July 17, 8 am: Edgefield First Baptist Church grave cleaning

Clean historic gravestones art Edgefield First Baptist Church, Edgefield, South Carolina.

Baptist Church when it was constituted in 1823 by its twenty-six charter members. The first service was held on April 20, 1823 with Dr. Basil Manly presiding as the first pastor. Dr. Manly went on to help found the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1919, Dr. R. G Lee wrote his famous sermon “Payday Someday,” in the parsonage across the street from the church. Other notable pastors with connections to our church include; Dr. William Bullein Johnson, Dr. John Lake, and in 1951 Dr. Billy Graham preached at EFBC to a crowd of over 3000.
Due to an increase in membership, the original building was torn down and a new building was built in 1888. However, tragedy befell the church on June 25, 1913 when lightning struck the steeple and that second structure burned to the ground. The present sanctuary was then built, and the first service was held in the new building Sunday, September 27, 1914.