History of the Appalachian Conference

It was in 1909, in the summer of that year, according to the obituary of Rev. Edward D. Reeves, that he and his father, the Rev. James T. Z. Reeves, were conducting a revival near Dublin, Virginia. From that revival, in a tent not far from the present headquarters, the Virginia Conference was born.

During this revival, E. D. Reeves, founder of the Virginia Conference of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, "cut the last shore line and swung into complete subjection to the program of Jesus Christ, and received the fullness of the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit."

During the next year, 1910 five churches, which are still members of the Virginia Conference to this date, were organized: Roanoke, Radford, Pulaski, Montcalm and Piedmont, which in 1989 was designated a Virginia Historical Landmark.

From the first five churches, the Virginia Conference now numbers 131 churches as of May 1990. The conference now covers portions of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio.

For the first 41 years of the Virginia Conference, local churches hosted annual conventions, as they were first called, and annual sessions of the conference.

Thoughts of the future of the conference were evidenced at the 25th Annual Session of the Virginia Conference, August 31, 1935 at Montcalm, West Virginia.

The Committee on Evangelism, with J. B. Daugherty as chairman and E. D. Reeves and R. L. Hager, members, recommended "the establishment of an Annual Conference Camp Meeting; that a Conference Camp Meeting Association be organized in our Conference, each member paying $1.00 annual for camp meeting expense; that the officers of said Association be authorized to secure grounds and erect such equipment essential to conduct a camp meeting during the coming Conference year."

This recommendation was prefaced with, "In a new endeavor to fulfill our obligation in this matter we make the following recommendations."

"This matter" referred to was seeking to reach the "unevangelized territory within the bounds of the Virginia Conference, and so little being done by our church to reach the thousands of souls at our door, we feel a strong-God-given urge that something definite be done at once."

During the ensuing years, this matter was put before the conferences on a regular basis until 16 years later, in 1951, the first annual camp meeting was held at the present conference grounds.

"Services are being conducted under a large tent at the Conference headquarters one mile north of Dublin, just off U.S. Highway No. 11 on State Highway 617, "reads a news account of that camp meeting. The Rev. J.W. Kelly of Winston-Salem, North Carolina was the preacher.

To Be Continued...