Bethel Baptist church was formed on June 29th, 1829 near the Warm Springs and Psalmond roads near Columbus, Georgia. Services were held once or twice a month using the services of part time pastors. Its original name was the Baptist Church of Jesus Christ, Muscogee county, known by the name Bethel. By 1867 there were 102 white members and 74 black members. About 1870 the pastor, C. C. Willis, gave members who were former slaves a parcel of land on which to build their own church. This church, Locust Hill Missionary Baptist Church, still stands, located about 2 miles east of Bethel on Warm Springs Road. In 1947 Bethel Baptist called its first full-time minister, the Reverend Homer Fowler.