A Sesquicentennial History of the Green River Missionary Baptist Church
1836 - 1986, Written and Compiled by Wendell Holmes Rone, Sr., For the One
Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, 1987. By
permission of author. Ohio County.

BIRCH SHIELDS, the Twenty-First Pastor of the Green River Church, served in
this capacity on two occasions - from January, 1913 through December, 1914
- and again from January, 1920 through August, 1922.
     He was the grandson (paternally) of William Shields (b. September 4, 1804
- d. April 11, 1885) and Rachel Shields (b. 1798 - d. August 5, 1864).  His
grandmother was a Charter Member of the Church.  Both she and her husband
are buried in the Green River Cemetery.  His father was James W. Shields
(b. January 12, 1835 - d. September 29, 1898) and his second wife, Martha
Elizabeth "Bettie" (Daniel) Shields (b. December 31, 1846 - d. September 2,
1909).  They had married on August 12, 1868.  Both are buried in the Green
River Cemetery.  Brother Shields was their first child.
     Brother Shields was received into the fellowship of the Green River Church
by Christian Experience and Believer's Immersion in November, 1888, being
baptized by Pastor J. N. Jarnagin.  He was in his nineteenth year at that
time, having been born in May of 1869.
     Brother Shields married, probably around the year 1895, a lady named Miss
Evelyn Cox -- born in August, 1877, according to the 1900 and 1910 Census
Reports of Ohio County Kentucky.  She was, therefore, about eight years his
junior in age.  The above Census Records list no children.  She, too, was
baptized into the Church's fellowship by pastor Jarnagin, in November,
1888.  She was lettered out in 1911; in and out 1920-1922.  She survived
him.  And, after the deaths of their respective mates, she was united in
marriage to Rev. J. J. Willett, in 1940.  She became a widow for the second
time, in 1944, upon his death.  On April 2, 1961, she, at age 83, departed
this life; and her remains rest alongside his remains (1934) interred in
the Green River Cemetery, where his paternal parents and grandparents are
buried, as well as other relatives.
     Brother Shields was elected as the Clerk of the Church in December, 1897,
and continued to serve in that office through September, of the year 1909,
when he resigned shortly before being ordained to the Gospel Ministry.  In
the period 1906-1908 he served as the Sunday School Superintendent.  In
1899, for the first time, he served as a Messenger from the Church to the
Gasper River Association.  He was among the Messengers from the Church to
the organizational meeting of the Ohio County Baptist Association, at
Hartford Church, in 1901.  He served continuously as a Messenger from that
time through 1910, and again in the years 1920-1922.  He had also attended
as a Messenger when the Church was representeed for the last time, in 1901,
at the meeting with the Gasper River Association.  Although his pastorates
in 1913-1914 and 1920-1922 were rather routine and uneventful, the latter
was on a half-time or two Sundays per month basis at a Salary of $600.00
per year, for the initial time in the Church's history.
     Brother Shields had been licensed to preach by the Church on August 21,
1909, resigning as Clerk shortly thereafter.  On October 23rd, following,
the Pond Run Church requested that he be ordained to the Gospel Ministry as
its Pastor.  This was done by his home Church on November 23, 1909, with
Pastors G. H. Lawrence, John T. Casebier, G. W. Gordon and A. B. Gardner
serving as the Presbytery.  Brother Gardner served as the Moderator and
Brother Lawrence served as the Clerk.  Brother Lawrence also preached the
Ordination Sermon from Acts 16:17.  Brother Casebier led in the Examination
of the Candidate as to his Doctrinal and Practical Beliefs.  Upon approval,
by the Council and Church, the Council laid Hands on him as a symbol of
their approval.  Brother Casebier gave the Charage to the Candidate, while
Brother Gardner gave the Charge to the Church ordaining him and the one
calling him to be its Pastor.  Brother G. W. Gordon presented the Bible to
the Candidate, a gift from the ordaining Church.  The Candidate pronounced
the Benediction, after which he and his wife were extended the hand of
Christian fellowship and good will by all present.  A Copy of his
Ordination Certificate was transcribed on the Minute Book of the Church.

Shields Daniel Jarnagin Cox Willett Lawrence Casebier Gordon Gardner
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none

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/ohio/shields.b.txt