Elder John Culpepper, Sr.
Meadow Creek Church was one of the first churches that Elder John Culpepper served. He purchased property in Cabarrus County, NC, just north of Locust, in 1793. [1] He was elected to the Tenth United States Congress in 1807. [2]
When the Baptists split in the early 1830's because of the adoption of Mission Boards and Sunday Schools, Elder Culpepper went with the "Missionary" side. At the time of this split, most Baptist Churches believed in particular election and effectual calling. Over time, the churches that went with the Mission Boards/Sunday School movement departed from these Bible truths. Elder C. M. Mills always said that when churches go off into error in their practice, errors in doctrine will soon follow. This has proven to be true.
The last church that Elder Culpepper served was Meadow Branch Baptist Church from 1838-40. Meadow Branch was later renamed Wingate Baptist Church. He was in his seventies when that church called him as pastor. When the Meadow Branch Church split because of the Missionary movement, the Missionary side reorganized at a meeting in October of 1835. They wrote in the minutes of that meeting that they "heartily and willingly subscribe" to their Covenant which included the following:
"Holding Believers Baptisim by Imersion laying on of hands Paticular Elexion Etenal Redemtion by the free grace of god in christ Jesus (effectual?) lectual calling by the holy spirit of Justification through the Imputed Reighteousness of Jesus Christ (pro)gressive santiflcation throug Gods (free) grace and truth, wich we Do Believe to be Revealed in the old and new testaments those contaning a Perfect Rule of our faith and practist and final perceverance of the saints through grace, we Do Believ in the Resorrection after Deth at the Day wich god hath appointed to Judge the quick and Dead By the Resorrection of his son Jesus Christ and life Everlasting, Amen & Amen"
from The History of Wingate Baptist Church 1810 - 2009, by Carolyn Caldwell Gaddy and Jerry L. Surratt, page 19.
The following is a biography of Elder Culpepper from the book, History of the Brown Creek Union Baptist Association, written by Charles J. Black in 1919.
"Elder Culpepper was born in Anson County, N. C., in A. D. 1764. His father’s name was Samson Culpepper, a man of moderate means. John, his son, was in school only three months. After his marriage and the birth of four children he spent four months in reading' Latin. This was all the schooling that he ever received. When young John was about twenty years of age his father moved to Georgia. Here John soon became acquainted with Elder Silas Mercer. Under his ministry he embraced religion, and was soon afterward baptized by him. He soon began to preach with an earnestness and success that have seldom been exceeded. He soon returned to North Carolina and preached in the churches of the Sandy Creek Association, which then reached to Pee Dee River. Extensive revivals accompanied his preaching wherever he went. He continued these labors with undiminished zeal and effect for several years.
In the meantime his popularity became so great that his misguided friends urged him to become a candidate for Congress, as the only means of preventing the re-election of the then incumbent, who was particularly distasteful to the voters in that part of the district. To this course he unhappily yielded; and most of his after life was spent in politics. In Congress he obtained a distinguished reputation for consistency, firmness, and disinterested devotion to the interests of his country. During this time he continued to preach the true doctrines of the gospel, but it was with greatly diminished zeal and success. About ten or twelve years before his death he retired from political life, and devoted himself to the ministry with considerable zeal and some success, but far short of his earlier labors.
For several years he was agent for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. He was a man of great energy of character, his motto was “wear out, but never rust out.” Previous to the division of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association Elder Culpepper was, for a number of years, one of the most efficient ministers of the Association. Afterward he was a leading minister in the Pee Dee Association. In the seventy-sixth year of his age, in the strong exercise of an unwavering faith, at the house of his son, Elder JohnCulpepper, Jr., in Darlington District, S. C., Elder Culpepper died, and was buried in the graveyard at Society Hill. At the head of his grave may be seen a plain but nice marble slab, with a suitable inscription."
from A History of the Brown Creek Union Baptist Association, 1854 - 1918, pages 284 - 286.
"In 1838 Meadow Branch [later renamed Wingate Baptist Church] called the strong, vigorous and wide-awake Elder John Culpepper, Sr., for her pastor. He was the most progressive man of his day. (See biographical sketch in this book.) He lived in Montgomery County at this time. The location is now in Stanly County, since that county was formed out of Montgomery. His home was not very far from Rocky River Church in Anson County. He lived on the Stanly side of the river. Culpepper was in touch with the progressive spirit of the age, and was the personal friend of Dr. Wait, the founder of Wake Forest College, and Thomas Meredith, founder of the Biblical Recorder. Culpepper served three terms in Congress, and was a charter member of the Board of Trustees of Wake Forest Institute, now Wake Forest College. He served Old Rocky River for forty years, but remained at Meadow Branch but two years, 1838-1840."
from A History of the Brown Creek Union Baptist Association, 1854 - 1918, page 235.
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