Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/262

 202 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI time he returned to Kentuekj'. The eondi- tion of the Baptists in Missouri, however, rested heavily on his mind, and, though he was old and had spent a long life in the min- istry, he resolved to visit the Cape Girardeau district again. This time he moved and lo- cated with his family near Bethel chm-ch. He was the pastor of the church imtil his death in 1S09. The second pastor of Bethel church was Wilson Thompson. It was the work of Thomp- son that made the church a power in ilissouri. Like so many other famous preachers, he was of Welsh descent. He was born in Woodford county. Kentucky, August 17, 1788. In 1810 he was married to Miss Mary Gregg, and in January, 1811, they moved to the Cape Girar- deau district, settling near Jackson. They were accompanied by his father and mother, and the entire family united with Bethel church. Ho had begun preaching at the age of twenty, before his removal from Ken- tuclr', and his preaching was attended with marvelous results. Shortly after he united with Bethel church there occurred the great earthtiuake at New Madrid, and the shocks were felt over a large part of Upper Louisi- ana. In the following February Thompson began a revival service in Bethel church. It was one of the most remarkable religious manifestations in Missouri. It covered a period of two years, and spread to almost" all the congregations which had been organized by the church. There was evidence of the power of the revival at Bois Brule, Saline, Providence and St. Francois, and during its progress Thompson baptized about five hun- dred persons. Up to this time he had not been an ordained minister, but on April 11, 1825, a council composed of John Farrar and Stephen Stilly ordained him. The following Jul.- he was chosen pastor of the church and served until September, 1814. At that time he resigned, and with his family moved to Ohio. He died in Indiana in 1865. He was, doubt- less, the most powerful of the preachers ever connected with the church. For some years the church seems to have been without a regular pastor, but in Febru- aiy, 1817, it called Thomas Stephens, who was a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. He served the church imtil December of that year. In the following year Thomas Parish Greene, a native of North Carolina, who had lived for some time in Tennessee, was chosen as the fourth of the church's pastors. This was in jMarch. 1818. Elder Greene had moved to Missouri in 1817. He served as pastor of the church for eight years, and it was under his leadership that an interest was arou.sed in missions and Sunday schools. Elder Greene was an ardent advocate of the church's duty to assist in preaching the gospel to the entire world. While he was pastor of the church it was voted that the association should cor- respond with the board of foreign missions. Under his leadership the church welcomed the visit of John Mason Peek, who had come from the east imder the direction of the board of missions to evangelize Missouri. During Peck's visit to Bethel church he organized a missionary society, and on November 8, 1818, after a missionary sermon, he took up a col- lection for missions, amounting to $31.37. The entire work of the church prospered, so long as Greene was its pastor. He closed his pastorate of the church in 1826, when he was called to the care of Hebron church. In 1828 he removed to Rock Springs, Illinois, where he was associated with Peek in publishing the ^Ycstenl Pioneer. He was also at the time agent of the American Sunday School Union, and assisted in establishing Sunday schools and libraries in New Madrid, Seott, Cape Gir-