 1916, 
 $44.31; 1917, $82.66; 1918, $121,34; 1919, 
 $81.40; 1920, $318,33; 1921, $422.80, and 
 1922, $721.89. The total amount given by the 
 society since its organization is $1,908.87. 
 These figures show that they steadily increased 
 in contributions from year to year. If all of 
 the church would have given as these women 
 did dining these years, we would have given 
 many times more than we have. 
 
 When the Young Women's Auxiliary was or- 
 ganized it took many of the best workers of the 
 society, leaving only married ladies for the task. 
 This made it rather hard for them because at 
 this time scarcely any of the ladies were inter- 
 ested in this kind of work. It was new to them 
 and they were slow to take hold of it, but the 
 faithful ones stood by the work and would not 
 give up under any consideration. They worked, 
 they prayed, and longed to have a flourishing 
 societj'. Often they would become discour- 
 aged, but they would not give up. Some one 
 
 47 
 
of them would have enough zeal to fire the 
 others, so they would start anew for the vic- 
 tory. They wanted to get others enlisted. They 
 knew that this would bring the society up to 
 what they desired it to be. They would pray 
 that God might give them the victory. They 
 believed what he had promised that where two 
 or three had gathered together, there would 
 he be to own and to bless. It was awfully dark 
 when they would not have' but two, or possibly 
 three, present, but they did not waver. Finally 
 the day of hope began to dawn. The sun of vic- 
 tory began to rise. Many of the ladies who had 
 not been attending, became interested and 
 joined the -society; their meetings began to 
 have more life in them, and the society began to 
 see that it could do many things it had not un- 
 dertaken before. The little handful that had 
 been so faithful, and that had gone through so 
 many severe struggles soon became a stalwart 
 band of determined women. The society became 
 so strong that it was very evident that it must be 
 divided into circles to reach all of the sections 
 of the territory covered by the church. So in 
 1921, several circles were organized. This 
 gave the work much impetus, so much that 
 other circles were soon organized. It now has 
 six circles and each of them is in charge of a 
 consecrated sister who loves the work and is 
 doing all that she can to make the society a 
 glorious success. These circles meet one Thurs- 
 day afternoon in each month. They usually 
 meet at the same hour. This enables the church 
 to have the advantage of a service in every sec- 
 tion worked by the society. All of the circles 
 meet at the church one Sunday afternoon in 
 each month. This meeting is usually very in- 
 teresting. The sisters seem to enjoy meeting 
 together very much. All of the members of 
 the different circles do not attend this meeting, 
 but the officers all try to be present, and they 
 usually are. During the summer of 1922 all of 
 the circles met at Brother J. C. Ham's residence 
 just beyond Linwood street and had one of the 
 most interesting meetings the society has ever 
 had. Watermelons and other refreshments 
 were served. The meeting was a most enjoya- 
 ble one. It did the work a great deal of good. 
 
The society is doing many very helpful 
 things at present. For the past years it has 
 stood for everything that is worth while along 
 the line of helping the unfortunate of this 
 world. They have tried to feed the hungry, 
 clothe the naked, and encourage the discon- 
 solate. They have been active in trying to 
 lead the lost to Christ. They are interested in 
 the education of young women. They are now 
 assisting two missionary girls. These are Miss 
 Lela Cobb, who is a senior at Meredith Col- 
 lege, and Miss Myrtle Allred, who is a stu- 
 dent at Boiling Springs High School. These 
 girls are doing noble work and are the pride of 
 the society. 
 
 The society sends the Orphanage a nice box 
 every Thanksgiving. They sent the nicest one 
 in 1922 they have been able to get at all. They 
 try to send sot. ething that will be useful in the 
 home life of the children at the Orphanage. 
 They sent some nice quilts in the last box. It 
 is wonderful to see how easily the ladies get 
 this work done. They usually get a quilt out 
 within a few hours. 
 
 The misionary society has always been the 
 pastor's readiest helper. It has never turned 
 down a single demand that any pastor has 
 made if the sisters thought that it was a just 
 one. If the floor is to be carpeted. i f stands 
 ready to take the lead in the work ; if seats are 
 to be bought, it is ready at a moment's warning 
 to do all that it can ; if the poor are to be visited, 
 it stands ready to go at once and do all that 
 can be done to assist in any possible way. If 
 the naked are to be clothed, it is always ready 
 to do all that it can to put clothing upon the 
 naked backs of the needy. Several times we 
 have had to send some of the sisters to see 
 after poor families that needed help. They al- 
 ways went cheerfully and did more than they 
 were asked to do. The truth of it is, the mis- 
 sionary society is the pastor's reliance. He has 
 to call upon the missionary society when trou- 
 bles come that he cannot handle by himself. 
 They can always be depended on. If all of 
 our pastors could realize just what a mis- 
 sionary society really means, we would have 
 more of them than we do. We feel so sorry 
 
 49 
 
for a pastor who does not know enough about 
 this kind of work to aid it enough to get assist- 
 ance out of it when he needs what ladies can 
 do for a church. If every pastor could have 
 the support of such a band of women as the 
 Loray Baptist Missionary Society is, many of 
 them would succeed who otherwise fail. There 
 was never a more loyal band of women on 
 earth. May they grow from year to year in 
 their acts of charity and benevolence. 
 
 The society now has the following officers : 
 
 President, Mrs, D. A. Grigg. 
 
 Secretary, Mrs. M. H. McLendon. 
 
 Treasurer, Mrs. C. J. Black. 
 
 The circles are all named and each one of 
 them is under the care of a most competent and 
 consecrated leader. The following are the cir- 
 cles at present and their leaders : 
 
 No. 1 — Fannie Heck Circle, Mrs. Iris Mundy 
 President. 
 
 No. 2— Sallie Grigg Circle, Mrs, F. N. Wood 
 President. 
 
 No. 3 — Jane Bostic Circle, Mrs. Jacob L. Al- 
 exander President. 
 
 No. 4 — Annie Laura Circle, Mrs. H, G. Settle- 
 meyer President. 
 
 No. 5 — Arlington Circle, Mrs. Hunter Harri- 
 son President. 
 
 No. 6 — Fannie Moore Circle, Mrs, C. L. 
 Mauney President. 
 
 All of these circles are in good working or- 
 der. Some of them are very large. One is 
 trying to have fifty ladies present at one of 
 their meetings. This is circle No. 3 ; Mrs. Al- 
 exander is very optimistic over the results she 
 has thus far obtained. All of the circles are 
 doing well considering the opportunity they 
 have. Here is a list of the things the society 
 has done for the past year: 
 To the Seventy-fiveMillion Campaign __$567.34 
 To Home Expense $154.55 
 
 Religious visits made, 863 ; literature of dif- 
 ferent kinds distributed, 170; flowers given to 
 the sick, 70 bunches; 57 quarts of milk were 
 given to the sick and poor; 321 garments were 
 given to the naked, 30 unconverted people were 
 talked with ; 3 Bibles were given to those who 
 did not have one; 8 cottage prayer meetings 
 
 50 
 
were held, and a nice tray was given the pas- 
 tor's wife. This was a most beautiful gift, and 
 one that was most highly appreciated. It is 
 quite an asset to the parsonage dining room. 
 
 We hope that through the coming years 
 while we are waiting for the blessed Lord's re- 
 turn, this missionary society may realize its 
 place more and more, and that it may do a 
 much greater work than it has done in the past. 
 May it mean as much, and more if possible, 
 to all the succeeding pastors as it has for those 
 who have gone before. We hope to see more 
 than two hundred sisters united in this work 
 before the year of 1923 is gone. We trust that 
 this article in this little book may inspire every 
 lady who reads it to take a place in this noble 
 organization and do her best for Him who did 
 so much for us. Women of God, go forward. 
 
 51 
 
B. Y. P. U. 
 
 (By Miss Blanche Grigg) 
 
 A B. Y. P. U. was organized during the pas- 
 torate of Rev. J. D. Moose. This union, how- 
 ever, lasted only a short while. After Rev. G. P. 
 Abernathy became pastor of the church there 
 was felt again a need for an organization for 
 young church members. On the second Sunday 
 in November, 1916, about twenty young peo- 
 ple together with the deacons, the pastor and 
 Rev. W. C. Barrett met and organized a B. Y. 
 P. U. This was the beginning of our present 
 B. Y. P. U. There are still a few members in 
 the union today who were present at this meet- 
 ing. 
 
 During this time the B. Y. P. U. has stead- 
 ily grown, although it has passed through many 
 trying times. The young people have found it 
 a great help to them in church work. As a 
 result almost all of the B. Y. P. U. members 
 are Bible readers, systematic givers and faith- 
 ful supporters of the church. 
 
 Every year since its organization, delegates 
 have been sent to the State B. Y. P. U. conven- 
 tion and the whole union is greatly benefited by 
 the reports given from the delegates. 
 
 The union has enjoyed many social occasions 
 which have made the members better acquaint- 
 ed with each other. The union joined the City 
 B. Y. P. U. in 1920 and several meetings of the 
 City Union have been held at cur church. 
 
 The year of 1921 was a propitious one for 
 our B. Y, P. U. work. It was during this year 
 that the union attained for the first time the A-l 
 standard. In May of this year it was thought 
 best to divide the union. Accordingly, Section 
 B was organized. This union made a fine be- 
 ginning. It was composed of some of the for- 
 mer members of the B. Y. P. U., and of those 
 who had never belonged to a union before. 
 This Section joined the City Union soon after its 
 organization. 
 
 In the fall of 1921, Rev. C. J. Black offered a 
 silver loving cup to the union which made the 
 highest percentage in Bible reading, attend- 
 ance, new members, and the most improvement 
 in rendering programs. This cup was won by 
 Section A. 
 
 52 
 
During this year the Junior B. Y. P. U. was 
 organized. Great work is being done by this 
 union in the training of the children. A large 
 number attend the meetings and render good 
 programs. 
 
 The Intermediate B. Y. P. U. which has been 
 organized recently, is doing great work. Some 
 of the best programs given by any of the unions 
 are being given by the Intermediate boys and 
 girls. They know how to do things and are 
 interested in the work. The outlook for our 
 future B. Y. P. U. is very promising indeed. 
 
 53 
 
BOARD OF DEACONS 
 
 54 
 
CLERKS OF LORAY CHURCH 
 
 The following have been clerks of Loray 
 Baptist church : 
 W. H. Nolen, 
 Clarence D. Barnes, 
 J. V. Kendrick, 
 J. W. Aycock, 
 C. L. Chandler, 
 A. H. Mitchem, 
 W. A. Smith, 
 R. F. Littlejohn, 
 W. B. Ferguson, 
 J. Mack Jenkins, 
 L. J. Waldrop. 
 
 TREASURERS OF LORAY 
 CHURCH 
 
 The following have been treasurers of Loray 
 Baptist church : 
 G. W. Nance, 
 G. W. Corn, 
 W. V. West, 
 
 C. L. Padgett, 
 Jacob L. Alexander, 
 
 D. A. Grigg. 
 
 55 
 
L. J. WALDROP 
 Clerk 
 
 56 
 
D. A. GRIGG 
 Treasurer 
 
 57 
 
THE BOARD OF DEACONS 
 
 The Board of Deacons consists of the follow- 
 ing brethren : W. Lee Smith, Chairman ; L. J. 
 Waldrop, Secretary; J. C. Smith, S. L. Smith, 
 D. V. Vaughn, L. L. Marshall, J. A. Gordon, 
 W. D. Davis, D. W. Blanton, D. A. Grigg, E. C. 
 Torrence, R. F. Littlejohn, J. C. Morton, C. L. 
 Conrad, D. H. Cobb, Jacob L. Alexander, Joe L. 
 Alexander. 
 
 The above men are as good a board of dea- 
 cons as we have ever had in a church anywhere. 
 We have been serving churches more than a 
 quarter of a century, but we have never had a 
 more agreeable bunch to work with since we 
 have been pastor of Baptist churches. They 
 always try to make peace rather than to dis- 
 turb it. They always try to co-operate with 
 their pastor in every good work. Some of them 
 are getting old and cannot attend as they would 
 like to, but they are just as much interested as 
 they were years ago. They attend all they can, 
 and if they do not get to a meeting, they are 
 willing to try to carry out what others plan. 
 They stand together as well as any set of men 
 can. If Loray Baptist church does not suc- 
 ceed, it will not be the fault of the board of 
 deacons. They are on the job ; all they need is 
 the hearty co-operation of the church. Dea- 
 cons cannot do what they should unless they 
 have the hearty co-operation of the church. If 
 the church supports them, they can make things 
 go without a pastor. Our deasons are all Bap- 
 tist and stand square on moral issues. They 
 are four-square men. 
 
 58 
 
MOTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS 
 PASSED BY THE CHURCH 
 
 Loray Baptist church has never passed many 
 resolutions, and some of those passed have been 
 rescinded. We have gone through the books 
 carefully and do not find any but the following : 
 
 1. The church will not grant a letter of dis- 
 mission to any member of this church who has 
 not paid something to some object in the church 
 within thirty days previous to the tixe the letter 
 is called for, except in cases of sickness. This 
 resolution was passed May 11, 1910. 
 
 2. Be it therefore resolved : That this 
 church in conference at the proper time, elect 
 annually the Sunday school superintendent, sec- 
 retary and treasurer in the following manner : 
 The Board of Deacons, the Sunday school teach- 
 ers, and the pastor of the church shall meet to- 
 gether one week, or longer, before said confer- 
 ence and agree on, and nominate to the church 
 conference one name for each of the above of- 
 fices, the officers to serve one year. Should a 
 nominee fail to be elected, or a vacancy occur, 
 said rule of election shall apply. That the 
 teachers of the Sunday school shall be ap- 
 pointed by the superintendent with the consent 
 of the pastor of the church, except that the or- 
 ganized adult classes be allowed to elect offi- 
 cers and teachers; provided such officers and 
 teachers — except committees — are members of 
 this church. 
 
 The above resolution has been observed very 
 closely since the present pastor took charge. 
 He did not know that it was on the church 
 books until he began this history, but is de- 
 lighted to know that this church is modern 
 enough in its management to have such a res- 
 olution on its books, The above resolution was 
 passed July 1, 1914. 
 
 3. The following resolution was passed con- 
 cerning the granting of church letters : 
 
 Whereas, members of this Baptist church 
 who move away and neglect to secure letters of 
 dismission and thereby drift into indifference 
 and neglect, and finally exclusion from the 
 church. Therefore, be it resolved : That mem- 
 bers of this church are requested to procure let- 
 ter when moving to other communities. That 
 
 59 
 
any member failing to do so, being excluded, or 
 dropped from the roll, shall not be granted a 
 letter in full fellowship except upon making a 
 contribution to the church and a proper con- 
 fession for neglect. 
 
 The above resolution was adopted July 1, 
 1914. The above resolution has not been ob- 
 served. We do not see anything wrong with 
 it, but, like many of our resolutions., it is hard 
 to observe it all the time. So many exceptions 
 have to be made that it is really best to let the 
 circumstances govern the action of the church. 
 You just cannot follow any rule too rigidxy 
 when it comes to the handling of members in a 
 church. There is so much difference in folks 
 Some can be handled almost any way, while 
 others can not be handled but one way. 
 
 4. The following resolution was passed by 
 the church concerning entertainments in the 
 church : 
 
 Resolved, That no Sunday school class, or 
 other party, shall have any entertainment, ice 
 cream supper, or anything in connection with 
 or for the benefit of the church without first 
 consulting the pastor. 
 
 The above resolution was adopted March 31, 
 1915. 
 
 We trust that the above resolution may be 
 clos3ly observed. There is nothing more detri- 
 mental to the spiritual development of a church 
 than this habitual habit of having suppers in a 
 church. They never bring good. The apostle 
 Paul said for us not to go to the house of God 
 just to eat and drink. 
 
 5. The following resolution was passed by 
 the church November 8, 1922 : 
 
 Resolved, That all members guilty of drunk- 
 enness must appear before the church in person 
 and acknowledge the same if they wish the 
 church to forgive them. If they do not come 
 before the church, they shall stand excluded. 
 
 The reason this resolution was passed was 
 because of the fact that numbers had been get- 
 ting drunk and were giving the church untold 
 trouble. This resolution puts the burden on 
 the individual who gets drunk. 
 
 We trust that every member will read these 
 resolutions carefully. 
 
 60 
 
R, F. L5TTLEJOHN 
 Chorister 
 
 61 
 
LORAY'S GREATEST VICTORY 
 
 When the present pastor took charge of Lo- 
 ray church, there was quite a debt against it. 
 The parsonage had not been built but one year 
 and other improvements had been made on the 
 church house. These improvements were all 
 made when things were at their highest be- 
 cause of the recent war. Lumber, brick, ce- 
 ment, lime, hardware, and everything used in 
 the construction of a house wer^e at the high- 
 est pitch possible. This made it hard for a 
 church to make any kind of material improve- 
 ment without going into debt. Loray needed 
 a parsonage and everything else it did, but was 
 not able to pay for these improvements, or at 
 least it did not pay for them, and when the 
 present pastor took hold, he found it about four 
 thousand dollars in debt. This was carried by 
 the banks. These notes soon became due. What 
 had to be done ? Why they must be paid, or 
 renewed. The church could not pay them at 
 this time, so they had to be renewed. They 
 soon were due again, and again they were re- 
 newed. The pastor soon became tired of this 
 kind of thing, so he made an effort to pay off 
 one of the notes. By much effort he raised the 
 majority of the note, and one of the deacons.. 
 Brother C. T. Hawkins, loaned the church eight 
 hundred dollars to pay the remainder of the 
 note. This note came due during the fall of 
 1922. Another note for thirteen hundred and 
 sixty-three dollars also came due during the 
 fall. The deacons decided that something must 
 be done to get this debt of two thousand dol- 
 lars off the church. The pastor tried his best 
 to get the amount subscribed in weekly install- 
 ments, but failed. He then brought the matter 
 up in another deacon's meeting, and Brother 
 J. C. Smith suggested that we divide the debt 
 into fifty-dollar shares. His suggestion met the 
 hearty approval of the board of deacons. The 
 pastor had some stock certificates printed. He 
 presented them to the church Sunday, January 
 7, 1923, and many of the members took them 
 and went to work. Within a week's time the 
 most of the debt was arranged for, and the 
 money was fast being collected. Nearly every 
 department in the Loray mills took a share of 
 
 62 
 
stock in the debt, and all of the other mills 
 where the anembers of Loray church work did 
 their best to cancel the debt at the time set for 
 its cancellation, which was the first Sunday in 
 February. , TheW. M. S., the Intermediate and 
 Senior B. Y. P. U.'s and all of the other organ- 
 izations took shares in this noble movement to 
 rid the church of its burdensome debt. 
 
 Some of the most heroic work v/as done to 
 clear this up that- we have ever seen anywhere. 
 The Intermediate B. Y. P. U. took one half share 
 on the. start, but after one week of earnest 
 work, their leader decided to take three shares, 
 and. before -two weeks of the campaign were 
 gone,.she.had the most of:them paid. No more- 
 heroic work could have been done. 
 
 The next noticeable thing done during this 
 campaign was by the W. M. S. The pastor 
 asked the ladies to take one-half a share for 
 each Circle of the W. M. S, The ladies have 
 six circles and every one of them took one share 
 except one.- They did all they could to help 
 pay the debt. They collected money from every 
 member they had, they held a banquet on Sat- 
 urday evening, January 29th, the Trenton 
 women sold sandwiches every morning and ev- 
 ening for several days, they quilted, and - — 
 well, they did any legitimate thing they could to 
 get the money. The pastor will never forget 
 the noble, earnest work done by the ladies to 
 help, in the time of-mich distress. ■ 
 
 The Tierean class stood by the movement like 
 a stone wall. Many of the boys took shares in 
 the first campaign, but they voted two more 
 shares for the class, and the admirable thing 
 about it was that they paid most of it imme- 
 diately. This noble class has stood by the pas- 
 tor all of the time as he has undertaken differ- 
 ent things for the advancement of the cause. 
 
 The deacons stood by the pastor in this move- 
 ment. They worked, they paid all they could, 
 and supported the movement to a man. They 
 meant to get rid of the debt at the appointed 
 time. When men get set on a thing like this it 
 is sure to come to pass. 
 
 Many of our merchants worked hard to get 
 rid of the debt. Nearly all of them took shares, 
 or helped to raise the money. Ralph Blanton 
 
 63 
 
and W. P. Gilliam took one afternoon off and 
 canvassed to wholesale men and got more than 
 two shares. 
 
 No more persistent work was ever done by 
 any church than was done by Loray in the cam- 
 paign for the liquidation of the notes against 
 it. The most thrilling sight in the whole affair 
 was the last day of the campaign when the pas- 
 tor had asked the treasurer to stay at Brother 
 Settlemyer's store from one o'clock in the after- 
 noon of February the third until four for the 
 purpose of receiving the amounts due on the 
 certificates. More than eight hundred dollars 
 were still due on them, but the brethren and 
 sisters came forward with their pledges and the 
 amounts they had raised, which were more than 
 the amount of the debt. Before Brother Grigg 
 came to the store, several were there awaiting 
 his arrival so that they might keep up the en- 
 thusiasm of the campaign. They kept coming 
 all of the afternoon until it was evident that we 
 were going over the top with our -collections. 
 As soon as the pastor saw that we were safe, he 
 had the treasurer to go to the bank and get the 
 note. When the note was safe in the hands of 
 the church, he went to the church and put out 
 a bulletin board that had on it, "Victory, vic- 
 tory, the notes are going to be burned tomor- 
 row." 
 
 The whole town seemed to rejoice over the 
 victory we won. No more heroic thing had ever 
 been done by a church in this country. Within 
 four weeks over two thousand dollars had been 
 paid into the treasury of the church. It was 
 done by the hearty cooperation of every mem- 
 ber of the church, or the most of them. If any 
 failed, they were ashamed to confess it. 
 
 The most notable day we have ever had at 
 Loray was the first Sunday in February. This 
 was the day set apart for the burning of the 
 notes. All preparation had been made for the 
 occasion. Prof. C. P. Gardner had written a 
 song to be sung if we raised the amount due on 
 the notes, and other things had been prepared 
 for this occasion. The people had arranged to 
 be with us to see that the work was well done. 
 The only thing that hindered any at all was 
 rain. It was a real dreary day but this did not 
 
 64 
 
keep the people away from church. An enor- 
 mous crowd was present to see the notes go up 
 in ashes. The three highest in the race were 
 the Missionary Society, the Intermediate B. Y. 
 P. U. and the Berean Class. The Missionary 
 Society collected $382.95, the Intermediate 
 B. Y. P. U. raised $152.00, and the Berean Class 
 gave $100.00. The pastor had announced that 
 the three who went the highest in this cam- 
 paign would burn the notes. The above three 
 being the highest had the pleasure of burning 
 all of them. Mrs. D. A. Grigg was selected by 
 the Missionary Society to burn the note assigned 
 to it; Mrs. Walter Jolly, the leader of the In- 
 termediate B. Y. P. U., was selected to burn the 
 one assigned to it, and Brother S. L. Smith was 
 selected by the Berean Class to burn the one as- 
 signed to it. The service began promptly at 
 eleven o'clock. Three songs were sung as us- 
 ual, then the pastor asked the three appointed 
 to burn the notes to come to the platform. So 
 they came forward at once, and while the con- 
 gregation sang "Praise God from Whom All 
 Blessings Flow," the matches were put to the 
 notes and soon they went up in ashes never to 
 trouble Loray Baptist church any more. After 
 the notes were burned, a male quartette was 
 sung by R. F. Littlejohn, L. J. Waldrop, W. A. 
 Martin and C. P. Gardner. We have never 
 heard them sing better in our lives. They had 
 never sung the song before, but you could not 
 tell that they had not. They opened up their 
 souls for this song and did the best we had ever 
 heard them do. The pastor then preached a 
 sermon on "The Church of God." The Lord's 
 Supper was observed at the close of the ser- 
 vice. Hundreds were present for all of the ser- 
 vice, and we are sure will never forget this day. 
 
 The following was the song sung by the male 
 quartette : 
 
 We have won a glorious victory for Loray Church: 
 Everybody gave a little, didn't hurt them much. 
 Each department set their heads to reach a certain goal, 
 Paid the debt. Let Hallelujahs roll. 
 
 CHOEUS: 
 
 Let the Hallelujahs roll, let the Hallelujahs roll; 
 
 65 
 
Oh ! the debt is paid in full and we have reached the hap- 
 py goal. 
 
 Let the Hallelujahs roll,, let the Hallelujahs roll ; . - , 
 
 \7'c 11 forward go in His great Name, let Hallelujahs roll. 
 
 People said we couldn't do it, but we did, you see; 
 
 And the notes are burned to cinders and from debt we're 
 free. . 
 
 And we thought we couldn't do it, for "to save our. soul; 
 
 But we did ; let Hallelujahs roll. 
 
 . The following are those who took shares of 
 stock and those who paid on the" debt: 
 
 Intermediate E. Y. P. U, _,.______$I52.00 
 
 G. P. Ga-dner _- 25,00; 
 
 W. P. Gilliam 50.00 
 
 Gilliam & Corn 50.00 
 
 E. C. Torrenee ___-_ 50.00 
 
 L. J..;-Waldrop.-__- 50.00 
 
 Joseph L. Alexander 50.00 
 
 D. W. Blanton & Sons 60.00 
 
 Berean Class ___ : _.__- 100.00 
 
 D. A. Grigg ___. 50.00 
 
 R. F. Little John ___ 50.00 
 
 V. M. Sheppard 50.00 
 
 Will Long 50.00 
 
 Lee Corn __: . 25.00 
 
 Rev. C. J. Black 51.00 
 
 D. V. Vaughn 11 25,00. 
 
 J. Mack Jenkins 25.00 
 
 G. H. Moore 25.0.0 
 
 J. M. Lynch -____. ?5.00 
 
 G. TV Settlemyer 50.00 
 
 J. C. Smiths _______ ;__>_ 50.00 
 
 J. C. Morton : 50,00 
 
 G. W. Stockton _-_.- 50.00 
 
 John E. Davis •_'_ 25,00 
 
 Mrs. M. T. Massagee 50.00 
 
 M. T. Massagee ■ 25.00 
 
 D. B. Farnsworth 25.00 
 
 Twisting Department :_ i '_: 50.00 
 
 Weaving Department 50.00 
 
 Mrs, J. J. Lynn 2.50 
 
 Anabel McFadden .1 ■_■_■ 25.00 
 
 Willing; Workers Class 1.16 
 
 E. W. Hicks _____ 1.00 
 
 Mrs, S, A. Waldrop .25 
 
 Rossie Crook 4.15 
 
 W. M. Ledford 16.00 
 
 W. H. Dilling 25.00 
 
 r j 
 
S2ction "A," B. Y. P. U. 50.00 
 
 Women's Missionary Society 76.00 
 
 Circle No. 1 . 90.75 
 
 Circle No. 2 56.25 
 
 Circle No. 3 67.50 
 
 Circle No. 4 25.00 
 
 Circle No. 5 17.20 
 
 Circle No. 6 50.25 
 
 Jacob L. Alexander 50.00 
 
 R. C. Blanton 50.00 
 
 R. F. Norman 32.75 
 
 Barbee & Parker 50.00 
 
 J. A. Gordon 5.00 
 
 E. L. Quinn 50.00 
 
 Bradshaw & Fisher 50.00 
 
 M. H. McLendon 50.00 
 
 J. V. Green 50.00 
 
 Spinning Department 15.00 
 
 There was $13.20 unaccounted for in this col- 
 lection. We wish that we might be able to give 
 the name of the contributor in this account, but 
 we cannot. 
 
 The collection amounted to $2,304.08; the 
 notes, interest and all amounted to $2,062,80. 
 Subtracting this from the amount raised we 
 have $241.28 left. 
 
 67 
 
THE CHURCH'S OPPORTUNITY 
 
 We do not believe that there is a church in 
 North Carolina that has a greater opportunity 
 than Loray. Several things make this state- 
 ment true. In the first place she has more peo- 
 ple to handle than any church we know of un- 
 less it is Kannapolis, and we do not believe that 
 this one had more than two thirds as many as 
 we have. We have about ten thousand people 
 in our section of the city with no Baptist church 
 to look after them but Loray. About eighty 
 per cent of this population is Baptist. True, 
 many of them do not belong to Loray, and some 
 of them do not belong to a Baptist church any- 
 where, but they are Baptist inclined. If they 
 were to join anywhere, they would join Loray. 
 Many of them attend Sunday school and church 
 at Loray. When they need a preacher, they 
 always call on the pastor of Loray church. Now, 
 with this enormous population and the senti- 
 ment we have to back our work, can you not 
 see the wonderful opportunity we have as a 
 church ? But this is not all ; we have seven 
 other mills to draw from besides the Loray, and 
 the Loray is moving their New England mills 
 here just as fast as they can. They have built 
 four stories to the west end of the large build- 
 ing, and we understand that they are going to 
 add two more as soon as weather conditions 
 will permit. This will require many more hands, 
 and then when they build fc greater works, 
 what will our church have to do ? We have a 
 large building now, but what will it take when 
 we get fifteen, or possibly twenty thousand peo- 
 ple here ? We are going to have the most won- 
 derful chance any church has ever had. We 
 hope to be able to take care of whatever we 
 have to contend with, and if we have twenty 
 thousand people about us, we want at least 
 two thousand members in our church. Let us 
 awake to the situation and get ready for any 
 emergency. 
 
 The second thing we wish to mention in the 
 way of an unparallelled opportunity is the won- 
 derful sympathy we have. Nearly all of the 
 mills are in perfect harmony with us, and espe- 
 cially is this true on the part of the Loray. Ever 
 since the present pastor has been on the field, 
 
 68 
 
this mill company has been doing all it could to 
 help him put the task over. They have built 
 additions for him, they have spoken encourag- 
 ing things to him, they have given him money 
 to build with, and they have furnished material 
 for the different things he has had to build. 
 They have enabled him to do many things he 
 could not have done but for their support. Mr. 
 J. H. Separk, who has large interests in the 
 Parkdale, Gray and the Arlington, Mr. Dixon, 
 of the Trenton, Mr. Clyde Armstrong, who has 
 interest in the Mutual, and others have done 
 niuch toward helping to make the church a suc- 
 cess. We have the good will of all of the best 
 folks in Gastonia. Loray is almost solid for us, 
 and the country round about us is favorable to 
 our work. We see no reason why we cannot 
 make a success of this work since we have this 
 wonderful opportunity. 
 
 Another thing that gives us a most wonder- 
 ful opportunity is the force we have to work 
 with. We have numbers of fine, energetic 
 young folks who are willing to do anything they 
 can to make the work a success. We are now 
 giving lectures on the Sunday School Normal 
 Manual at our Wednesday evening services. 
 These lectures are being attended by many of 
 our young people. We have a Bible Class on 
 Thursday evenings, This is largely attended 
 by our young folks. This shows us that they 
 are very much interested. We have prayer 
 meetings and other young people's meetings ev- 
 ery week. All of these are well attended. With 
 a force ready for work like we have there is no 
 telling what we may be able to accomplish in 
 the future. 
 
 With the largest membership in the Gaston 
 County Baptist Association, with the largest 
 Sunday school in the State, with the most wide- 
 awake B. Y. P. U. and one of the best W. M. S., 
 we feel that nothing but victory can await us. 
 All we need to do to make this the most won- 
 derful church in the South is for us to keep 
 humble and so submit ourselves to the Lord that 
 he nay lead us. With the opportunity we have 
 and the Master opening up greater day by day, 
 what ought we to do ? Let God our Father 
 answer this question by leading us to do all that 
 he would have us to undertake. 
 
 69 
 
A FINAL WORD 
 
 We have done what we could to give a brief 
 account of the many things Loray Baptist 
 church has done for the past seventeen years, 
 but we know many things have been over- 
 looked, and many have not been related to us 
 so that we could write them in this short story, 
 but we have done the very best we could with 
 what we had to work from. We send this little 
 book forth hoping that it may inspire others 
 who follow us to do something much greater. 
 We have not done all that can be done, but 
 we have made an honest beginning. We have 
 tried to lay the foundation for something worth 
 while. Loray is a worthy church with a splen- 
 did record, and now since this little story has 
 been written, we hope that every member may 
 feel that he, or she, as the case may be, is indi- 
 vidually responsible for the future of this 
 church. Let us all work like we were expect- 
 ing the Master to come any day. Let us hold 
 fast the faith delivered to the saints of old. Let 
 us not deviate one inch from the Old Land- 
 marks of the Fathers, but let us stand to the 
 doctrines of the New Testament to the finish. 
 If heresies come, let us not be moved by them, 
 but let us hold fast a good profession in the 
 midst of all kinds of doctrines. The time has 
 come when people will not endure sound doc- 
 trine, but let us not be so conformed to this 
 world that we cannot stand for the true and 
 right thing, but let us earnestly contend for 
 that which is right. Loray Baptist church stands 
 for a regenerated church membership, believers 
 baptism, immersion for baptism, restricted com- 
 munion, New Testament evangelism, the whole 
 gospel for the whole world, old time New Tes- 
 tament fellowship, an open Bible for all of the 
 people, and a helping hand for the poor and 
 needy. These things are the teachings of the 
 New Testament if we understand what it means 
 to teach. We do not want to go beyond what 
 it teaches. If any one reading these lines de- 
 sires to join in with a bunch of New Testa- 
 ment Christians who stand for the things men- 
 tioned above, Loray has a place for you. We 
 have a helping hand for you if you wish to do 
 
 70 
 
what the Lord commands, but we do not have 
 fellowship for any one who tries to get rid of 
 the plain teachings of our Lord and Master. 
 
 You've read the third of Matthew, go read it through 
 
 again ; 
 You'll find not one baptized, but did repentance bring; 
 If you believe in Jesus, then be immersed like him, 
 As long as you neglect it, it is to you a sin. 
 
 Philip was a preacher, as we do understand, 
 He join'd the eunuch's chariot, it was the Lord's com- 
 mand, 
 Opened to him the Scriptures, the eunuch did believe, 
 Straitway he was baptized, as we do plainly read. 
 
 This ordinance of Jesus will stand forever strong, 
 There's none can turn it, tho' they've endeavor'd long, 
 When the antichristian powers will sink forevermore. 
 For Jesus and his kingdom will stand forever sure, 
 
 [Since going to press with this little book, we have 
 had the last dollar pledged in the church debt campaign 
 arranged for. When we printed the list, but fifteen dol- 
 lars had been paid by the Spinning Department of the 
 Loray Mills. Since then the remainder of the share this 
 room took has been taken up. We are glad we can say 
 that every cent pledged was paid.] 
 
 71