Life Line Baptist Church's History

In the summer of 1912, a brush arbor meeting was held in the shade of a white oak tree on the old German Pike, a baseline road several miles southwest of Little Rock.  A church was organized in that meeting and Rev. Home Reynolds became pastor of a small congregation.  Less than a year later, one acre of land was purchased for $55 by the trustees of Life Line Baptist Church with the stated condition that it be "used for religious purposes".  Soon a white frame building was erected as the first building of the church.

 

When Pulaski County Baptist Association was formed in 1916, Life Line was a charter member.  Rev. W.D. Joyner pastored the church in a one-room frame structure that was divided into four classes by curtains.

 

In the fall of 1936, the church was closed for a few months and the windows boarded up.  In the spring of 1937, a young man named Johnny Miller, a member of Immanuel Baptist Church, received permission to open the church and begin services.

 

During the 1940's the frame structure was replaced with a new building that is often referred to as the "rock church".  After World War II, the little country church began to experience tremendous growth.

 

In the 1950's a new children's building was added (which presently serves as the Administration Building and houses our church offices) and the church launched a kindergarten ministry which closed in 2005.

 

As more people were reached, the need for space was met with the construction of an adult education building (today's Fellowship Hall) in 1963 at a cost of approximately $100,000.

 

The church soon outgrew the "rock building" and met in our current Fellowship Hall for worship until the present auditorium was constructed and completed in 1969.  As growth continued, educational wings were added on each side of the auditorium in 1974 to provide needed Sunday School space.

 

In the fall of 1983, the church once again outgrew its educational space and a second Sunday School was added.  In 1984, the church participated in a "Together We Build" campaign to fund the construction of a two-story educational building.  The church became debt-free in 1991 and symbolically burned the mortgage note.

 

The area in which the church is located has changed tremendously since 1912.  During that time, the ministries of the church have changed to meet the needs of a changing world.  Yet, through all these years, the church has been committed to living up to its name and to be a "life line" in the community.