Cherry Grove Baptist Church

Cherry Grove Baptist Church was founded on August 3, 1929, a few miles off the Ball’s Mill Road in a remote area of Wilkes County. The quaint, one-room building also doubled as Cherry Grove School in a time when consolidated public schools were not so common. The charter members, who were joined a few months later by their neighbors, were as follows: Asel Ball, Nizziah Ball, Ivory Ball, Laura Ball, Martin Moore, Alice Moore, Don Queen, Genie Queen, Lloyd Queen, Rollo Queen, Bello Queen, Virgil Moore, Lonnie Moore, Merlin Ball and Annie Ball. These charter members began to elect individuals to fill offices of their new church. Martin Moore was chosen as the temporary church clerk. The church then elected a presbytery composed of Rev. J.R. Anderson and Rev. J.P. Roberson. Reverend Anderson served as the pastor and Reverend Roberson served as his substitute and supply pastor.
On March 5, 1930, Reverend Anderson announced his wish to resign after serving approximately seven months. The church called a special meeting and accepted his resignation. The second pastor of Cherry Grove was Reverend I.K. Wooten. Brother Wooten became pastor of the newly rebuilt church after the first one burned to the ground in 1931. He remained pastor from 1935 until 1942. In regards to the fire that destroyed the original church, though never established as fact, the community believed the fire was the result of the destruction of a local moonshine still by members of the church, under the supervision of a Revenue Agent.
In 1935, the church held its annual Christmas holiday revival. Members received during this meeting were to be baptized later when the weather was suitable. Reverend Wooten was to be assisted in these services by Reverend Robinson and Reverend Moore. On May 28, 1939, the church invited Reverend Parks Roberson to return and preach the revival. Afterward, church services were held once a month at 10:30 a.m. As the end of the year approached, bad weather set in and delayed the scheduled meetings. Five months later, the church held a conference, on April 28, 1940. At the said meeting, Reverend Wooten asked the church to move their meeting to the first Sunday of each month instead of the fourth Sunday. He stated that this would allow him to go to church with his family when not preaching on the mountain. The church quickly accepted this request and appointed the pastor to get help for their upcoming revival.
On August 4, 1940, the church held a meeting and elected Reverend Wooten and Ila Ball unanimously to hold their present positions as pastor and church clerk respectively. In December of 1940, Reverend Wooten asked the church to find a speaker for the revival. The revival was to be held sometime in 1941. On March 2, 1941, the pastor told the church about the new Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. The church decided to take up a special offering and received $8.00.
Reverend Blain Ray preached a sermon in September 1941. After his sermon the church held an election. The church re-elected Reverend Wooten and Ila Ball for 1942. The third pastor of Cherry Grove was James W. Moore. On October 19, 1947, he was elected to pastor the church and remained through 1948.
Since these early days, Cherry Grove has been pastored by Vestal Moore (1956-1959, 1964-1997), Robert Ferguson (1960-1963, 1998-1999), Darrin Earp (1997-1998) and Philip Moore (2000-present). Through the years, the church has gone through three building projects, under the pastorate of Vestal Moore, and grown from a congregation of a handful to over two hundred. Beginning in 1929 with the Ball, Queen, Marlow and Moore family’s, each of which lived in the immediate vicinity of the church, the congregation now stretches through six different counties (Wilkes, Surry, Yadkin, Alexander, Wilkes, Forsyth).
In July of 2007, the church completed and dedicated the Mansfield Ivory Ball Auditorium, a 2000 square foot addition that serves as additional Sunday School space as well as the sanctuary for our Junior Church. That year also marked a milestone in our missions outreach as we added our 100th missions family in November. 2008 marked the completion of a three-year project to knock on every door in our county. To the glory of God, the final door was knocked on in May of 2008. God is truly blessing on the mountain and we look forward to the years ahead as we continue to reach across the street and around the world to proclaim the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.