Theophilus Brown Larimore established the Mars Hill Academy in Lauderdale County, Alabama, in 1871. This was the beginning of a new era. Larimore and “his boys” traveled all over the county to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ that was first preached in Jerusalem on the Jewish Pentecost after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth, which was in AD 33.
The Academy strengthened churches of Christ that were struggling for survival after the War Between the States and established many new congregations. The Salem church of Christ meets in one of the areas greatly influenced by the sound teaching of the Mars Hill preachers. Through the years since the early 1900s, the teaching of gospel preachers such as Will Behel, Charles Coil, Frank Fox, Richard Taylor, John Pigg, and Aaron McDonald has kept the church faithfully serving God. The message has not changed from that which the apostle Peter preached on the day the Lord’s kingdom began on earth. Elders like Charlie Coats, Robert Medley, Algie Haygood, Jesse Saxton, Larimore Clark, Sonny Pollock, and Morgan Hester
made certain of that.
The Salem church is a rural congregation of the Lord’s church that meets out in the country just about ten miles north of downtown Florence, Alabama. Her location in the Zip City community enables the church to assemble before God and worship Him peacefully there as well as show Christ to the area through feeding and helping the needy, physically and spiritually. Many of the members have studied and become proficient in sign language so the deaf will also be fed. However, her influence is worldwide with full-time missionaries in Panama, literature distribution in Thailand, and involvement in many other foreign evangelistic efforts.
We worship the God of the Bible and teach the simple New Testament gospel. Our families are whole and healthy with parents, grandparents, and children who love the Lord and each other.