South Carolina H 5657: Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5657 Text of Previous Version (May. 06, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5657

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A house RESOLUTION

to recognize and honor the storied history and 
significant contributions of Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church for two 
centuries and to wish the congregation many more years of prosperous and 
productive ministry.

Whereas, Nazarene 
Missionary Baptist Church began as a "church within a church," where enslaved 
members worshipped God at Gapway Baptist Church, in 1826. Around 1840, Gapway 
Church leaders gave their permission for Peter and Primus Gerald, sons of Alcey 
Lewis Gerald and slaveowner Samuel Gerald, to exercise their faith because they 
had an understanding of the Scriptures; and

Whereas, these brothers 
along with two sons of Poo Too Gooshular, Dan and Moses Reaves, a blacksmith, 
conducted services under a brush shelter with the supervision of Gapway Church deacons.

Around 1841, the congregation's first permanent 
structure was built; and

Whereas, in 1866, the 
Gethsemane Association ordained three ministers: Cornelius Reaves, Thornell 
Reaves, and Simon Owens. Nazarene has been under the leadership of various 
pastors beginning with the three founding fathers. Twenty-eight ministers have 
served the congregation since then. As more churches were established in the 
1880s, a need arose for a unified body to bring congregations together in 
fellowship, so the Nazarene Union was formed in 1882; and

Whereas, the Sunday 
School Convention, an auxiliary of the Nazarene Union, is documented as the 
sole surviving Nazarene Union record from that era. Faded by more than one 
hundred twenty-two years, the document identifies four trustees who purchased 
land in Mullins for sixty dollars and twenty-two cents. The location, transfer 
history, and present ownership of the land are unknown; and

Whereas, in May of 
1867, a group of one hundred sixteen families of Nazarene Baptist Church heard 
about the efforts of the American Colonization Society to emigrate former 
slaves to the country of Liberia. Led by Minister Cornelius Reaves, a nephew of 
Moses Reaves, they set out from Mullins Depot to board a ship set to land in Liberia 
two months later. They were not heard from until a year later when a letter 
from Allen Reeves, brother of Cornelius, arrived and assured their families and 
the church of their safe arrival to Grand Bassa County, Liberia; and

Whereas, in March of 
1875, a series of tornadoes destroyed the congregation's first wooden 
structure. According to the Daily Phoenix, a Columbia newspaper, "Not a 
fragment of Nazarene, a Baptist Church of the Colored People, was left to mark 
its original site. The benches were carried forty or fifty yards and torn into 
splinters." Around 1877, a new church was built; and

Whereas, Noah W. 
Cooper, a teacher and local historian, wrote in the Mullins Enterprise, 
"The Negro church in those days was Nazarene near Gapway. There hundreds of 
Negroes went to preaching. They would stream in as far as Horry to go to 
meeting at old Nazarene." Current Mt. Olive and St. Paul Baptist churches are 
among churches that descended from Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church. The 1877 
church building served the congregation until 1971 when the newest sanctuary 
was built; and

Whereas, built around 
1900, Nazarene "Colored School," a one-room school, served the children in the 
area. Similar to Rosenwald School, it was built across the road from the church 
by the congregation with lumber provided by the Collins family. Later, in this 
exact spot, a two-room school was built. Nazarene Baptist Church owns two 
cemeteries, one located on the church grounds and the older one near the church. 
These cemeteries are final resting places for slaves and their descendants; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina House of Representatives is grateful for the courage and faith of the 
members of Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church and for the legacy the church is 
leaving for those who will follow, and the House members look forward their 
continued contributions to the community as the congregation worships and 
serves God. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the 
South Carolina House of Representatives, 
by this resolution, recognize and honor the storied history and significant 
contributions of Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church for two centuries and wish 
the congregation many more years of prosperous and productive ministry.

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This web page was last updated on May 06, 2026 at 11:51 AM