The Hephzibah Baptist Association Centennial 1794-1894

On August 2, 1894 W. L. Kilpatrick completed his history covering the first one hundred years of the Hephzibah Baptist Association. The book records the very beginning of Baptists in Georgia, and the stories of how God moved in the hearts of HIs people. Because the book was published so long ago, it has been out of print for many years. The churches of the present day Hephzibah Baptist Association thought it a worthy endeavor that this important record should be preserved and made available to the public. Many will find the names of ancestors, and the stories of the beginnings of their churches within its pages.In 1794, the young state, Georgia, was a rugged frontier with many obstacles in the way of those brave early pioneers who would make it their home. In spite of these hardships, our forefathers brought the Good News of the Gospel to the present and future generations. As you read these pages, you will discover that these early Christians could echo with Paul the words of II Corinthians 4:8-9, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."As a testimony to the faith of those early Christians who have gone before, our beloved Hephzibah Association is alive and well today, and many of the churches mentioned in this book still flourish, some being over two hundred years old. In the words of W. L. Kilpatrick, they still "labor for the souls of the men and the glory of God."