By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

Pastor Steve Alford of Belleview Baptist Church in Boone County stands at the pulpit of the church dressed in 1803 preacher's attire. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

Belleview Baptist Church was razed by a cyclone. It was rebuilt, then began sinking into the ground. Yet 200 years later, its foundation is solid.

The church is located in the small, quiet community of Belleview Bottoms, nestled along the Ohio River at the bottom of Ky. 18 in Boone County. The congregation will celebrate its bicentennial with a Founders Day celebration Sunday.

Many Boone County dignitaries and former pastors of the church will be there, as will direct descendants of the 23 founding members of the church.

William Rogers was one of those founders. Mary Sue (Rogers) Rudicill, his great-great-great-great-great granddaughter, has belonged to the church for 50 years.

"We put Christ first. He's the reason we've been here so long," said Rudicill, whose three children and eight grandchildren are also members. "And we have a lot of strong families - the Ryles, Scotts, Rogers, and Wilsons. They're still in the area and have helped carry on the continuity."

The church was founded on March 12, 1803 by members of Bullittsburg Baptist Church who wanted a church a little bit closer to home.

"You have to realize that for people down here, that was about a 14-mile hike to Bullittsburg," said the Rev. Steve Alford, pastor of the church for the last 12 years. "And back then, your choices were to walk or ride a horse."

The new church was known as Middle Creek Baptist Church and was built overlooking the creek, about a mile up Ky. 18 from where the current church is on Fifth Street.

IF YOU GO

What: Belleview Baptist Founders Day Where: Belleview Baptist Church, 6658 Fifth St., Belleview Bottoms When: Sunday One service will be held from 10 a.m. until noon Service will be followed by lunch at the church At 1:30 a "Bicentennial Journey" will take place, with dedications made at the site of the first church and at the gravesite of the first pastor, Christopher Wilson. For more information, contact the church at 586-7809. Other Church Bicentennial Events This Year June 14-15: Belleview Baptist Days at Dinsmore July 6: Old Fashioned 4th of July Celebration at Belleview Baptist Cemetery Oct. 3-5: Homecoming Weekend at Belleview Baptist Church.

That building stood for 26 years until a new brick church was erected on the same ground in 1829. About 40 years later, just after the Civil War, some members of the congregation proposed building a new church down the hill in Belleview Bottoms to accommodate the growing population.

Alford said that didn't sit well with some of the members who wanted to keep it where it was - until they received a sign from above.

"I guess you would call it a mini-cyclone that came through town and destroyed most of the church. But it didn't harm one tree around it," said Alford. "Those people didn't feel they needed to move until God showed them."

The new church was built in 1878 in Belleview Bottoms, when the name was changed to Belleview Baptist Church.

The present sanctuary was built in 1903 during a restoration process after the church began to sink into the ground.

Sunday school classrooms and a baptistery were added in 1948. The baptistery replaced the Ohio River as the site for baptisms.

More classrooms were added in 1966, and another renovation took place in 1989.

The church plans to add a new sanctuary in the next few years, one that can seat about 500 churchgoers. The current sanctuary holds 300.

"It's exciting thinking about our future," said Dale Scott, chairman of the church deacons and descendant of Moses Scott, one of the founders. "I was there 40 years ago when we didn't have that many members, but we're growing."

Alford said there are 775 members of the church. They average 320 people at the two worship services held each Sunday. He said about 400 people live around the Belleview Bottoms area.

"I think what's unique is that about 75 percent of the people drive from out of town to come to our church, and we've also been able to hang on to a lot of the charter families," said Sandra Cupps, a seventh-generation member of the church.

Michael Capek of Taylor Mill wrote a book on the church's history that was published last week and will be available at the Founders Day event.

"I've done historical research before, but the fact that this church is so old and they still have the original records from the beginning made this a fascinating project," said Capek, who spent 15 months working on Lively Stones.

"The book is a history of the church, which is really a history of Boone County."