It was Loyalty Sunday on May 18, 2008, at Manly Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington and the day has been observed for so long that no one seems to recall its origin. But it really does not matter because loyalty reigns among the good people of Manly Memorial. It is an everyday characteristic.
It took a large dose of loyalty coupled with sheer courage to be among the first Baptists in Lexington. Other denominations preceded the Baptists into the Valley; and in a chain of towns — Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Lexington — it went against the social norm to be a Baptist in the mid-19th century.
In 1858, when George Boardman Taylor became pastor for the struggling Baptists in Staunton, the other Protestant ministers in the town conspired to run the Baptist out of town. In a short time, Taylor won the others over and established a warm friendship with the other ministers. When Professor George Dabney of Washington College (now Washington & Lee) decided in 1843 to cast his lot with Lexington's Baptists, he actually resigned from the college, which was primarily composed of Presbyterians. Dabney thought that his fellow faculty members would not want a Baptist on the faculty so he put loyalty to religious identity and principles above livelihood and position. The faculty was more open-minded and refused to accept his resignation.
J. William Jones, one of the more celebrated of the 19th-century Baptist preachers in Virginia, came as pastor in Lexington in the months immediately following “the War.” Always an unreconstructed rebel, Jones had dual loyalties in Lexington: to the small Baptist church in his charge and to the retired General Lee whom he greatly admired.
Jones was a Confederate chaplain, and after “the War,” he wrote the landmark book on the Christian warriors entitled Christ in the Camp. The story is handed down that while in Lexington, Carter Jones informed General Lee that he was not going to attend his college in town. “I am going to graduate at Richmond College,” said the young Jones, “and then I am going to be a Master of Arts of the University of Virginia, a full graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Baptist preacher.” Lee replied: “Well, my boy, you have marked off a noble course for yourself, and I hope you may be able to carry it out to the letter.” Of the elder Jones' five sons, four — including Carter Helm Jones — became Baptist ministers.
The Lexington Baptist congregation was small and struggling in Jones' time. Their finances were stringent. They could pay him only $500 a year and could not offer a parsonage. Jones and his wife took in student boarders to make ends meet. Jones also became the favorite preacher in town among the student and VMI cadet communities. During his stay in Lexington, he led some 150 of the students and cadets to Christ and “of these, 35 became ministers and others useful church members.”
Jones left Lexington only because his wife's health required a different location. In the delay of his departure, he explained, “I have decided to stick here until I can find a better man to put in my place.” Loyalty was one of J. William Jones' badges.
The eighth pastor removed from Jones was Charles Manly, a member of one of the most prominent Baptist families in the South. His two Virginia pastorates were at Staunton and Lexington. He also exhibited loyalty to the causes of Sunday school work and Bible distribution in Virginia. He was aged 66 when he became pastor in Lexington. A century ago, a man in his 60s was considered of advanced age. Manly was described as “vigorous in body and mind.” It was said that he was “a good preacher, a wonderful pastor … with convictions and courage as to truth and principles.”
Manly remained for over a decade and tried valiantly for the Lexington Baptists to build a new house of worship suitable to their position and promise. By the time of his resignation, there was nearly $6,000 set aside for a building fund. The church was dependent upon allocations from the State Mission Board to supplement a pastor's salary.
In 1914, under a new pastor, William O. Beazley, who was a man in his early 30s, the church pressed forward with the building program. Beazley threw his best efforts into the work but he met an untimely death in the influenza outbreak of 1918. James M. Hester was pastor at the time of the completion of the grand new building on Main Street.
The building was designed by one of the top church architects of the times, Herbert L. Cain of Richmond. In 1920 it was completed and dedicated. It was a Baptistic temple with imposing columns, brick facing, a dome and a balcony, as well as stunning stained-glass windows. One of them bears testimony to the greatest religious education organization ever to exist among Southern Baptists — the B.Y. P. U. (If readers do not know what those initials stand for, they need to seek out the oldest members of their church and ask!) Today the sanctuary building remains in pristine condition, although there are plans for future remodeling.
At the Loyalty Day of May 9, 1920, Charles Manly offered the prayer of dedication for the sanctuary. In 1925 the church was renamed as a memorial to the beloved pastor who had “wrought heroically for eleven years in Lexington.” There have been numerous other pastors in the 20th century, including John Bunyan Hill, H.W. Tiffany, Eugene B. Jackson, E.H. Potts, C.S. Prickett, Joseph Cosby, W.L. Lumpkin, Benjamin O. Lynes, John S. Moore, Thomas Harvey and, for the last six years, J. Michael Wilkins. They have practiced the same depth of loyalty exhibited by the pastors of old.
The concept of loyalty has also characterized the people. At Loyalty Day 2008, Barbara and Fred Vaughan were honored as “church members of the year.” Jimmy Crowder is another example of loyalty. He serves as Royal Ambassadors leader, following in the footsteps of the late Lula B. Tardy, who remained loyal as leader of the RA boys for 54 years, 1925-79. Crowder wears the same badge of loyalty left by Miss Lula. Sitting on the front pew for Loyalty Day 2008 was white-haired Edith Vaughn Parker, who is a living legend of missionary service. Loyalty and Lexington are synonymous.
Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.