Bob Childress Explained

Robert "Bob" Walter Childress (January 19, 1889[1] or January 19, 1890[2] – January 16, 1956)[1] was a Presbyterian minister who was born in "The Hollow," now Ararat, Virginia, and grew up surrounded by the Primitive Baptist tradition. He became known throughout the Southern Appalachian region for his work to transform the region's culture of violence and promote basic education. He was also the founder of the famous "Rock Churches" of Floyd, Patrick and Carroll counties in Virginia.[3]

Early life

As a young man Childress witnessed and was caught up in the violence, alcoholism and ignorance of his impoverished and then isolated Buffalo Mountain community. He claimed that his earliest memory was of his mother nursing his illnesses by holding a whisky-soaked rag to his mouth.[4] Unable to attend school for much of his childhood he often resorted to violence and began drinking heavily. But upon witnessing a massacre at a courthouse, he vowed to quit drinking and entered law enforcement. Eventually he got married and had children. After a chance visit to a Presbyterian church, he began attending regularly and soon realized that he wanted to become a minister. He returned to high school at the age of 30 in the same one-room school as his 6-year-old son.[5]

Ministry

After getting a high school diploma while studying alongside his son in a one room classroom, Childress enlisted the help of his local minister to gain entry into the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia and was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1926.[3] [6] He soon became known for his very warm and personal preaching style and was in demand by established churches throughout Virginia and the Eastern United States. His desire however was to return to his Appalachian community to help eradicate the violence and ignorance that was so pervasive. Through his 30 years of ministry he built and led congregations at six famous “Rock Churches” of which five of remain in the towns of Meadows of Dan, Bluemont, Buffalo Mountain, Slate Mountain, Dinwiddie and Willis.[4] All but the Willis church remain in use by Presbyterian congregations.[3] [7] In 2007, the Churches were listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Reverend Robert Childress Presbyterian Churches Multiple Property Document (MPD).[2] [8]

His congregations did much to bring education and economic development to the Buffalo Mountain area of Floyd County, Virginia.[9]

In the 1950s Childress was leading services in fourteen churches a week and traveling tens of thousands of miles a year. The Synod of Virginia noted that “Only eternity will tell the tremendous good accomplished in this unusual diocese.”[5] Childress died of a heart attack in Roanoke in 1956 at the age of 67.[10]

His life was chronicled in a book titled The Man Who Moved a Mountain (Richard C. Davids, 1970). His unfinished autobiography, and biographies of his eight children are published in Childress Cousins: From the Hills and Hollows of Southern Virginia [11]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Robert Walter Childress (1889–1956). Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Library of Virginia. Morrell. Amanda. 2006. 15 December 2022.
  2. Web site: National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form: Reverend Robert Childress Presbyterian Rock Churches, #017-5032. 12 February 2007. 15 December 2022. Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
  3. Web site: Celebrated rock churches earn new honor - Newrivervalley.com . www.roanoke.com . 22 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080412145035/http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/wb/xp-94728 . 12 April 2008 . dead.
  4. Web site: Rock church - Roanoke.com . 2009-12-09 . dead . https://archive.today/20120908023048/http://www.roanoke.com/extra/wb/196542 . 2012-09-08 .
  5. Web site: Bob Childress Who Tamed the Buffalo. Christianity.com. 5 February 2016.
  6. Book: Patrick County: Images of America . Thomas D. Perry . 94 . Arcadia Publishing. 2007. 978-0-7385-5297-2.
  7. Web site: Rock church - Roanoke.com . www.roanoke.com . 22 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110616104452/http://www.roanoke.com/extra/196542 . 16 June 2011 . dead.
  8. Web site: 017-5032 Reverend Robert Childress Presbyterian Rock Churches MPD. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. 3 August 2021. 15 December 2022.
  9. The Man Who Moved a Mountain by Richard Davids, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, First Printing 1970
  10. Web site: Morell . Amanda . Dictionary of Virginia Biography - Robert Walter Childress (19 January 1889-16 January 1956) Biography . Library of Virginia . 1 July 2024.
  11. Book: Vestal . Katherine R. . Childress Cousins: From the Hills and Hollows of Southern Virginia . July 16, 2022 . Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp . 979-8839269927 .