A work God began in 1869.

With a desire to serve God and to reach the community for Christ, a group of seven charter members began Oak Grove Baptist Church. A presbytery consisting of Eli Ratliff, Solomon Bachman, and Nathan Baxter officiated in the organization, and the Articles of Faith of the McPheeters Bend Baptist Church were adopted for the new church.

The doors of the church were then opened and the following were received as fit subjects for baptism: Lydia Walters, Frances Sanders, Martha Sanders, Tilda Lee, Nancy Arnold and William Ketron. The church minutes note that on Sunday, September 13, 1869 thirty-six baptisms were administered. On November 13, 1869 I.S. Hamilton was elected first clerk and Brother George Walters was elected as the first deacon.

Before the year ended the new church had its first pastor and had witnessed revival. In November 1869 Brother Eli Ratliff was elected as pastor, and in December the church experienced a revival which lasted for eight days with the conversion of thirteen souls and eight persons received into the church.

In May 1870 the first deacon, Brother Walters, was ordained. Also in May a building committee was appointed to build a church to be located near Pump Springs on the Old Alexander Farm. The building was to be thirty feet wide, forty feet long, and nineteen feet high. In July of 1870 the church petitioned the Holston Valley Baptist Association to become a member of the body.

The young, struggling church did not realize the dream of this new church building; nevertheless, it accepted its responsibility to take the gospel to all people. In July 1871, Oak Grove made its first pledge of $7.00 to Home Missions.

The early church took membership seriously. They believed that members should live a separated life and be faithful to the church. The minutes report that members were removed for swearing, living immorally, and being under the influence of liquor. Some were called in to give account of their stewardship. At one time a committee was appointed “to investigate certain members in regard to their covenant relation.” Church attendance was important. In 1871 the minutes state that a committee was appointed “to notify a number of male members of this church who have failed to attend meetings for a year or over to attend the next meeting and share the cause of their absence.”

The growth of Oak Grove was never limited to the church itself. Through the efforts of the church and its members, with the desire to reach the community for Christ, missions and other churches were begun in the community. In 1890, Oak Grove held several revivals in the community, and “the spirit of revival reached the Black Community and the church sought a black preacher to minister to them.”

In 1950 the mission work was centered in the Block City community, where the First Baptist Church of Block City was formed. It is now called Belmont Baptist Church. In 1969 the Carter’s Valley mission work began the Carter’s Valley Baptist Church, which was later reorganized into today’s Ridgeview Baptist Church.

While the Rev. Carter Morrell was serving the church, he encouraged the older members to meet at the church for spiritual and social fellowship and for service to the church and community. The activities drew interest throughout the community, and many friends of church members from outside the church joined in. The gatherings became more organized, a noon meal was added, and the group formally organized as the Mount Carmel Senior Citizens. They continued to meet at the church for many years before moving to another location.