Rising Sun Baptist Church originated in the home of L. W. Bratton on March 22, 1892. He lived in the first house north of the present site of the church (the house is now gone and only the barn and shed remain on this site). The District Mission, L. M. Berry, was the moderator of the charter meeting. Charter members were:

  • Will Beaver
  • Miss Edith Hume
  • Miss Sallie Rodgers
  • Miss. Jennie Beaver
  • Henry Murray
  • Miss Lida Rodgers
  • Mrs. Hettie Black
  • Mrs. Annie Murray
  • W. S. Rodman
  • L. W. Bratton
  • W. G. Renfro
  • Miss Ann Rodman
  • Mrs. Alice Bratton
  • Mrs. Nannie Renfro
  • Miss Livisa Rodman
  • J. D. Hume
  • John Robards
  • Miss Maud Rodman
  • Mrs. Bell Hume
  • Horace Rodgers
  • Mrs. Mettie Rodman

The group met in homes and in local school houses on the first Sunday of each month through the early months as money was raised to build the church building. According to Elizabeth Craghead, oldest living member of Rising Sun Baptist Church in 1991, and whose father was a deacon in the early days of the church, the land for the building was donated by Mr. Mike Murray. Mr. Murray lived where John Sprock currently lives (first house south of the church on the west side of the road) and was not a member of any church. However, his brother, Henry Murray, was a deacon at Rising Sun. The land was donated with the understanding that no cemetery would ever be placed on the church grounds.

The church was built by member and neighbors in the community and was completed by August, 1892. The original building (torn down after the new sanctuary was completed in 1998) was one large room with four large windows on the north and south walls. The front door was on the east side and above it was a round stained glass window (which is in the new sanctuary building today). There was a back door leading outside to the privy on the west side of the church. The pulpit was on a rounded stage at the west end of the building. The baptistery was placed under the pulpit stage and was reached through a trap door on the pulpit stage. The church was heated by two coal stoves placed midway on the north and south walls.

By the end of the first year, the church had dug a well on the north side of the building and placed a picket fence around the yard to tether the horses. They had purchased 42 hymnals (Gospel Hymns No. 1, 2, 3 and 4) at a cost of $25 and an organ for $74.20. By the end of the second year a Sunday School had been started, although it did not operate continuously throughout the church’s history.

Expenses for running the church were covered by collections taken up by a committee. No offerings were taken during services. Services were held one weekend a month with business meetings on Saturday afternoon, hymnsings on Saturday evening and preaching services on Sunday morning. When Sunday School was started it met immediately following the business meeting. By 1898 the church had begun taking a collection after each service to help meet expenses.

There is evidence that this part of the county belonged to the Callaway Baptist Association in 1892 and 1893 but during the years 1894-1921, the church participated in the Boone County Baptist Association and sent representatives to that groups annual meetings. It is believed that possibly Boone and Callaway Baptist Associations met jointly during this time or that the church went first to one county and then to the other. Records show that in 1921 a division of the Little Bonne Femme Association (Boone) took place. In 1922 the Callaway Baptist Association became an entity. The church has always been active in associational activities. Delegates attended every yearly associational meeting. Starting in 1910 the church had an elected member to the Executive Board and L. W. Bratton was the first representative. Throughout the historical records there is evidence of home and foreign mission donations through the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program. In the early days of the church, committees were formed to collect donations for the Cooperative Program each year. As early as 1911, the church responded to needs of sister churches in the association as well as raising donations for the Old Ministers Aid, the Baptist Home in Ironton, MO, and William Jewell College.

According the Elizabeth Craghead, who was a child during the early years of the church, preachers only preached and were not expected to call on members since they all came from a long distance and only preached once a month. Calls were made on members and neighbors during revivals which lasted at least two weeks. The church missed only a few years having a revival. The revivals lasted 7 to 14 days and guest preachers were asked to preach. The meetings were called “protracted” meetings and were held in the early fall of the year.