3rd Oldest Baptist Congregation in Missouri Turns 200

Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church 2020

The congregation of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church of Wayne County Missouri was established in 1820 and is celebrating 200 years of faithful service to the Lord in September 2020. Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church (1820) of the Wayne County Association is considered the third oldest Baptist Church in Missouri behind Fe Fe Baptist Church in Bridgeton (1807), and Black River Baptist Church (1818) of the Cane Creek/Stoddard Association near Poplar Bluff. Mount Pleasant church served under numerous associations during the past 200 years. Although the church remained along the banks of Otter Creek in Wayne County since 1820, it more than likely served under the umbrella of the Old Bethel Association in 1820, as well as the Cape Girardeau Association in 1824. Records do affirm that Mt. Pleasant was constituted into the Black River Association in July 1837 and because of the increasingly large size of the Black River Association, Mt. Pleasant and other churches left to become a part of the St. Francois Association in 1850. In 1875 the Wayne County Association was formed which added Mt. Pleasant and many other Wayne and Reynolds county churches to their roster.

Many well-known ministers of the faith passed through the doors of Mt. Pleasant; namely Reverend Jesse B. Wallis who was not only a circuit preacher with six churches to pastor, he was also the Deputy Sheriff of Wayne County, during the time when the borders of Wayne county extended south to the Arkansas line and west to the Kansas border. In those days, many a preacher spent long hours in the saddle and behind many pulpits. Rev. Wallis was ordained a minister at Mt. Pleasant church in 1848.

The 1st Mt. Pleasant church was said to be of a log structure that was on the Duncan farm, then later disassembled and reassembled on the Creasy farm. The 3rd location was constructed between 1875 to 1880 and can still be found by the church steps that remain just west of the old Mt. Pleasant School which still stands today. The current location of the Mt. Pleasant church was dedicated in 1959 and is considered the 4th location along the banks of Otter Creek. These remaining sites and structures remind us of a more simpler time. Yet, during those days there were many hard times, there were many wars, many droughts, and times of financial distress. But the members of the family of God were faithful to their community, to their country, and to their God. For 200 years they displayed much resolve by their continual and uninterrupted service to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ here at Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church.

May the Lord continue to bless this congregation, this community on Otter Creek and all the generations to follow.