In 1867, the Rev. Horace Leftwich, a former slave, founded the Elizabethton Colored Baptist Church. The next year, it was one of the five original churches that established the Watauga Baptist Association. In 1869, after joining the Bethel District Association, members changed the church's name to Phillippi Missionary Baptist Church. Until the May flood of 1901, church services were held in the County Courthouse on 'Cat Island'. After building a new facility in 1907, congregants moved in and rededicated the church building the next year. In addition to Leftwich, between 1867 and 1940 the Revs. William Jobe, George H. Phillips, and W.A.C. Breedlove, early prominent ministers, served the congregation.