FIVE STRUCTURES...ONE CHURCH!  1801-2008

Western Prong Baptist church, one of the most historic churches in Columbus County, was founded in 1801.  Feeling a need to worship, a few families met in the home of Captain James Shipman.  In 1802, the worshippers erected a log and bough hut on the south side of the Western Prong swamp, the site of the present cemetery.  Circuit riding preachers delivered sermons to this non-sectarian fellowship.

In 1839 through the leadership of missionaries from the Cape Fear Baptist Association, Western Prong Baptist Church organized.  The Wooten, Jordan, Lennon, and Turner families were some of the charter members.  In 1846, a church building was erected across the road and in front of the Prong Swamp on land donated by Richard Wooten.  African-American worshippers attended the services, and a section of the church cemetery was provided as the resting place for these worshippers with a memorial marking the site.  In addition, the church doubled as a school taught by Mr. John McRacken.

Growth and wear necessitated the need for another building.  In 1874, the first church building was sold to Gade Wooten, a former slave, who disassembled the building and used the materials to erect a house for himself on the Wooten Plantation.  A new structure was built on the original site; and by 1888, the church’s enrollment numbered 343.

God’s blessings continued to outpour upon the church family, and in 1950, a stately two-story brick structure with memorial stained-glass windows was erected a few yards from the wooden church. Following a fifty year ministry in the new sanctuary, tragedy befell the congregation when the building was consumed by fire.  Grief-stricken but not deterred by the loss, the congregation voted to rebuild the sanctuary and a new educational wing across the road and beside the church cemetery. The church had now made full circle beginning on the south side of the road, now known as Peacock Road, moving to the north side, and moving again to the south side. Easter Sunday, 2003 the congregation worshipped in the new edifice and held its dedicatory service on June 1, 2003.

God has blessed Western Prong with a rich history; and through the pastoral care of The Reverend Ronnie Wilson who answered the Lord’s call to the church in January 2008, the church continues to build on its heritage. The congregation envisions the addition of a second wing to the church in the near future.  The new wing will provide space for additional ministries as well as a social hall.

Western Prong Baptist Church, located approximately 10 miles north of Whiteville and beside NC 701, began as a rural, farming congregation serving the spiritual needs of the surrounding community.  However, as the demographics of the county changed and as the children of the farms left home to seek higher education, the church family has become rather diversified including members from both the rural and urban communities and the business and professional sect as well.