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Parsons Church Of Christ

136 Tennessee Avenue South
731-847-2462

The church had its beginning in Parsons in the year of 1924. Arthur Baugus and Will Neely rented the Masonic Lodge upstairs over the Jenning's grocery about where Jerry Bell's storage building is today. We worshipped there for about three months. We only had sis to eight people at this time. We finally grew to twelve or fifteen. The people at the Masonic Lodge decided they wanted us out. We broke up at this time. Some went to Beacon and some went to Lexington.

Before we bought the building on Florida Avenue we decided to go out to Center Hill. There was a frame building on the Baugus place that my grandfather, George Baugus, built. This building was just below Jeannette. Mr. Hendrix asked my mother if he and some men could move the building from Jeanette to Center Hill. They moved it with mules and wagons. The Beacon congregation had already moved their building to Center Hill so by combining these two structures and renovating them it would make a nice sized meeting place. We worshipped wit the Center Hill congregation for three to four years. This congregation split and we bought the building on Florida Avenue form Glennie Colwick. Irba Jane Jordan and Fannie D. Rains went to some of the members and asked for donations to get the congregation started.

We hired Willie Bradfield to preach two Sundays a month. This was all we could afford to hire him. The other two Sundays he preached at the Scotts Hill congregation. Mr. Bradfield made his living as a Standard Coffee salesman at the time. We started running a school bus through Decaturville and Beacon and it wasn't long until we were filling the small building.

We had a meeting and Joe Gregory and George Jordan went to see Mrs. Cora Houston about buying the lot where the building is now. Mrs. Houston was the mother of our Dannie Houston and Marie Barrett. Mrs. Houston agreed to sell the lot for $1,500.00 and said she would give $500.00 back to start the building. This was in 1941.

The high school had a small bulldozer and Mr. McIllwain was asked if he would let George Jordan drive it and did a basement. Herman Rains, Margaret Lindsey's father, and George Jordan went to Jackson to draw a blueprint for the building. Mr. Rains took charge of overseeing the building of the auditorium. We only finished the auditorium so we could begin worshipping. The basement wasn't finished for three years due to the lack of funds. About twenty years later, we sold bonds and built the back addition onto the building. While we were in the process of building the church building Brother Bradfield was hired by the White Bluff congregation. Our first preacher in the new building was Willie Johnson and the first song was led by John Alexander.

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