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Area Church To Reopen On Sept. 13

David Denton stands in front of the First Baptist Church of Lime Hill in Washington County, Va. The church will reopen on Sept. 13.

By Joe Tennis
Published: September 10, 2009

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David Denton has taken on a task to preach sermons on a mount.
That is, this Sunday, Denton is swinging open the doors at a church, on a hill, that’s been closed for more than a year.
As it went, the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Lime Hill dwindled and died off. Some members later went down the road, Denton said, to another church in the Lime Hill section of Washington County, Va.
Still, all that has not daunted Denton, 66, who grew up in nearby Benhams and attended school through the seventh grade at the neighborhood’s Valley Institute.
“I just passed by here and saw it, and I got a burden for it,” Denton said. “I thought, ‘This is a nice little church to just be sitting here doing nothing – and nobody interested in it.’ ”
So Denton contacted members of the former congregation. Then, this summer, with the help of his wife, Joan, Denton has gotten the century-old chapel back in shape.
For nearly 40 years, Denton has preached at several churches along the North Fork of the Holston River in Washington County and along Big Moccasin Creek in Russell County. About six years ago, he served as the minister of a small Baptist church in Hickory Tree, Tenn.
“I just take appointments and preach – here, there and yonder,” Denton said. “I’ve been all over Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina. I’ve driven thousands and thousands of miles and haven’t ever driven any further than the Great Smoky Mountains.”
Once a welder and mechanic at local Chevrolet dealers, Denton has helped build – and rebuild – engines, alternators and starters.
“I would take them all the way down and bring them all the way down and build a new engine out of it,” Denton said. “And, certainly, Christ does the same thing to a sinner, once he repents of his sin and trusts in Christ. He changes the inside, and the inside makes the outside do what it should do.”
In Lime Hill, Denton wants to help enrich lives from this Sunday forward as he preaches at the church every week.
“When people come in here,” he said, showing off the chapel, “I want them to feel free. I don’t want no worked-up thing. But I want them to feel free.”
Even so, Denton has no idea how many will turn up when he starts this church again on Sunday morning.
“That’s a faith question,” Denton said. “I have talked to several, and several have told me they’re coming.”
The preacher smiled.
“The preaching here will be old-fashioned,” Denton promised. “It’ll be hellfire and brimstone preaching ... Of course, there’s a lot of love mixed in.”
First Baptist Church of Lime Hill sits on a hill above the intersection of Rich Valley Road (State Route 700) and Lime Hill Road (State Route 617). Sunday services start on Sept. 13 at 10 a.m., followed by a sermon at 11 a.m. For more information, call (276) 669-3501.