This Association was constituted at Brush Creek Church on Friday, September 21, 1827, of eight churches with 347 members, which had been dismissed from the North Bend Association. The churches constituting the body were Licking, now Cold Springs, Four Mile, Bank Lick, Wilmington, Brush Creek, Twelve-Mile, Alexandria and Flower Creek. The ordained ministers who ministered to these churches were Robert Ware, Elam Grizzle, George Vice, William Gosney, John Stephens, George Graden and John Taylor. Elder John Stephens was elected Moderator and served in that position, with the exception of one year, until 1840.A spirit of discord and dissension prevailed in the Association from its organization, extending over a period of about twelve years, which greatly retarded its growth. The first disturbance was caused by the Alexander Campbell division, by which the churches lost more than they had gained between the years 1827 and 1833. Soon after this division the work of the Association was paralyzed by the determined opposition of the large anti-mission minority in the churches. In 1829 the organization of Bible Societies was presented to the Association, but nothing came of it.
The following year, there were appointed four "yearly meetings" to be held during the succeeding year. The subject of employing one or more preachers to labor in the destitute places in the territory of the Association was discussed in the session of 1835. It was agreed to appoint a meeting to be held at Brush Creek Church the following October "to consider the propriety, or impropriety, of setting at liberty one or two ministering brethren, to devote their time to preaching for which they shall be paid." In this meeting "it was agreed to let the matter rest."
Nothing further was done until the session of 1839, when Bank Lick Church sent up a query as to whether or not the Association was "missionary in spirit" and would "support the board."
The Association, desiring to maintain peace among its members, answered the query thus: "We have had nothing to do with the missionary question, whether home or foreign, since the meeting at Brush Creek (in 1835) where it was agreed to let the matter rest. We are not connected with, or known as auxiliary to, the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. As to what we are in spirit is known between us and our Master."
As the result of a revival in 1839, the Association increased from eight churches with 370 members in 1838 to ten churches and 757 members in 1840. The revival pervaded the meeting of the Association in 1839 with such power that a number of persons were converted and baptized in the session. For these "disorders" the North Bend Association dropped correspondence with the Campbell County fraternity, until the act was rescinded the year following.
Shortly after the session of 1840, the more extreme anti-mission members split off from the churches and with like members from the churches of North Bend Association organized themselves into what was styled the "Salem Association of Predestinarian Baptists." But even after this schism the Campbell County Association was not entirely free from the anti-mission spirit. In the session of 1844, it was recommended that the churches become informed with the object of the Indian Mission Association and act as their Christian duty and as prudence might dictate. At the same session some "lay brethren" sent in a letter suggesting the propriety of employing one or more ministers to labor in the territory of the Association. To this end the churches were requested to send one member from each church to convene at the Alexandria meeting house to consult, and then act as the churches requested. The messengers came to the agreement not to do anything at present about employing missionaries.
In a few years after the anti-mission forces split off, conditions began to improve. In 1848, the Association recommended Georgetown College, and the Western Baptist Theological Institute at Covington; and in 1849 a collection of $12.40 was taken up for the benefit of two aged needy preachers. An offering of $23.50 was contributed to the General Association in 1851. Since that time this fraternity has been a missionary body.
In 1850 the Association was composed of fourteen churches with 1047 members; and ten years later, fifteen churches, and 1823 members. In 1880, the number of the churches had increased to seventeen, but the membership had decreased to 1780 in number. In 1946, the Association was composed of twenty churches with 6604 members; and in 1948 the same number of churches reported 6602 members. The First Baptist Church, Newport, the largest in the Association, reported 2059 members in 1946 and W. H. Rone, pastor, who was succeeded by O. J. Steger. Dayton, the second largest church, reported 608 members in 1948, W. R. Cole, pastor.
[From Frank M. Masters, A History of Baptists in Kentucky, 1953, pp. 245-246. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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