The current assembly holds true to the founding doctrines and simple format of worship that began as Cave Springs Missionary Baptist Church in 1908.  The first assembly started as a "landmark baptist" assembly.   Click here for a scanned image view of the deed to the property of the current location in 1930.  At this time, the church was associated with the American Baptist Association.

These Baptists were called “Landmark Baptists” or deridingly “Landmarkers,” as they maintained that their doctrinal emphasis on SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH (baptism and Lord’s Supper or communion), and their DEFINITION OF THE ECCLESIA, served as 4 distinct “Landmarks” which has separated us from most all other denominations, including some Baptist denominations that have changed their beliefs on the ordinances and definition of the ekklesia (what is commonly called "church" in modern English).

Cave Springs had its beginning and roots in this, as the Landmarkers also were non-ecumenical Christian assemblies, and Cave Springs separated from a group of many various beliefs that was meeting in a nearby location.  Cave Springs has also been historically associated with the Baptist Missionary Association and local Landmark Baptist Missionary Association.

Missionary Baptists trace succession throughout the centuries, going back to Christ, by the presence of New Testament assemblies holding to the same doctrines in every century since Christ.  Jesus said "... the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.." and he meant this institutionally.  This means that in every century since Christ started the first one that ultimately resided in Jerusalem, there have been true assemblies holding to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Because the New Covenant institution Jesus Christ started was decentralized, wiping out the institution would be impossible, as a new church can begin "..where two or three are gathered in my name" as long as those two or three are born again believers with scriptural baptism. 

The Greek word for church in the New Testament was ekklesia and always meant a lawful, local assembly of people meeting certain qualifications to be there in standing membership.  In the Christian sense, only born again believers who have been immersed by an authoritative body and who are assembling qualify as "members".  This word was used in Matthew during the ministry of Christ, which shows "the church" as an institution started long before Catholicism and before the day of Pentecost which many hold was the beginning of this institution.

This type of authoratative succession, that traces modern Missionary Baptists back to the time of Christ and even to the seashores of Galilee where he called out his first disciples, has been documented by well known Baptist Historians like:

• J.M Carroll in his "Trail of Blood" documents all anabaptist groups down through the centuries by their blood, because such fundamental, self-authoritative congregations were hated by the State Churches and secular Governments.   See Wikipedia article here.  Click here for the detailed timeline he provided in his booklet which has sold millions upon millions of copies, or click here for a modernized interactive timeline.  This timeline shows the beginning of all mainstream denominations and how congregations holding to what modern day "Missionary Baptists" believe were the scripturally patterned assemblies of what Jesus started in the first century AD.   
  
  NOTE:  Southern Baptist Seminaries dismiss Dr. Carroll and have for years since the Convention changed Southern Baptist Doctrine to include "universalism" in their church definition.  They would later go on to teach, for example, that "Anabaptists" were heretical groups and not really good examples of "modern Baptists."  The Waldensians are also an example cited.  We believe these groups at certain periods were biblical and have many examples, but yes at some point like the Southern Baptist Convention, began to introduce distorted doctrine into their beliefs.  So, while Carroll may have made generalizations, at certain snapshots of time, these groups showed themselves to believe what the early Christians did. 
  
  
• John T. Christian and his Volume I and Volume II History of the Baptists.   These volumes are exhaustive.  Click here for Wikipedia article on John T. Christian. 
  
  NOTE: We do not always endorse the entire website of external links, but link because the particular resource we are citing is there.
  
  
• Dr. I.K. Cross - Click here for good summary of his view of Baptist succession.  Also in his publication "Battle for Baptist History," Dr. Cross shows how the very history of Baptists is under attack and has been re-written.  The Landmark movement was very much an effort to keep Baptist history from being re-written.  The Southern Baptist Convention is the greatest modern example of a denomination of Baptists moving away from the fundamental Baptist teaching of the ecclesia definition.   Even J.M. Carroll and John T. Christian were Southern Baptists but their works were rejected by such Baptists after they changed fundamental views of Baptist History at a denominational level.
  
• Dr. John Penn - Dr. Penn visited the valleys of Piedmont, fields with stone markers showing when some of these groups joined the Protestant movement and left sound doctrine and the New England states to confirm core contexts in these histories and the pastor of Cave Springs MBC was blessed to be his student.  He showed us many proofs and slides in his church history classes over a two year period, that readily identified the Lord's true New Testament assemblies surviving down through the ages.  See the life's work (http://baptistlamp.org/) of Bro. Penn here. 
  
  
• Click here for Missionary Baptist history in Missouri.
  
  
• Click here for an accurate view of the Landmark movement.  We only recognize this as a part of our history as it was not an attempt to create a new denomination of Baptists, but to preserve truths held by that long succession of assemblies. 

Because of these historical convinctions and truths, we do not hold to the view that Baptists are protestants, because their history predates the Protestant Reformation and the beginning of the Catholic Church in the 4th century AD.  Click here for a good history of why we do not view ourselves as protestants, but rather a New Testament assembly connected to long history of scriptural congregations going back to the time of Christ.

For more information on our distinction doctrines, click here.