A Church Forgotten - The interesting but brief history of Bethel Baptist Church in Russellville, Missouri

Bethel Baptist Church, north of Russellville, in the early 1970s. Organized in 1968 by former members of Russellville Baptist Church, the congregation began construction of this building in 1972. Bethel remained active until about 1975, after which the building was converted into a private residence. Courtesy of the Concord Baptist Association.

Along Rockhouse Road north of Russellville stands a building that gives little indication of the role it once played in the religious life of the community. Now a private residence and surrounded by homes, the structure was once Bethel Baptist Church, a congregation whose existence lasted only a handful of years.

Its story began during a period of disagreement at another local congregation. Russellville Baptist Church had been part of the community since 1903. The congregation initially met in the Presbyterian Church, now the Methodist church, before constructing its own building at the corner of Simpson and Grace streets. In April 1967, the Rev. William R. Hamline became pastor.

Hamline was no newcomer to the ministry. Born in Englevale, Kansas, he had attended Kansas City Bible College and earned a college degree from Hannibal-LaGrange and William Jewell at Liberty. He also attended Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

By the time he arrived in Russellville, he had been preaching since 1953 and had served congregations in Kansas, Texas and Missouri. He was also a U.S. Army veteran and had served in World War II.

Hamline's relatively brief tenure in Russellville would become intertwined with the creation of a second Baptist congregation. However, surviving official histories are noticeably quiet about exactly what happened.

A history of Russellville Baptist Church lists Hamline as pastor from April 1967 until June 1968 and John Glover as his successor beginning that same month. A separate history of Bethel, preserved in A History of Concord Baptist Association and Its Churches, records that in June 1968, 21 members of Russellville Baptist formed a new fellowship.

The timing is striking. As late as June 13, Hamline was still performing ministerial duties at Russellville Baptist, officiating at the wedding of Linda Jane Leslie and Miles Franklin Beachboard. Ten days later, on June 23, the new fellowship organized a Sunday School and Training Union. On June 26, members began meeting in a rented store building on Simpson Street and selected the name Bethel. Neither church's written history explains what prompted the separation.

Norris Siebert was attending Russellville Baptist with his late wife, Linda, at the time and remembers disagreement within the congregation preceding Bethel's formation.

“Several of the members at Russellville Baptist Church had a disagreement with others in the congregation and decided to break away and form their own church,” Siebert recalled.

After nearly six decades, he cautions that he no longer remembers the particulars, but believes the disagreement involved Hamline.

“I can't recall the specific details after all of these years, but I believe it was over Pastor Hamline, who some of the members of the church wanted to keep as pastor while others did not,” he said.

The chronology of Hamline’s tenure is consistent with Siebert's recollection.  Hamline's pastorate ended during the same month the 21 members departed, and the minister remained in the Russellville area afterward.

The new congregation initially looked elsewhere for pastoral leadership. On Sept. 15, 1968, Bethel called James Drake, a student at Southwest Baptist College, as supply pastor. The church was formally constituted Oct. 27 and held a dedication service on Jan. 12, 1969.

Word and Way, a Missouri Baptist publication, reported in October 1969 that Bethel had begun with 29 members and had been accepted into the fellowship of the Concord Baptist Association. The congregation said it had been established because members believed greater effort was needed to reach people in the Russellville community.

The congregation began planning for a permanent home. On March 28, 1969, Bethel purchased land northeast of Russellville as part of the Lehman addition. The church incorporated April 30. When Drake left following his term at Southwest Baptist College, the congregation called Gary Brummitt as pastor in May 1969.

Brummitt resigned in October 1970. Then Bethel made a noteworthy choice. On Dec. 2, 1970, the congregation called William R. Hamline, the former Russellville Baptist pastor whose departure had coincided with Bethel's creation more than two years earlier.

Whether Hamline had actually been the source of the original disagreement remains undocumented. His selection by Bethel, however, provides an intriguing connection to Siebert's recollection.

Bethel continued moving toward establishment of a permanent church. A trailer was purchased in August 1971 and placed on the property for use as a parsonage. In April 1972, excavation began for the basement of a new building and concrete was poured.

Hamline did not remain long enough to see the project completed. He resigned May 21, 1972. Don Brown became pastor that summer, and on July 29 the congregation began holding services in the basement of the unfinished church. By Nov. 26, members were worshiping upstairs in the nearly completed auditorium.

The congregation participated in the broader life of the community. Newspaper notices advertised revivals, including one beginning Nov. 26, 1972, featuring evangelist Gerald Nelson. The church also appears in property records and community reports during the following years.

But Bethel's period of growth proved short. Siebert remembers that by about 1975 the congregation had dwindled to only eight or 10 members. Bethel Baptist Church closed, leaving behind the relatively new building that members had worked to construct only a few years earlier.

One of those associated with Bethel was Les Twitchel, who had participated in the congregation from its early days. Siebert remembers another connection to Twitchel through his wife.

“My wife later bought her Bible Book Store in Eldon from Les Twitchel, who had helped form Bethel Baptist Church,” Siebert said.

Following Bethel's closing, Les and his wife, Delores, became involved with Mt. Olive Baptist Church south of Russellville. 

Hamline continued his ministry elsewhere. He eventually pastored Sunset Hill Baptist Church in the Kansas City area until 1987 and later Union Hall Baptist Church at El Dorado Springs before retiring. After approximately 40 years in the ministry, Hamline died July 18, 1992, at age 70. He was buried at Leavenworth National Cemetery.

Bethel Baptist Church has largely disappeared from local memory. The former church building eventually became a private residence. What Siebert remembers as a church constructed “out in the country” is today surrounded by residential development. Yet the building represents an unusual chapter in Russellville's history.

For roughly seven years, Bethel Baptist Church served a small congregation north of Russellville. Its life was brief, but its surviving building and scattered records preserve the story of a group of local residents who left an established congregation, organized another and built a church of their own.

Many decades later, it is a piece of Russellville’s legacy that has essentially passed into forgotten history.

Jeremy P. Ämick is author of the historical compendiums “Moments on the Moreau,” “Beyond the Moreau” and “Voices of the Moreau.”