Church History

Hunter First Baptist Church, located in the beautiful Stoney Creek community of Carter County, Tennesse was one of the larges and fastest growing churches in the area at the time of the Civil War. Formerly Watauga Baptist Church, it began its services in 1830 in a humble log cabin located east of the Stoney Creek Bridge with only 30 members. Among the charter members were W.W. Lyons, S.S. Stover, A. Pearce, J.L. Bowers, J.P Vanhuss, P. Miller, T.E.R. Hunter, and Valentine Bowers.
Watauga Baptist Church was also one of the founding churches in the formation of the Watauga Association of Baptist in September 1868. A year later, the first anniversary meeting of the Watauga Baptist Association was held at Watauga Baptist Church in 1869.
To accommodate the growing congregation, a framed structure was built on the original church site, but unfortunately a fire consumed the framed building in February 1928, destroying most of the church records. A new brick church was the erected which served as church and schoolhouse for many years.
Later in 1949, a new church was built just west of the original church site across the Stoney Creek Bridge on Highway 91. Today, this same beautiful building is still in service. It was also about this time that the church changed its name to Hunter First Baptist Church. The building housed 1large assembly room and 16 smaller rooms.
Through the years, several land purchases and building programs have added to the ministry and outreach capability of Hunter First Baptist. In 1963 a pastorium was constructed on a lot adjoining the church property. In 1972, a large two-story education building with 0+ classrooms was added to the 1949 structure. In 1979 a Christian Life Center was built behind the education building. There was also a complete remodeling and redecoration of the church sanctuary in 1980.
On September 15, 1980 Hunter First purchased a charter to begin the area’s first AWANA Bible Club. Today the AWAN program reaches an average of 175 children each week, ages preschool through senior teens.
A community service and ministry began in March 1987 when Hunter First Daycare and Learning Center opened on the church campus. Today it is functioning at full capacity with 100+ children in full and part time care ages 6 weeks through 12 years. In September of the following year, the church purchased adjacent land and constructed a playground area.
May 1994 marked the beginning of a Challenge To Build campaign. A new worship center, seating 750, began construction. The project was completed in May of 1997. The debt for this new facility is expected to be paid off by the summer of 2008.