Our Story

The Lord led several members of McCotter Boulevard Baptist Church in late 1996 to see the need for a church in the Cherry Branch Community. This began as a home Bible Study in February of 1997 lead by Paul Flewwelin. Paul was ordained by McCotter Baptist and would become the founding Pastor of Cherry Branch Baptist Church. The first service was held on Easter Sunday April 6th, 1997, at Pine Cliff State Park. The church met through the summer at the park and through the winter at McCotter Baptist. By 1998 the church had been able to begin the purchase of property on Hwy 306 near the State Park and near the Cherry Branch Community and in March a single wide trailer that was provided by the North Carolina Southern Baptist Association was set up on that property. The church was able to meet consistently on that property at that time. In 1999 an additional trailer was made available through the help of the local Atlantic Baptist Association for Sunday School and Nursery. Cherry Branch Baptist Church was officially chartered in March of 2000. It was also able to replace the single wide trailer that was being used for children’s ministries with a double-wide for more room.

In 2003 Pastor Paul Flewwelin resigned and the church made some changes to coincide with the new leadership. In May of 2004 Pastor Grady Burroughs was called to lead the church into a new era and with a new name, Cherry Branch Community Church. Pastor Burroughs led the church to bring in a Children’s Minster named Jonathan Behler. The two men worked to grow the church until December 2009 when Pastor Burroughs resigned. Pastor Behler served as the interim pastor and in June of 2010 was called to be the Pastor until he resigned in 2013. The church began interviewing potential candidates in early 2014, and eventually called Pastor Jim Hendrix in September of that year. Pastor Hendrix was ordained by River Bend Baptist Church in New Bern, NC and his first service was September 7th. 

In 2015 the church began to make some more changes. The first of these was to relocate the small single-wide trailer used for worship next to the double-wide used for Children’s ministries. This effort was aided with a grant from the North Carolina Baptist Foundation. In 2017 the church added a modular building to use as a larger worship space and in the next several years began re-habilitating the other older buildings. The old worship building was converted into a food and clothing ministry for the community. The church continues to grow and look for more opportunities to reach the Greater Harlowe area, Havelock, North Carolina, and beyond!

Four Pastors have served this community:

Pastor Paul Flewwelin                    1997-2003            (6 Years)
Pastor Grady Burroughs                2004-2009            (5 Years)
Pastor Jonathan Behler                  2010-2013            (3 Years)
Pastor Jim Hendrix                          2014-Present