A Tale of Two Churches
The story of the Jonesboro Church Wars
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Part 1: The War for First Baptist Church
In 1930, First Baptist Church invited a man named Joe ‘J.J.’ Jeffers, who was an ordained baptist minister turned actor-comedian turned traveling evangelist, to preach at a series of tent revival meetings. His sermons gained quite a bit of popularity, and when FBC’s principal pastor resigned, a group of churchgoers elected Jeffers to take his place. Later on, the rest of the congregation claimed they had not been represented in the vote, and when they revoted, they elected a man named Father Dow Heard. When Jeffers heard that Heard had been elected, he took a leave of absence, and left the town to continue his ministry elsewhere. However, this would not be the last time Jonesboro would hear from him…
In 1931, Jeffers returned to Jonesboro and began to continue his tent revival meetings. In his meetings, he claimed that the second coming of Jesus Christ would occur in the May of 1932. He also claimed that Pastor Heard and the Mayor of Jonesboro, Herbert Bosler, of conducting immoral activity. Tensions continued to rise as Jeffers levied insults and libel against Heard and Bosler, and Heard in turn rebuked him and his teachings to his own congregation. As the two continued to ramp up aggression against each other, tensions would continue to rise, until the finally boiled over.
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On September 9th, a brawl broke out in the First Baptist church ground between followers of Jeffers and followers of Heard. The police decided that George Cox Jr, a Jeffers follower, was the aggressor, and was to be tried the next day. On the day of the trial, Jeffers led a group of his supporters to the courthouse to protest Cox’s arrest. During a prayer at the protest, Jeffers asked God to “strike the mayor dead”. Jeffers supporters also attacked Mayor Bosler and the police chief W. C. Craige.
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The mayor and a small force of policemen barricaded themselves inside the courthouse and telephoned the Governor, Harvey Parnell, about the rioting. The governor ordered state troops residing at Arkansas State College along with other troops stationed around the state to occupy Craighead County. The occupation also included the use of military observation plane. The troops stationed themselves throughout the town and Jeffers’ tent, which had held crowds as large as 5,000 people, which made up over half the town
By September 14, the troops were withdrawn. Two days later on September 16, a tear-gas bomb was detonated outside Jeffers’ tent, injuring four church goers. Tensions continued to rise when 35 of Jeffers’ followers were expelled from the First Baptist Church. On October 25, Jeffers’ revival tent was burned to the ground. Heard supporters claimed that the attacks were a false flag operation created by Jeffers to slander them and the gain support of any neutral factions. Jeffers maintained that the attacks against him and his congregation were headed by Pastor Heard and that the police would not assist them or investigate the crimes.
Part 2: The War for Jonesboro Baptist Church
Jeffers planned to establish a new tabernacle (type of mobile church) called Jonesboro Baptist Church. The tabernacle was built at Matthews and Cobb Street, and the congregation continued to meet there. Shortly after the church was built, Jeffers left and hired a Pastor named Dale Crowley to run the church in his absence until he returned. After 11 months, Jeffers returned to the church but he had changed many of his ideas on religion and preaching. Jeffers and Crowley often fought over control of the church and theology. The church split into two factions (one led by Jeffers, the other by Crowley) and often held services at the same time. During these simultaneous sermons, the choirs and sermons often attempted to drown each other out.
On August 14, 1933 a brawl broke out at Jonesboro Baptist Church, which included fistfights and even men brandishing shotguns and threatening each other with them, although luckily no shots were fired before the scuffle was broken up. To prevent further conflict Jeffers and Crowley decided to bring the dispute to the district court. On October 9, the court ruled in Crowley’s favor and awarded him the church. Jeffers furiously objected, but to no avail, as the court of appeals would not accept his pleas for a retrial.
The following day, Crowley and his bodyguard L. H. Kayes went to claim the tabernacle. On the way there, they got into a shootout with J. W. McMurdo, a janitor and hitman hired by Jeffers to assassinate Crowley. Crowley was unharmed, although Kayes was injured. McMurdo was shot twice in the leg and once in the abdomen, and he died two days later. Crowley was arrested and at the hearing on October 14 and claimed he acted in self-defence. On October 17, an unknown assailant attempted to assassinate Crowley at Craighead County jail by putting his machine gun through the bars and pulling the trigger. Crowley was unharmed. On January 3, 1934 Crowley's trial began in Piggot Clay County after a change of venue due to the remaining tensions at Craighead County. Crowley was acquitted of murder charges and set free.