A Historical Overview of Gethsemane Baptist Church

Gethsemane Baptist Church began as a humble meeting place in the early 1900’s where its earliest members gathered in an old white house on Depot Street Davidson, NC. Ms. Julia Conner, a member of those gathered together at the meeting place, had visions of an actual church structure in which they could fellowship. She took this vision to Mr. Jimmy Lee Sloan who granted the members land located on Potts Street on which they built the first official church building. Since the earliest records of the church were destroyed by fire it is not known who the pastor was at that time. However, in 1919 the first building was remodeled under the leadership of Rev. Butler. The known pastors of Gethsemane from 1919-1965 were: Rev. Butler, Rev. Davis, Rev. Davidson, Rev. Barber, Rev. Black, Rev. Long, Rev. Thomas Nash, Rev. J.W. Walker, and Rev. Clement Morris, Sr.

The longest seated pastor of Gethsemane was Rev. Clement Morris Sr. who served from 1965 until his death in 2000.Under his leadership the church experienced tremendous growth. In 1974 the church purchased an additional parcel of land in Davidson. On April 1, 1977 the Gethsemane family marched from the Potts Street location to the present structure located on Jetton Street.

In February of 2001 Rev. Chiffie Tumlin was chosen as Pastor and remained until July of 2003. In 2004 Rev. Ernest E. Jeffries was chosen as Pastor. He implemented progressive change at Gethsemane. He remained until 2018.