
History of the
Floyd County
Baptist Association
The minutes of the 1892 meetings of the Cave Spring and Oostanaula Baptist Associations gave no indication that the two bodies were soon to disappear from the Baptist scene; both had made plans for their 1896 meetings. When the Oostanaula Association met on Friday, September 1, 1893, the decision had already been reached by them.
A statement was adopted, reflecting the combined insights of the leadership of both associations stating, "It is deemed expedient by many of the churches in Floyd County that an association be formed of all the churches in Floyd County, in order to greater compactness and efficiency . . ." The body then agreed, "That the Clerk of this Association be instructed to issue letters of dismission to all the churches of the Oostanaula Association desiring to enter the new organization." No similar action was taken by the leaders of the Cave Spring Association which failed to meet at the Cave Spring Church, as had been planned the previous year.
Instead, leaders from both associations gathered at the First Baptist Church of Rome on Wednesday, October 4, 1893, where according to the first minutes of the new body, "those churches of the Oostanaula and Cave Spring Associations that desired to go into the organization of a new Baptist Association, met . . . at 11 o'clock a.m." Fifty-four male delegates [messengers] representing twenty-one churches from Oostanaula, with a combined membership of 1,693; twenty-one male delegates represented eight churches from Cave Spring, with a combined membership of 1,139; one male delegate represented the previously unassociated Vann's Valley Church, with a membership of 16. Three churches were located in Bartow County (all from Oostanaula), with a combined membership of 296, the other twenty-seven were in Floyd County. An introductory sermon was preached by J.W. Pullen, Pastor of the Cave Spring Church and they adjourned at 2 p.m.
In the afternoon session, D. B. Hamilton, Sr., a member of the First Rome Church convened the session by reading scripture and leading in prayer. Letters from the thirty constituting churches were collected and their representatives were enrolled. The Floyd County Baptist Association adopted five constituting documents on the afternoon of October 4, 1893, documents which were retained with only minor changes until 1938.
When the association was formed in 1893, thirty churches were charter members. Those churches are listed below:
- Eight came from the Cave Spring Association: Bush Arbor; Cave Spring; Cedar Creek; New Prospect; Pisgah; Rehoboth; Rome; and State Line.
- Twenty-one came from the Oostanaula Association: Antioch; Bethel; Blue Pond; Connesena; Enon; Fellowship, Floyd Springs; Friendship; Lavender Creek; Macedonia; Mount Pleasant; Mount Vernon; New Hope; North Rome (now North Broad); Pleasant Valley North; Pleasant Valley South; Rome; Second Rome (now Providence); Sand Springs; Snow Springs; Spring Creek; and West Rome.
- Previously unassociated: Vann's Valley.
Between 1893 and 1942, twenty-four other churches entered the association and eight churches left the association. So by 1943, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Floyd County Baptist Association, there were forty-seven churches holding memberships in the Floyd County Baptist Association (two in Bartow County and the remaining 45 in Floyd County).
During the period of 1943 - 1970 there were sixty-eight different churches that held membership at one time or another in the FCBA. The membership in the FCBA varied from a low of forty-nine churches in 1944, to a high of sixty-six churches in 1970.
The period of 1971 - 1993 shows that seventy-five different churches have held membership in the body of the FCBA. In the 100th year of the forming of the Floyd County Baptist Association was comprised of sixty-nine churches (one in Gordon County, two in Bartow County and sixty-six in Floyd County).
In 2025, there are currently 58 churches that make up the Floyd County Baptist Association.