Pastors ~ Then and Now

Elder G.W. Riley served as the first pastor of Charleston Baptist Church. He served from August 1850 - December 1851.

Jared W. Riley served as pastor from December 1851 - .

Dr. A. E. Prince was a pastor of the First Baptist Church, Charleston, from November 8, 1914, to October 9, 1916. He has served pastorates in both the north and south. He served for a number of years as president of Hannibal-Lagrange College at Hannibal, Missouri. After retiring from this position, he later became the interim pastor of the First Baptist Church of Effingham, where he is now located [as of October 1950]. He may be heard on the radio each Sunday at 9:00 A.M., as he and the Church people broadcast direct from the church. We welcome him back to Charleston as a guest speaker for our Centennial after thirty-four years.

Rev. Walter W. Thompson became the pastor of the First Baptist Church on September 1, 1947. He served churches at Hutsonville and West Frankfort before coming to Charleston. He was closely affiliated with the State Conventions, having served as Recording Secretary for three years while at the same time serving on the Pastoral Relations Board and the Lake Benton Camp Board. In the past three [1947-1950] years, the Church had shown tremendous growth in both the Sunday school and church membership. He desired that a program may be put into effect to secure more space to meet the growing needs.

Interim 1986 - 1987

Rev. Adrian Lamkin grew up in Kentucky, the son of a Baptist minister. He earned an undergraduate degree from Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky.; his master’s degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.; and a Ph.D. in American Church History from Southern Seminary.

Rev. Lamkin served First Baptist from 2011 to December 2014 and again from November 2019 to December 2019.

Article in the Journal-Gazette/Times-Courier about Rev. Lamkin

Pastor Prater served First Baptist from January 2015 to July 2019. Chris began in ministry in 2002 as a youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Bluffton, IN. Then served as the senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Ipswich, South Dakota. He has a Diploma of Pastoral Studies from the Church Leadership Institute as well as a Masters of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary. His undergrad studies are in Business Management, specialized in Accounting. Before entering the ministry, Pastor Chris served four years in the United States Marine Corp.

Article in the Times-Courier Welcoming Pastor Prater

Pastor Steven Hayes Pastor Steve as he likes to be called comes to First Baptist after a twenty-seven-year ministry of leading five independent Christian Churches from Indiana to Florida to Illinois. Steve recently served for seven years at First Christian in Mattoon.

Steve enjoys helping people come to the Lord and to grow in their faith, through practical preaching, and counseling. Steve is now offering free Christian Counseling at First Baptist.

Steve is a Vietnam Veteran who served in the United States Navy. He earned a Master of Ministries Degree from Kentucky Christian College. Christian Ministry is Steve’s second career. He worked his way up to the Operations Manager of a chain of thirty-three retail shoe stores in Connecticut. He laughs, when he says, “I went from selling soles to saving souls.”

Steve and his wife, Marianna moved to Indiana to be closer to their children and grandchildren in March of 2021. His last sermon to our congregation on May 30, 2021.

		Pastors of First Baptist
1	G. W. Riley	Six Months	31	Harland K. Tuttle	June 20, 1926, to July 1930
2	J. W. Riley	One year	32	Harold Hall	April 12, 1931, to August 31, 1932
3	Dr. Bunday		33	E. Ray Dugger	April 23, 1933, to August 31, 1935
4	Brother Yarnell		34	Wm. E. Skadden	September 29, 1935, to July 31, 1938
5	Dr. Bastian		35	J. W. Patterson	September 1, 1938, to September 1, 1942
6	Brother Brown		36	Chas A. Boyd ~ interim	October 11, 1942, to February 1, 1943
7	Brother Caplinger	1867	37	Daniel L. Eckert	May 1, 1943, to July 1947
8	Rev. Tandy	about 1882	38	Walter W. Thompson	September 1, 1947, to January 1952
9	Rev. John Todd	1884	39	Lloyd Martz	July 1952 - July 1956
10	Rev. Tom Davis ~ interim	about 1886 - 1887	40	William Welsh	1956 - 1960
11	W. C. Cope	February 5. 1892	41	Dean Dolash	1960-1974
12	J. Wood Saunders	March 18, 1895	42	Max Thomason	June 1974 - August 1974
13	Arthur Willet	September 18, 1895, to April 29, 1897	43	Bill Bean	1974 - 1976
14	W. T. Spriggs	July 1, 1987, to July 10, 1898	44	Bob Hanrahan	1976 - 1981
15	J. T. Spillman	August 1898 to January 11, 1899	45	Collin Weller, England, interim	March 1981 - July 1982
16	Brother Wylie	January 11, 1899, to August 30, 1899	46	David Anderson	July 1982 - June 1986
17	W. T. Markland	March 21, 1900, to April 13, 1902	47	Dick DeMont, interim	1986-1987
18	C. E. LaReau	August 5, 1902, to April 1, 1904	48	Al Brown	1987 to 1993
19	J. T. Spillman	April 8, 1904, to July 1904	49	George Munger	1993 to 1994
20	D. M. Stiles	January 3, 1905, to October 2, 1907	50	Len Lewis	1994 to1996
21	B. B. Braden	November 10, 1907, to October 1, 1909	51	John Crutcher	September 1996, to March 1998
22	H. B. Leonard	March 5, 1910, to May 12, 1912	52	Pat Murphy	April 1998, to 2008
23	J. M. Daniel	June 9, 1912, to November 4, 1914	53	Adrian Lamkin, interim	2011 to December 2014
24	A.E. Prince	November 8, 1914, to October 9, 1916	54	Chris Prater	January 2015, to July 2019
25	C. P. Greenfield	October 22, 1916, to November 18, 1917	55	Adrian Lamkin, interim	November 2019, to December 2019
26	Eugene Neubauer	to January 8, 1919	56	Steven Hayes	January 2020, to May 31, 2021
27	L. V. Edwards	April 7, 1919, to April 18, 1920	57
28	H. L. Duff	November 1, 1920, to November 1, 1921	58
29	J. E. Hart	November 13, 1921, to November 1, 1922	59
30	Fred R. Johnson	September 10, 1922, to September 1925	60

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