Habersham County Churches

The Mud Creek Baptist Church was organized June 14, 1821. It appears from the original record that two preachers were present, Littleton Meeks and Bartimeus Reynolds. The deacons present were Joseph Halcom and Harry Davis. The following people were charter members:

MALES	FEMALES
Bartimeus Reynolds	Eleanor Waters
John H. Jones	Catherine Tankesly
Reuben Higgins	Elizabeth Jones
Henry Higgins	Olive Stephens
Ephraim Herren	Servina Herren
Thomas Middleton	Deborah Middleton
	? Chambers
	Selena Higgins
	Delphy Higgins

Rules of Decorum

1. Conference shall be opened by singing and prayer by the Moderator.

2. The preacher or pastor shall be considered the Moderator when present and in good order.

3. Inquire for the fellowship of the church.

4. To call for references on record.

5. Any motion made and seconded shall be attended to unless withdrawn by the person who made it.

6. No person shall speak more than thrice on the same subject without leave from the Moderator.

7. When any member speaks, he shall arise from his seat and address the Moderator.

8. No member shall be interrupted while speaking unless he departs from the subject.

9. There shall be no laughing nor whispering during times of public speech; and no member shall leave his seat in
time of Conference without leave from the Moderator.

10. The Moderator present shall open the door for the reception of members into the church either by experience
or letter.

11. All and every member of this church shall attend every church meeting without they have a sufficient excuse.
Any member failing to attend two church meetings in succession shall be liable to be notified and dealt with as
being in disorder.

In 1835, the church voted to set the fourth Sunday as the meeting date and have the Conference or business meeting on the Saturday preceding the fourth Sunday. All through the record this seemed to be the practice for several years.

In 1836 Mr. G. W. Baton was the preacher. In June of this year delegates were appointed to the Association. They
were: G. W. Baton, John I. Dickerson, William Grant and Payton Ivie.

In 1837 a Brother Brown is mentioned as Moderator. The Association is the "Mountain Association." In 1838 a Union Meeting was held at Mud Creek with the following churches represented by their delegates:

Mud Creek	J. I. Dickerson, William Grant, and Thomas Ivie
Bethlehem	L. W. McAbee, and Dozier Sutton
Antioch	John Suggs, Peter Ray and John Nix
Salem	John Kimbrell
Providence	Elijah Sutton
Camp Creek	Henry Davis

From this year until 1858 Brother John Suggs is mentioned as the preacher or moderator.

In February 1839 the church voted to ordain two new deacons, Brothers William Grant and Henry Tankersley.

In April 1840 the church voted to hold Communion twice a year, in May and September.

In October 1848 the church ordained Brother Milton Hicks to the Ministry.

In October, 1852, a committee was appointed to "Examine a plan for an academy at this place." Those serving on the committee were: William Grant, Isaac Crow, William Jones, Hele Harper and Russell Ivie. No other mention is made of the academy in the minutes, but in November, 1853, the church voted to have a Sabbath School beginning the first Sabbath in October, 1853, and to teach English grammar and geography. The General Superintendent was Brother T. I. Hughes; Chaplain, Brother Y. I. Shirley; teachers were I. B. Payne, William Grant, William Jones, B. Ivie and B. Crane.

In 1856 the church voted to build a baptismal pool below the meeting house spring and that W. R. Ivie, John A. Vanhorn and John B. Payne superintend the work. The pool was to be six feet by ten feet and four feet deep.

The Trustees of the early church were: John H. Jones, W. R. Ivie, Thomas Ivie, William Grant, Henry Tankersley,
William Jones, Young I. Shirley, James N. Crow and Littleton Stephens. Other early pastors, besides those mentioned, were: Jasper C. Jackson, J. L. Dunkin, J. F. West, Joseph Woodall, E. K. Suggs, W. R. Woodall, W. R. Holcomb, Joseph Loggans, J. A. Crow, G. W. Carroll, J. A. Fuller, Alvin Pless, S. A. Pless, L. H. Garner, and G. W. Wallace.

Some of the deacons in the early church were: William Grant, Henry Tankersley, J. A. Beaty, W. R. Ivie, M. M.
Landers, Young I. Shirley, W. H. Hardy, J. M. Martin, W. M. Hardy, J. C. Grant, A. E. Webster, Paul Faulkner and John Herrin.

On June 12, 1921 the church celebrated the centennial with from 1500 to 2000 people present.

In 1926 a Baptist Training Union was organized. It was called B.Y.P.U. at that time.

The Reverend Clyde Garrison is the present pastor. The church has 229 members; an active Sunday School, B.T.U.
and W.M.S.