HISTORY

The Early Years

            It was a struggle during the early years to get a new congregation organized and secure a building to worship the Lord freely without barriers, but Shorter Chapel survived. It grew by leaps and bounds. Each pastor who was assigned to the church during the developmental era and the officers were dedicated to improving the church.

            On May 17, 1877, Mr. T.W. Blanton transferred and conveyed a plot of land in trust unto the Board of Trustee of Shorter Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church at Tullahoma, Tennessee to be used for a place of worship. The Board of Trustee consisted of the following men: Thomas Hickerson, Patrick Duff, Lewis Davidson, Henry Robb, Elbert Mosley and George Oldham. They worked hard to keep the church on target.

            In 1911, Rev. N.B. Morton was assigned to Shorter and his goal was to build a new church. The trustees at the time were John Waggoner, Ellis Holmes, Bob Edmondson, John Holman, Jerry Scott, James Miller and Frank Turk. An unfortunate situation occurred during a joyful time; the church was destroyed by fire. However, the leaders of the church and a new pastor, Reverend Stokes were determined to rebuild and they did.

Changes Through Growth

            During a critical period in the history of our country and local communities in 1945, Rev. E.T. Bone became the new pastor of Shorter Chapel. We were coming to the close of World War II and some young men were returning home with mixed emotions wondering what would be their next step in the future. Rev. Bone gave hope. He taught well, preached the gospel from his heart and led many to Christ. He guided two young men into the ministry. They were Rev. Lemuel Darrel and Rev. James Hendon. Hendon was a steward and sang in the choir while Darrel was a good Church School participant. The following leaders served under Rev. Bone as stewards: Ben McKee, Tennyson Holmes, John Tilford, Emmett Terry, Oscar Shelton, John Williams, James Hendon, and Mary Martin. The trustees were Malchig Williams, Ed Curtis, Mary Martin, Leno Arlumett, R.M. Martin, J.D. Whitaker, and Oscar Shelton. Rev. Bone served ten years as a great pastor for Shorter Chapel.

            Between 1956 and 1965 past records were not made available to show chronological information on the exact time that Rev. W.S. Slate, Rev. Peyton Sims, and Rev. Wood were assigned to Shorter Chapel. We do know that Rev. C.B. Beamon was pastor from 1965 to 1967 followed by Rev. W.M. Hendon.

The Progressive Era

            Rev. Hendon guided the officers and members through an agreement with Tullahoma Community Urban Development in December 1972. A very anxious group of faithful women organized the first Women’s Day Observance Program to kick off the Building Fund “seed money” efforts. It was a success and inspired the members to keep the spirit of unity to remold the church and pay the notes. The work was completed March 1974 and dedicated May 1977 on the 100th anniversary of the church. Bishop Howard T. Primm and Presiding Elder A.C. Griffin led the dedication services.

            Under the leadership of Rev. Hendon, the senior choir became active in special musicals with a home town pianist Larry Chrisman. The Young People Department became very active and Sunday School attendance grew. Both departments began to attend conventions and Youth Night at Annual Conferences. Rev. Hendon was pastor of Shorter Chapel around 15 years.

            Several pastors came after Rev. Hendon for short periods: Reverends Edwin O’Neal, Seals, Robert Powell, Olive Graves, Jerry Wilson, and Henry Croom. Rev. Chris Grizzard was assigned during the middle of the Conference year due to the unexpected illness of Pastor Croom. He remained pastor for fifteen years. The fellowship hall was completed and dedicated by Bishop Vernon Byrd and in 1994, Shorter hosted East Tennessee Annual Conference. We knew we were on the battlefield for the Lord when we finished the conference with commendations. We were small in numbers, but we worked very hard.

            During the period of Pastor Grizzard’s tenure, more members participated in conference and direct activities. The first delegate to the General was elected and several Conference positions were filled with Shorter lay members and has continued to this day.

The following list shows activities that lay people participated in over the past three decades:

Area Missionary President-Mary Hickerson, Emma Terry

Area YPD Director- Jessie Campbell, Vorketta Braston

Conference Lay Officers (Treasurer) - Clifton Campbell

Conference Director of Lay Activities- Jessie Campbell

2nd Vice President of Conference Lay and District Lay 1st. 2nd, and 3rd Vice President, Jessie  Campbell

Worship Leader- Mary Hickerson

Conference YPD Officers (Vice President) - Lekeitha Sheffield

Conference YPD President- Vincent Peppers

Conference YPD Asst. Director, Conference and District WMS Scholarship Commissioner, Jessie Campbell,

General Conference delegates have been elected every Quadrennial since1996.

Rev. Fred Blackwell, Jr continued to lead the church to higher heights in activities and the spirit of Christ by example. He was named East TN Lay Pastor of the Year twice within his tenure as a pastor. He was highly recognized for his great Bible Study teaching skills, preaching and singing.

Under his leadership Shorter hosted the Sunday School Convention twice and East TN Annual Conference in 2014.

The current pastor, Reverend Coleman March, Jr. has not wasted any time putting fort great efforts to expand the services of Shorter Chapel and serve the community. He achieved Pastor of the year in 2018 by the East Tennessee Conference Lay Organization for his outstanding services.

Shorter Chapel hosted the East TN Annual  Conference September 2021 virtually under the leadership of the new Bishop, the Right Reverend E. Henning Byfield