The Area and its Churches
Gilmer county is in the middle of West Virginia. The county seat is Glenville, where we live. Glenville State College is located here, a small community college. There's not much in terms of industry and factories, etc., except for the numerous oil and gas operations. The population of the county is about 7500.
Spiritually, Gilmer county has a tradition that fits its place on the northern edge of the Bible Belt. Protestant, fundamental, almost all of the people would say they believe in Jesus, but there is low rate of church attendance. The denominational divides of the previous generations are sustained in the kinds of churches . . . many Baptists and Methodists and Independents, not as many Pentecostals and adherents of the Church of Christ, with a remainder of Presbyterian/ Catholic/ Episcopal/ Seventh Day Adventist/ Alliance, etc.
Because I spent four years in Rosedale, my heart tends to look that direction, toward Normantown and Stumptown, toward Crooked Run church and Letter Gap. But I have also been active the other direction on Rt 33, northeast, toward Troy and Linn and Baldwin. I've preached a couple of times recently at New Mount Olive, in the north part of the county. I've lived in Glenville for 24 years, and know many people here.
I'd like to see the churches in Gilmer county grow stronger, better attended, more fruitful for Christ, reaching the people in their areas. I especially want to see growth and strength in the rural churches.
There are about 50 churches in the county.
Most of the Baptist churches are independent Baptists. Many of these are located "across the river," in the Normantown part of the county. Dawson Baptist, Cedarville Baptist, Mt Pisgah in Stumptown, Rosedale Baptist, Frozen Baptist, Hardman Fork Baptist. Oak Grove Baptist and Crooked Fork Baptist are both near Perkins. Steer Run and Upper Steer Run Baptist churches are both near Normantown. Troy Baptist is in the opposite direction, as is Leading Creek Baptist, where Waitman Sandy, 81, preaches.
There is a new Southern Baptist church in Glenville that has done well. American Baptist churches include two of the largest in the county, Glenville's First Baptist, and Sand Fork Baptist.
There are many United Methodist churches in Gilmer county. Besides Trinity UM in Glenville, the rural areas have many of the old churches that were once full, but are now sparsely attended. Rosedale has a United Methodist church. Alan Neal in Troy pastors a handful of Methodist churches on his charge ... Troy, Mount Earnest in Conings, Cox's Mills, Upper Ellis. Another charge includes Blackburn, Oak Grove in Baldwin, and Otterbein outside of Glenville. The Ellis church recently closed. There are two tiny Methodist churches in Tanner.
Two of the larger churches in the county are Sand Fork's Church of God of Prophecy (Bryan Groves) and Glenville's Community Church (Randy Wilson). Both are Pentecostal. Two small independent churches are on Bull Run near Cedarville, and on Mill Fork in Rosedale. Crooked Run, where I preach, is non-denominational. So is Glenville Christian Chapel, on College Street in Glenville. And Alfred Hickman's Tanner Chapel, in Tanner. And Kanawha Drive, on Rt 5 west. Ronzel Roberts pastors a well-attended Independent church near Burnsville. New Mount Olive is on the Gilmer/Ritchie line, on Rt 47.
There is an Alliance church in Rosedale, where I was pastor for three years. Good Shepherd Catholic church is in Glenville. St Marks Episcopal church is on the outskirts of Glenville, and the Presbyterians just built a beautiful new building across the road from it. There is a church of Christ in Glenville, another near Stumptown, one in Shock, and one in Stouts Mills.
I have attended every single on of these churches at least once. I've been to some of them dozens of times.
God bless the churches in Gilmer county. Many years ago they were full. They had a profound impact on most lives and most families in the county. There are still many people who attend, but there are many more who don't. Rural churches have seen the greatest decline. May all of these churches know and live the gospel, and may they bear fruit for Christ, in this place, and in this time.
Mark Robinson
Glenville, in Gilmer County