{"id":1433,"date":"2026-01-15T13:23:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/?p=1433"},"modified":"2026-01-16T04:17:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:17:47","slug":"the-story-of-maranatha-baptist-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/the-story-of-maranatha-baptist-church\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning of Maranatha Baptist Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post and photos are submitted by <strong>Bettye Seaton Liberty<\/strong> in January, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Scroll the photo album using the arrows below the photos.<\/span><\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n<p>Maranatha Baptist Church was founded in the mid-1940&#8217;s as an Independent Baptist congregation.&nbsp; It remains a vibrant worship center serving multiple communities today.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The First Pastor<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rev. John W. Seaton, Jr.<\/strong>, was called to the ministry as a young man and held pastorates in Woodville and Edith before he was called to Maranatha about 1947 to help develop the congregation and build a church.&nbsp; This photo shows Rev. Seaton and his family in the early 1950&#8217;s.&nbsp; (<em>Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.<\/em>)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Outdoor Meetings<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Prior to completion of the new church building, the congregation met outdoors.&nbsp; (<em>Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image.<\/em>)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_2_placeholder\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Construction<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The congregation broke ground about 1947 for the church and parsonage.&nbsp; The photos below show ground-breaking and construction.&nbsp; (<em>Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image.<\/em>)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_3_placeholder\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Early Members<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The founding church members were from the community around Toulon, Gates, Forked Deer, and Woodville.&nbsp; The thumbnails below show members in 1949.&nbsp; (<em>Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image.<\/em>)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_4_placeholder\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Growing Cotton for Income<\/span><\/p>\n<p>To raise money for building the church, Maranatha congregants grew and sold cotton on land donated by a member.&nbsp; The thumbnails below show the cotton fields&#8217; being worked by Maranatha members. &nbsp;(<em>Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image.<\/em>)<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_5_placeholder\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post and photos are submitted by Bettye Seaton Liberty in January, 2026. Scroll the photo album using the arrows below the photos. &nbsp; Maranatha Baptist Church was founded in the mid-1940&#8217;s as an Independent Baptist congregation.&nbsp; It remains a vibrant worship center serving multiple communities today. The First Pastor Rev. John W. Seaton, Jr., was called to the ministry as a young man and held pastorates in Woodville and Edith before he was called to Maranatha about 1947 to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/the-story-of-maranatha-baptist-church\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,28,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communities","category-families-individuals","category-religious-group-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1433"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1907,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433\/revisions\/1907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/haywood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}