Floyd Baptist Church in Verbena celebrated its centennial in a big way April 19 with food, fellowship, music and lots of memories.

“It was just a lovely day all around with so many different people coming and bringing their families,” Floyd Bapitst Church member Diane Moates said. “It was the biggest crowd we have ever had with some of the original founders of the church who came. I was just thrilled to see everyone.”

Moates said there were roughly 140 individuals who came to the celebration, which included a musical performance by The Revelators and a morning message by Dr. Sammy Gilbreath.

The church also decided to dig up a time capsule that was buried around 1988 which included items such as church history, a copy of the church deeds and some records of different activities that went on at the church during the time the capsule was buried.

Church member Sidney Hudman said he knew the whereabouts of the time capsule from members of the church who buried it.

“Dot and D.M. Bone told me where it was hidden because I guess at the time they put it there they thought I was young enough to be able to remember where it was,” Hudman said. “The box was metal, sort of looks like a toolbox, and was put in a place that didn’t have much light. It is pretty remarkable how everything was in really great condition after all of these years. The only thing that was kind of disappointing was there were no photos. I would have liked to have seen photos of what things looked like when the capsule was buried.”

Hudman said the church has plans to bury another time capsule in the near future with the hope that the younger generation of members will dig it up in several years.

“We are going to put a CD in there of photos, and I guess we are hoping that whoever digs that up will know what a CD is,” Hudman said. “There might come a time when people don’t really even know how to work one of those things. We will probably put it in the same place the old one was buried, and we will have to tell some real young people who will be able to remember where we told them we buried it.”

Leola Pierce and her son Harold Pierce kept many of the church records, which date back to 1915, Moates said.

Some of the records were shared with attendees at the event on April 19 telling of a much different time when Floyd Baptist Church was established.

A few records indicated there were charges brought against some church members for dancing, working on the Sabbath, for cursing, going to parties, drinking or living in adultery, and sometimes the members would be given a “letter for dismissal” for a certain period of time.

When the church was established, Woodrow Wilson was president and Babe Ruth hit his first career home run.

There were 29 charter members of the church, and it was a community effort to build the church when Elijah Strength and L.E. Strength gave lumber while others gave money and supplies.

Now, members celebrate the legacy of the church to pass on to future generations.

“No matter what trials lay ahead, we can call on God for strength,” a program from the April 19 celebration said. “Though the church has gone through many changes, the God we serve now and then remains the same.”

Moates,70, has attended the church for much of her life, and said many of the church records have been preserved for the future of the church.

“There are a lot of memories in the church, and we feel very blessed that we could get together and share some of those memories with people who still make up this community,” Moates said. “There have been so many different generations of people pass through the church, and we hope to continue with many more generations in the future.”