North East Church exists to Navigate people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, Equip people with Scripture, and Commission people to make disciples.
North East Church is located in the heart of the Northeast Community just a few miles east of Wallace, NC. Many residents that call Northeast home are members of the congregation. North East Church has been located at 129 Hanchey Road since 1909 and has been an active congregation since 1898.
The original church members met in a building just west of Cavenaugh Cemetery off of Highway 41. The small congregation worshiped together and grew until it became organized in 1898 under the guidance of Reverend J Carr and Reverend OB Garriss of Watha.
In 1902 Mr. and Mrs. John William Hanchey donated a small track of land at 129 Hanchey Road and an A frame wooden structure for the church to meet in. In 1949, a new red brick sanctuary, complete with choir loft and basement was built. The basement housed the education department.
In 1959 under the leadership of Revered J.E. Andrews, the congregation became a part of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist denomination headquarter in Dunn, NC. This was an amalgamation between the Cape Fear Free Will Baptist, Wilmington Free Will Baptist, and New River Free Will Baptist churches.
In 1963, a baptistery and two story educational department was added to the rear of the structure giving the building a tee shape.
Through the years the congregation’s faith has been exercised. In March of 1967 tragedy struck and the entire facility was engulfed and destroyed by fire. The congregation called the Northeast Community Building home as they rebuilt. On March 3, 1968 Reverend Herbert Carter, General Superintendent of the Pentecostal Freewill Baptist denomination delivered the dedication message in the newly rebuilt church.
In 1983, approximately a half of an acre of land directly behind the existing building was donated to the church. In July of that year under the leadership of Reverend Elbert Hollowell, a fellowship hall was built behind the educational department with a porch and driveway connecting the two buildings. The fellowship hall was first used at Harvest Day the same year.
Then in 1999, Hurricane Floyd brought a destructive flood to the facility and the community. With flood waters in the sanctuary and to the eves of the fellowship hall, much prayer and united work forces were needed. God provided and within a year the facilities were repaired with the donated labor and money of many area churches, businesses, individuals, and church members. The church had the exact same amount of money in it’s building fund after the rebuild as it did before the flood!
In 2005, the congregation became incorporated
From 2006 to 2018, three additional tropical systems dropped heavy amounts of rain that caused various levels of flooding. In 2006, Hurricane Ernesto caused flooding in the fellowship hall. During the 2016 hurricane season, Hurricane Matthew caused severe flooding in the fellowship hall and the downstairs class rooms, but the sanctuary and upstairs classrooms were spared. The congregation met for several weeks at the Pink Supper House while the building was repaired from the damage.
In 2018 Hurricane Florence surprised everyone. In spite of river levels being extremely low, high water level records were broken for several local rivers. Water flooded the fellowship hall, downstairs classrooms, the sanctuary, and kissed the floorboards of the upstairs classrooms. 85% of the congregation had their homes flooded to some extent.
After the damage caused by flooding over the years, the congregation has decided it is time to move due to the continued effort and resources required to continue to rebuild the current structures after each flood. God continued to provide for the congregation by allowing them to purchase land outside of the flood zone directly on Highway 41.
Ground was broken at the new facility and as of February 2022, walls were being stood in place. The new facility located at 4910 S NC 41 Highway will be built in two phases. Phase 1 consists of the Fellowship Hall and classrooms. Construction of this phase was completed in November of 2023. We are currently finalizing plans for Phase 2 – Sanctuary.