Liberty United Methodist Church & Liberty Hill/Liberty Downs Historical Event, October 5, 2008

2008 marks the 200th anniversary of the Liberty Hill Conference and of Liberty United Methodist Church

200+ Year Liberty Church Memorial Service
11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m., October 5, 2008
Liberty United Methodist Church
9587 Liberty Church Road,
Brentwood, TN 37027
(615) 373-4117
http://www.libertymethodist.com/

Liberty Hill Shrine 200 Year Ceremony
12:30 p.m. -3:30 p.m., October 5, 2008
Liberty Hill Vineyard-Liberty Hill Shrine
http://www.libertyhillvineyard.com/
the residence of Fred and Carol Mindermann in Liberty Downs Subdivision http://www.libertydowns.com/
9401 Glen Ridge Drive
Brentwood, TN 37027

And here is the history being celebrated:

Liberty United Methodist Church Congregation planting Oak Tree Spring 2008

In 1786, Mr. Green Hill acquired land which is the current Liberty Downs Subdivision in Brentwood, TN through Revolutionary War land grants he was awarded and that he purchased from another soldier (Randolph Humphries). The Revolutionary Veterans were paid land grants versus cash after their service in the American Revolutionary War. He moved his family from Louisburg, North Carolina in 1799 and named his new home “Liberty Hill” after his home in North Carolina. His family had to stay in the safety of Fort Nashboro (Nashville) until his home was completed.

Easter Sunrise Service at Liberty Hill

Early in his life, he dedicated himself to two causes: Colonial independence and Methodism. He served in the North Carolina Militia as a Major then later as an Army chaplain. He is credited while serving as the State Treasurer of the Halifax District in NC for saving the state treasury from the advancing British Army led by Cornwallis. As a lay preacher, Green Hill was instrumental in the spread of Methodism in North Carolina and Tennessee. His home Liberty Hill in Louisburg, NC was the scene of the first Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in America in 1785.

Green Hill brought the Methodist Church to Middle Tennessee and held the first services in his Liberty Hill log home in 1799. At that time the Methodist-Episcopal Church was an American Revolutionary version of John Wesley’s English church but since the Americans wanted little to nothing to do with England it was based on American ideals of liberty and spirit for freedom resting on the foundation of the Holy Bible. That's why it’s also called Liberty Hill.

In 1807 the Liberty Methodist-Episcopal Church was officially created and most services were held on Liberty Hill. According to the property deed on record, August 18, 1837, one acre was donated by Mr. John Hamer to the church trustees (Primm, Fly, Hamer, Brown) by the waters of Millcreek (the current Bonbrook neighborhood on Liberty Church Road off Concord Road) for the sole purpose of erecting a place of worship.

Liberty Hill Log Home made from local logs dating back to 1829

After 200 years Liberty Church is still holding weekly Sunday services at 11 a.m., performing community outreach programs like the Scouting Teen Venture Crew (Liberty Crew 9 http://www.crew9.com/ ) and children’s ministry. There is live music and worship every week with pot luck once a month following service and communion the first Sunday of each month. Visitors are always welcome to this historic living worship site that is filled with the Holy Spirit every day. Recently an outdoor meditation area was created by a member Boy Scout for his Eagle Project and is open anytime for anyone to find a peaceful place to reflect. Another Liberty Crew 9 Scout is currently doing a historical video documentary on the Liberty which should be completed fall 2008.

One of the brightest hours of the Liberty Church was in October 1808 when Green Hill and the Liberty Church entertained the ninth session of the Western Conference of the Methodist Church right in Liberty Downs. A week long Camp Vigil was held with prayer meetings, revivals and people accepting Jesus Christ. It was called "The Awakening." People were said to be filled with the Holy Spirit dancing and singing in joy. This conference was presided over by Bishops McKendree and Asbury and was the first annual conference held west of the Alleghenies.

Early Methodist Itinerant preacher Lorenzo Dow mentioned in his journal attending the Liberty Church in 1804 on his way from Ohio to Natchez, Mississippi. He said:

“Camp meeting commenced at Liberty Hill; here I saw people filled with the Holy Spirit. Some danced and jerked; a strange exercise indeed; however, it is involuntary, yet requires consent of the will, i.e. the people are taken jerking irresistibly, and if they strive to resist it, it worries them much, yet is attended with no bodily pain, and those who are exercised to dance, (which in the pious seems an antidote to the jerks) if they resist, it brings sadness and baroness over the mind; but when they yield to it they feel happy. Although it is a great cross; there is a heavenly smile and solemnity on the countenance, which carries a great conviction to the minds of beholders; their eyes when dancing seem to be fixed upwards as if upon an invisible object, and they are lost to all below."

Green Hill, his family and others are buried in a family cemetery on Liberty Hill and on June 25, 1960, it was given by Green Hill’s 58 descendents to the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church and was accepted as a Methodist Shrine. The Mindermann Family, currently living on the property, maintains the shrine-cemetery. Their log home made from local logs dating back to 1829 rests next to the shrine. The Mindermann family and Liberty Church hold annual Easter Sunrise Services with worship and music including a bag pipe player & ministry.

To honor this 200 Year Event, Liberty United Methodist Church, Liberty Downs Subdivision and the Mindermann Family will host a day of celebration starting with a one hour service at Liberty United Methodist Church -- 9587 Liberty Church Road, Brentwood, TN 37027; phone (615) 373-4117; web-site http://www.libertymethodist.com/. The service will be held at 11:00 a.m. October 5th.

Then a memorial ceremony will start at 12:30 on Liberty Hill Vineyard-Shrine Cemetery http://www.libertyhillvineyard.com/ the residence of Fred and Carol Mindermann in Liberty Downs, 9401 Glen Ridge Drive, Brentwood, TN 37027.

Food, speakers, cemetery tours, music and activities will be done. Dignitaries from the military, scouts, churches, local government and others will be invited. We have and are looking for donations for food, tents, tables, music, logistics etc so if you want to help please contact Fred Mindermann, fred@mindermann.org for more information or his cell 615-300-7723. All are welcome.