Middle Run Baptist Church
What is said to be the oldest church organization in Greene county is the Middle Run Baptist church in Sugarcreek township, the church being located in section 35, not far from the Warren county line. The first house of worship erected on that site was a little log house which was built in 1799 by those of the very earliest settlers of that neighborhood who held to the Baptist faith. In 1832 that primitive log church was supplanted by a brick church building, which served the purposes of the congregation until in 1852, when it was torn down and a more commodious and convenient building of frame was erected. It is said that the chief distinction of these early Middle Run Baptists differentiating them from other Baptists was their belief in what is known as "predestination," hence the name by which they came to be called, Predestinarian Baptists. The first minister of the Middle Run church was the pioneer preacher, John Clark, who was followed by Lemuel Cotterill. Following Cotterill came the Rev. Hezekiah Stites, who continued to serve the congregation as pastor for the remarkable tenure of forty years and whose influence for good in that community was marked in many enduring ways. Later the Reverends Read and Littleton served as pastors.
From History of Greene County Ohio..., by M. A. Broadstone, Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, 1918