By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Ricky Campbell, left, pastor of First Baptist Church, Mountain City, looks over old church minutes with Phil Neighbors, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield, Calif. Neighbors’ fifth great grandfather, James Tompkins, was the first pastor of FBC, Mountain City.
MOUNTAIN CITY — Approximately 100 California Baptists, most of whom had never been to the Volunteer State, worshiped at First Baptist Church, Mountain City, on Sunday, Oct. 15.
The Californians, members of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, have no direct ties to Tennessee, but they feel connected to the state through one of their pastors.
Phil Neighbors, co-pastor of Valley Baptist, was reared in Oklahoma, but his personal roots go back to North Carolina and Tennessee. His fifth great grandfather, James Tompkins, moved from North Carolina to Tennessee and started Roan Creek Baptist Church (now FBC, Mountain City) in 1794.
Ancestors of the current Bakersfield pastor moved to Middle Tennessee and began Wolf River United Baptist Church in Pickett County in 1820. Some of his ancestors later joined Fellowship Baptist Church, north of Livingston near the Kentucky border.
Neighbors told the Baptist and Reflector he has preached on spiritual heritage a few times and members of Valley Baptist became interested in taking a spiritual heritage tour to North Carolina and Tennessee.
First Baptist Church, Mountain City, still has the original minutes since the church’s founding in 1794. The church began as Roan Creek Baptist Church before changing its name. — Photos by Sheri White
The Californians flew to North Carolina and stayed for a week at Ridgecrest (N.C.) Baptist Conference Center, an easy drive to churches in North Carolina and Mountain City which Neighbors has traced to his ancestors. The team also visited the Billy Graham museum while in North Carolina. Graham had tremendous influence in California, Neighbors noted.
Spiritual heritage is important, Neighbors said.
While acknowledging that some Christians may be the first generation of believers in their family, Neighbors said most Christians do have a spiritual heritage and they should be grateful for it. “A spiritual heritage can truly be a blessing,” he affirmed.
Neighbors has long been interested in his roots and has traveled to Tennessee many times, including Mountain City where he has developed a relationship with current pastor Ricky Campbell. Neighbors even preached at First Baptist for their 220th anniversary celebration in 2014.
“It’s an amazing story,” Campbell said. “Phil showed up in our office about four or five years ago and wanted to go through the church’s old minutes,” he recalled. “We developed a friendship. There was an immediate bond between us.”
Though Campbell has not been to Bakersfield, his son Jonathan, who is in the band “Chosen Road,” a bluegrass gospel group, has been there at least twice and has another trip scheduled later this month. Chosen Road also sang for the Californians at the Oct. 15 service.
Campbell preached during the service which included a testimony from a Valley Baptist member who noted he felt connected with First Baptist although this was his first visit to the church.
“Our folks are excited about the connection we share with Phil (Neighbors) through his grandfather and they were pleased and excited to welcome their brothers and sisters in Christ to First Baptist,” Campbell said.
