WHEREAS, the 185th annual session of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is meeting November 3-4, 2015 in Greensboro, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, Sandy Creek Baptist Church was founded in 1755 by Shubal Stearns and other Baptist followers and became the mother church of Separate Baptist churches and the source of the strong Baptist tradition in the South; and
WHEREAS, Sandy Creek Baptist Church is located near Liberty, North Carolina in Randolph County, around 25 miles southeast from the meeting location of this 2015 Convention; and
WHEREAS, There is currently located at Sandy Creek, the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, a vibrant Southern Baptist affiliated church, the Sandy Creek Primitive Baptist Church also a vibrant congregation, the Sandy Creek Baptist cemetery containing several monuments and the graves of many including Shubal Stearns, and the 1802 Sandy Creek Baptist Church Meeting House, the third meeting house at the Sandy Creek location; and
WHEREAS, Hal Younts, Clerk of the Sandy Creek Primitive Baptist Church, starting in 2000 and continuing through 2006, restored the 1802 Sandy Creek Baptist Church Meeting House. He maintained it and kept the Sandy Creek Meeting House open to all visitors and often met and greeted persons at the site explaining the important Baptist Heritage located at the site; and
WHEREAS, Hal Younts went to be with his Savior on September 9, 2015; and
Therefore, be it resolved that we, the messengers to the 2015 Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, express our appreciation for the late Hal Younts’ efforts in preserving the Sandy Creek Baptist site that has and continues to play such a major role in the heritage of all Baptists regardless of affiliation.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s annual meeting Nov. 2-3 will vote on this resolution.)