DUBLIN, Ga. — Sonny Hogan remembers coming to Poplar Springs North Baptist Church as a young tyke.
"Our main mission is to reach the lost because there are a lot of people in this county that are unchurched," he said while sitting in a pew.
Sonny speaks fondly of a humble building down in the pasture, it has a wooden roof and rustic steps going down to a pool that's covered up right now.
"I was baptized down there in the early spring; we couldn't do it in the winter because of the coldness of the water," he described
His grandmother taught school in another simple yellow building on the property.
"It was established as a Baptist church, and it's still a Baptist church which is most amazing," Sonny said.
Reverend Wes Pinkley came on board three years ago to lead the congregation.
"Some of the first pastors of this church were soldiers in the Revolutionary War," he said.
Pinkley is a history buff, so to preach in a church that dates back to 1807 is a treat.
On August 1st of that year, a little more than a dozen men and women came together.
"This church is older than the county, we're a Southern Baptist church, but we're well older than the Southern Baptist Convention," he chatted.
Many older churches don't have records that date back to their origination, much less the minutes that span a couple of hundred years.
But Poplar Springs North has it all written down in a thick book.
"It looks like an old Sears Christmas catalog; there are about 200 pages in it, and every page is a delight to read," Pinkley said with a smile.
As they get ready to celebrate, their 215th-anniversary folks can walk in and see birthday swag from the past, old pictures, and artifacts.
But both men say it's the people that persevered through the years to keep it going, to preserve the grounds and embrace their history.
"It says in the scriptures they will know you by your love, and I think that really plays out here, Pinkley said.
Pinkley proposes that the souls that found their resting place on church grounds would be proud of what has lasted through history.
"They would see what is carrying on and the heart of this church, and they would say their efforts were not in vain, he surmised.
You're invited to the church's 215th-anniversary service on August 7th. Pinkley says they will have a big meal after the homecoming worship.
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