Polk Revival Two Months and Going Strong

When we wrote back in March and again last month, we could hardly imagine what God had in store for our area. After eight full weeks of revival in Polk County more revivals are on our schedule this month. Swept by the wave of the Spirit, several independent churches have joined in with parallel meetings, thus multiplying the expected attendance exponentially.

Initially 7, now 8 churches and multiple ministries across Polk County, TN have set to seek after the will of God for revival in their area after the pandemic. The revival has gone on now two months each week changing to another of the original seven church locations. Thousands have attended in the past eight weeks alone with multiple saved, recommitted and called to the ministry in the past month. Churches from the greater Conasauga, Reliance, Ocoee, Old Fort, Benton, and Delano communities along with the two oldest Polk County congregations at Cookson Creek and Friendship Baptist, are joining piece by piece the original vision God has given to many ministers for this area of East Tennessee. As Polk Revival continues strong, the participants are requesting prayer from all who love the Lord and have awaited His renewal of the land and His people. https://polkrevival.com/

Polk Revival Announces Community Communion before Thanksgiving

After some two months in services, Polk Revival has announced a Community Communion before Thanksgiving.  Initially 7, now 8 churches and multiple ministries across Polk County, TN have set to seek after the will of God for revival in their area after the pandemic. The revival has gone on now two months each week changing to another of the original seven church locations within the greater Conasauga, Reliance, Ocoee, Old Fort, Benton, and Delano communities along with the two oldest Polk County congregations at Cookson Creek and Friendship Baptist. A “True Halloween Alternative Revival” and “Polk Camp Meeting” were also completed during this time by faithful friends and partnering ministers.

Exactly 20 years ago in his book “A Call to Righteousness: Impending Judgment,” Dr. David Franklin outlined the cycle of repentance for a nation’s revival as following:

• When a nation persists in violence, the Sovereign Lord confronts and holds responsible,
• When a nation forgets God, He allows for times of repentance,
• If repentance is ignored, God will expose and execute judgment on an unfaithful nation.

That God is at work is not even in question here, but what about the Church? Over 50 back-to-back services can truly change one’s perspective on last day global ecclesiology. Piece by piece the original vision God has given to many ministers for this area of East Tennessee is coming together. As Polk Revival continues strong, the participants are requesting prayer from all who love the Lord and have awaited His renewal of the land and His people. https://polkrevival.com/

Polk Revival Going on for a Month

Initially 7, now 8 churches and multiple ministries across Polk County, TN have set to seek after the will of God for revival in their area after the pandemic. The revival has gone on now over a month each week changing to another of the original seven church locations. Over a thousand have attended in total during September alone with multiple saved, recommitted and called to the ministry in the past month. Though Fridays were set as days for prayer and reflection, on several occasions services continued well through the weekend into the next church.

Churches from the greater Conasauga, Reliance, Ocoee, Old Fort, Benton, and Delano communities along with the two oldest Polk County congregations at Cookson Creek and Friendship Baptist, are joining piece by piece the original vision God has given to many ministers for this area of East Tennessee. While a few have seen it as continuation of the Lee University student revival, most have found it as restoring the original Appalachian/Cherokee holiness outpouring, which took place among L&N Depot and Hiwassee River Rail Loop workers in the old Methodist church across from Etowah‘s chamber of commerce. As Polk Revival continues strong, the participants are requesting prayer from all who love the Lord and have awaited His renewal of the land and His people. https://polkrevival.com/

Polk Revival to Commence after Months of Prayer

Initially 7, now 8 churches and multiple ministries across the biggest Tennessee county, have set their hearts to seek after the will of God for revival in their area after the pandemic. The meetings are set to move from one church location to another each week of the original seven consecutive week schedule. While Fridays are set as days for prayer and reflection, many already anticipate service will continue through the weekend into the next week’s revival location. As participants have been praying for God’s fresh fire in East Tennessee, many have recalled previous revivals and prophetic words from some hundred years ago to the spontaneous student revival at Lee University this past spring. As new revival outpouring has been long prophesied for the area, the churches have agreed to wait upon the Lord until he moves in their midst again. Prayer is requested from all who love the Lord and have awaited His renewal of the land and His people.

Perry Stone Ministries 2016 THE PROPHECY: In August, over a year ago the Holy Spirit spoke of a “Rural Awakening.” I am certain the primary meaning is that God will spiritually awaken the people in rural areas. However, it was just reported that the RURAL VOTE from the small towns of America, is what won the election for Donald Trump. In the same word, The Holy Spirit has also said the cities will become dangerous with mobs and people would begin leaving the cities to return to the more rural areas in AMerica. George Soros is planning major city disruptions for months or perhaps years to come, and now sadly, there are numerous gangs of black youths in the inner cities that are physically attacking, for no reason, older white men and women; a few even calling for the death of all whites. I regret to say, violence will become more common (days of Noah) and people will slowly begin to leave major cities (violent zones) to move away from the hate and crime in those areas. Those of us in the Body of Christ, White, Black and HIspanic, must not fall into this demonic hatred and deception, but must stand in the unity of our faith in Christ, as one body and one family. Many people who truly love the Lord live in these cities and these gangs and thugs do not represent them or their ethnic group. JESUS IS KING.

NEEMIAH at the second oldest church in Polk County

Since our Revival Harvest Campaign with the theme of Nehemiah Experience began, we have been receiving miracles reports:

• a lady seeking for the Holy Spirit for some time now, was baptized late at night after the service and began speaking in tongues while on her bed
• heavy anointing to the point of people blacking out
• a truck driver came from the street to seek God
• a spontaneous Jericho march broke out with dramatic spiritual manifestation
• right arm hurt in a car accident many years ago, began feeling sensation in muscles and ligaments again during the service
• a clear direction was given by the Holy Ghost to remain faithful to the vision

Cookson Creek Baptist Church was established in 1836 and currently stands as the 2nd oldest continued church in Polk County. While the foundation and parts of the building are originals, the church has undergone many renovations throughout the years – one of the more recent being the stone, silo-shaped teenage Sunday School classroom. The church sits alongside the beautiful creek, after which it was named, and just down the road from Cookson Creek Cemetery.

The following accounts are recorded by Lynne McClary from the Polk County Chamber of Commerce.

The year was 1936 and Cookson Creek Baptist Church was celebrating it’s 100th anniversary in Polk County, Tennessee. N. B. Fetzer attended the festivities and later wrote about it from his Nashville home.

According to his writings, “There was an immense crowd . . . many of my relatives and old friends, but I missed many faces which used to show up there on May’s Fourth Sunday.” Thomas W. Mathis had been scheduled to give a historical review of the church, as his membership dated back some 70 years. Unfortunately, “Uncle Tommy was called to his heavenly home” on Wednesday prior to the celebration.

Fetzer’s note goes on to state that Miss Mae Ella Stinnett, who served as church clerk, was the ‘power behind the throne,’ and the highlight of the day came when a 3-1/2-year-old young man, the son of Tom Green, sang several stanzas to a “catchy mountain tune”. Fetzer could not remember the youngster’s name, but was told by an uncle that everyone called him ‘Tooter’.

This year Cookson Creek celebrates year 187. The building has undergone many renovations through the years; however the foundation, as well as some of the building itself, dates back to the construction in 1836! It sits alongside the creek for which it is named and just down the road from Cookson Creek Cemetery. The creek was named for Joseph Cookson, a white man who married Jennie Hildebrand. Jennie, who was half-Cherokee, was the daughter of Michael Hildabrand. Joseph and Jennie were moved to Oklahoma during the Cherokee removal of 1838 and lived their remaining lives on the reservation.

TAGS: Blue Springs Church, Beech Springs Church, Little Hopewell Church, Cookson Creek Church, Candies Creek Church, Good Spring Church

HISTORIC SITES OF POLK COUNTY
• Ocoee Indian Village, Hatcher farm. (Early Woodland, Yuchi, and Cherokee
Indians).
• Old Fort Block house, Benton, constructed 1805-1806.
• The Hildebrand House, Ocoee River, early 1830s; oldest house in the county.
• Friendship Baptist Church, First District, 1826, the oldest church in Polk County in
continuous operation. The Columbiana Presbyterian Church was organized in 1822
near Columbus and operated for about twenty years.
• Hiwassee Old Town, oldest and largest of the Cherokee villages in Polk County, was
located on the north bank of the Hiwassee River.
• Site of the discovery of copper on Potato Creek, 1843.
• James McNair family graves, Conasauga.
• Ducktown Basin Museum, Ducktown.
• Old Federal Road, 1804; the Old Stock Road; the Old Copper Road, 1853.
• The Savannah Farm, the largest and one of the oldest farms of the county.
• Columbus, north bank of the Hiwassee River, temporary county seat of Polk County;
had a post office by 1823 and was incorporated.
• Present day site of the Benton Department Store was site of the first home in Benton
(Four Mile Stock Stand); the home of James Lindner and his Cherokee wife, a
descendant of Nancy Ward.
• The Jacob Clemmer house at Benton was built in 1842 and is now owned by Mr. and
Mrs. Kenneth Bishop.
• The Nuchols home and office, (present site of The Drug Store), was built in 1868 and
was occupied in succession by Dr. J. D. Nuchols, Dr. J. G. C. Garner, and Dr. Joseph
E. Hutchins.
• Benton’s first hotel was on the site of Matt Witt’s Store, having been moved from
Columbus in 1840. It was operated by Commodore White, J. Q. A. Lewis, William
Higgins, and last by J. L. and Ben McClary.
• Maggie’s Mill located near Springtown, erroneously believed by some to have
inspired the song “When You and I Were Young, Maggie.” (Original site is in
Canada.)
• Great Indian War Path crossed the river at Hiwassee Old Town and continued
southward to Bridgeport, Alabama.
• The Cookson’s Creek Baptist Church is the second oldest church in the county, with
the Ocoee Baptist Church, Benton, third.

MISSIONS at the oldest church in Polk County

 

Friendship Baptist Church located in present-day Delano is Polk County’s oldest church in continuous operation – 1826-2026!

The following accounts are recorded by Lynne McClary from the Polk County Chamber of Commerce.

Started just 7 years after the Indian removal in the Hiwassee Cession of 1819, Friendship was near what was then known as Columbus. In June 1826, 10 men and women met in Brother Wilkerson’s home north of Coe Cemetery to organize a church. An ordination service was held July 1826 with members from Eastannallee Church.

Until December 1826, services were in the Wilkerson and Funkhouser homes. At which time a simple log church was built across the road from the present building. A cornerstone still remains of the original building. In 1819, land north of the Hiwassee was ceded to the US by the Cherokee, while the land south of the river to the GA line was not given up until 1838, meaning Friendship was established in free territory 12 years before the rest of present-day Polk County was even US Territory.

A frame church was built in 1856 north of the current building. Raised soil marks that site today. Calvin Denton pastored there 40 years, but little is known about Friendship through the Civil War due to loss of records.

In the late 1800s to early 1900s the building was used as a school until the county could build one. A box dinner was held to raise money for a bell, used for both the school and church. This bell is the only remaining item from the school and it’s located in the belfry of the current church.

The current building was built in 1908, and Friendship’s 100th year was celebrated in 1926 with an all-day singing and history from JD Clemmer. During the celebration a group of Ku Klux Klan marched out of the woods in capes and hoods, went up one aisle, out the other door, and back into the woods, after which the celebration ended.

Friendship Church is an integral part of Polk County history, and future. There’s even a time capsule packed in 1976 scheduled be opened during 2026’s Homecoming.

In 1850 William Forest was licensed to be a Baptist minister ; he was ordained by the Friendship Baptist Church in Delano , Tennessee— where his father – in – law , Samuel Short , had been the first pastor– in 1857

*Some names are missing due to lost Church records. The information below came from a booklet titled” 150 Years Of Friendship”, by Terry Blair, Wanda Carter, Johnny Coe, and Deborah Williams. The booklet was handed out to to the congregation of Friendship at the July 4th Homecoming, a celebration of the 150th year, in 1976. Thanks to Connie Baumann for supplying this information!

Cup & Cross Ministries Shares the Love of Christ with Bulgarian Sunflower Seeds in Polk County, TN

by Kathryn Donev

Sunflowers are so much fun.  They are actually thousands of tiny flowers that bring joy in many ways. It’s neat to watch them follow the sun because of a trait called heliotropism.  Eating sunflower seeds can lower rates of cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. They are a good source of many vitamins and minerals that can support your immune system. And did you know that a sunflowers destroy contaminants of its surrounding soil, water and air?

Although sunflowers are Native to North America, Bulgaria is among the top 10 sunflower producing countries.  As in various places in Polk County, Bulgaria is famous for their golden fields. And believe it or not, you can find Bulgarian sunflower seeds in any Dollar General labeled with the Clover Valley brand.  When we were ministering together with Feeding God’s Lambs Summer Program at First Baptist Benton giving a presentation about the 6 Senses of Bulgaria, the kids even got to taste some.  Fun.

With a multisensory trip to Bulgaria, we shared how the Holy Spirit is our Sixth Sense to guide and direct us in life and found in everything we touch, see, hear, smell and even taste.  When we all come together, we can do great things, just as with the thousands of tiny flowers that come together to have the appearance of a unified flower.  Let us be a purifier of our environments and always be reminded to follow the SON.  Being consumed with the sixth sense of the Holy Spirit is good for the soul.

The Polk County TN Homeschool Network to Celebrate its Fourth Year of Connections

By Dr. Dony and Kathryn Donev, Cup & Cross Ministries – Ocoee, TN

The Polk County TN Homeschool Network was established in August of 2018 with the purpose to provide a network to help homeschool families in the Polk County, TN area stay connected.  At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, plans were in place to extend the Network’s reach and launch an e-social platform.  On August 13, 2020 its Facebook site was launch with a consecutive website PolkHomeschool.com in October of 2020.  This coming 2021-2022 school year the Network will celebrate its fourth year of connections.  Thank you to all who are making this community possible.  If you are a homeschool family in the Polk area wishing to connect reach out at www.PolkHomeschool.com.

Historic Trail of Tears Connects Polk Homeschool Families

Historic Trail of Tears Connects Polk Homeschool Families

by Dony & Kathryn Donev

During the past 10 years Polk County, TN has seen a shift in its demographics with an insurgence of families from New York, Florida, California and even Eastern Europe.  The latter location is perhaps overlooked not officially recorded having the most complex reasoning behind the numbers.  One explanation could be adoptions or perhaps another could be due to immigrants being attracted to Gateway Cities.  Such are the larger towns as Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Sanibel areas of Florida.  In California these would be Cerritos, South Gate, Long Beach or Sacramento.  And of course New York City provides the ultimate gateway. Therefore, these individuals are simply recorded as being from these Gateways.

Many of these families which have sought refuge, so to speak, in rural areas are ones that homeschool.  But this is not the reason for this article; for it is only natural that one leaving a busy urban area would naturally want to get away from all aspects of city life and create a more intimate learning experience for their children. Such is readily available through the natural amenities and safe seclusion along the original Trail of Tears which had many routes and roundup or dispersion points other than the three main roads which are thought of first. One of them just happens to be in Polk County, TN described below.

The Georgia Road or present day Federal Road was a route of the Trail of Tears with the Tellico Blockhouse as its starting point. The route ran from Niles Ferry on the Little Tennessee River near the present day U.S. Highway 411 Bridge, southward into Georgia. The road continued southward via the Federal Trail connecting to the North Old Tellico Highway past the present site of Coltharp School, intersected Tennessee Highway 68 and passed the site of the Nonaberg Church. East of Englewood, Tennessee it continued on the east side of McMinn Central High School and crossed Highway 411 near the railroad overpass. Along the west side of Etowah, the road continued near Cog Hill and the Hiwassee River near the mouth of Conasauga Creek where there was a ferry near the site of the John Hildebrand Mill. From the ferry on the Hiwassee River, the road ran through the site of the present courthouse in Benton, Tennessee. It continued south on Welcome Valley Road and then crossed the Ocoee River at the Hildebrand Landing. From this point, the road continued south and crossed U.S. Highway 64 where the Ocoee Church of God is currently located. Proceeding south near Old Fort, the route crossed U.S. Highway 411 and came to the Conasauga River at McNair Landing. Near the south end of the village of Tennga, Georgia stands a historic marker alongside Highway 411, which states the Old Federal Road was close to its path for the next twenty-five miles southward. This is some 15 miles from the historic Chief Vann Plantation. It would have been at this point in Tennga that the Trail of Tears would have taken a turn onto GA-2 passing the Praters Mill near Dalton Georgia to connect in Chattanooga.

The reason for this article is to make the connection which goes deeper than simply establishing the Hildebrand Crossing route with Welcome Valley and Old Federal roads as the connecting path of one of the last detachments of approximately 1,200 with the original Trail of Tears. A careful reader would quickly discern the obvious geosocial connection between the new homeschool families in the Polk area and the historical Trail of Tears, which was brought to light in a recent discovery in the Polk County TN Homeschool Network. Nearly a dozen of these families, which in the last decade made their journey to rural living in Polk County live nowhere else, but along the historic trail. Coincidence?  Perhaps.  Planned?  Doubtfully so because most were not aware of this information as this route of the Trail is not a popular one and as such has remained virtually enigmatic. Now, we are in a quest for the logic behind such happening as well as to see if there are other Polk Homeschoolers that happen to also live along this route.  If you have any contributing information to this ongoing project, we would love to hear from you.  Visit us at www.PolkHomeschool.com or reach out to admin@cupandcross.com.