Center Star Church of Christ

A Brief History of the Center Star Church of Christ

In August of 1928, on the second Sunday of the month, the first meeting was held on the Jones Cotton Lot in Center Star, with Brother F. B. Srigley holding a 10 day meeting. Following the meeting, the members met in the home of Raymond Thigpen until other arrangements could be made. On the second Sunday of July, 1930, Brother Millard Gibbs held a meeting for the church, and after that the members rented a store in the community for $8.00 a month. They met regularly with J. B. Campbell doing the preaching. They built the first building in 1936, which was a block building that cost $615.00. The first song sung in the new building was "Sweet Hour of Prayer." Floyd Parker and Melvin Campbell began preaching for them regularly after that, with Brother J. J. Langster and Brother Willie Cathorn holding several meetings for them. As the congregation grew, the need for a larger building became necessary, and a new building was built on the present site in 1956, and in 1962 a three bedroom home was built beside the meeting house. The congregation continued to grow until a larger building was needed, and in 1975 the present building was built, with the old building being used as classrooms.

The first elders of the congregation were: Clark Parker and Eli Parker, and the first located preacher was Paul Tidwell. Since then there have been several preachers located there, and many more that have held meetings. Some of the located preachers were, Bufford Dobbs, Zeke Manard, C. M. Allen, Jimmy Wisdom, Charles Rickman, Bill Lyons, Tom Larkin, Ronny Ray, Coleman Barnett, Ron Harmon, Tim Hester and presently Bill Lyons is back working as the full time minister. Eddie Behel and Jeff Holmes presently help fill the pulpit from time to time also. Those who have served as Youth Ministers have been Michael South, Billy Williams and Justin Guin. Those who have faithfully served the congregation as elders include: Clark Parker, Eli Parker, John Ezell, John Henry Parker, William Potts and Danny Stafford.