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FROM THE BIOGRAPHCAL HISTORY OF PRIMITIVE OR OLD SCHOOL BAPTIST MINISTERS BY DAVID MONTGOMERY AND MARK GREEN:
ELDER PAT BYRD
WRITTEN BY LYNN PYLES BRUCE: Patrick Henry "Pat" Byrd of Twin City, Georgia will always be one of the most quoted ministers among all who knew him. He is remembered for his quick wit, his ability to condense years of wisdom into a short proverb, his broad scope and deep insight in the scriptures. Elder Sonny Pyles often refers to him as "the greatest systematic theologian I ever knew among the Primitive Baptists." At age 58, Elder Byrd married Miss Bossie Cowart, a spinster schoolteacher who is also vividly remembered as a faithful minister's wife and a true Southern lady given to hospitality. He was mentally sharp and spiritually profound to the time of his death at past ninety years of age, in 1976. Elder Byrd was a great influence on several ministers who still serve in the 21st Century.
WRITTEN BY ELDER MANNING TEMPLES IN “GOSPEL APPEAL:” Brother "Pat," as he was affectionately known by the host of church brothers and sisters who knew him, experienced a call to preach the gospel at an early age. He had been reared in a Methodist family, and preached about a year for the Methodist. However, after being enlightened to the doctrine of the depravity of man and the doctrine of sovereign grace he felt he could no longer remain with those who preached a universal atonement and the free will of man. He accordingly united with Hebron Primitive Baptist Church in November 1906. In June of 1908 he left Hebron and went to Baptist Rest Church of the Progressive Primitive Baptists in Twin City, Ga. He was ordained to the ministry at Baptist Rest Church on May 22, 1909. He remained with the progressive order until the year 1916, when he returned to Hebron Church, and was subsequently ordained to the ministry there on October 21, 1916. In September 1920, he moved his membership to Old Canoochee Church, where it remained until November of 1941, at which time he moved it to the Vidalia Church. In 1945 he moved his membership back to Old Canoochee, where it remained until the time of his death. He served as Pastor to many churches in southeast and central Georgia during the 66 years he preached for the Primitive Baptists. He also traveled extensively in the South, Midwest, and Eastern sections of the country, and was highly esteemed wherever he went. |
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