ELDER D.W. HOLLINGSWORTH  

Elder Denver Hollingsworth was born on January 16, 1919 near Statesboro, Georgia to A. W. and Effie Hollingsworth. In 1941, he married Ms. Janie Martin and left the next year for the Army. He arrived in Europe in the D-day invasion and spent the remainder of the war there, rising to Staff Sergeant in the Quartermasters. He was present at the liberation of at least one of the concentration camps. After the war, he returned to the grocery business until his retirement. He and his wife had one adopted son, James. He was baptized at Upper Mill Creek Church near Statesboro in 1955 and soon began exercising. Emmaus Church of Claxton, Georgia called for his ordination and he was ordained February 15, 1957 and began to serve them as pastor, a position he held for 24 years. In 1983, Janie Hollingsworth passed away. He married Nina Mathis in 1992 and moved near Moultrie, Georgia where he currently lives.

During the course of his ministry he was pastor to Emmaus for 24 years, Ephesus (south of Statesboro) for 14 years, Mt. Carmel (near Milledgeville) for 3 years, Pleasant Grove (southwest Georgia), and Refuge (southwest Georgia) where he still serves. He is currently a member at Cat Creek Church near Valdosta where he also preaches. In the years since the death of his first wife, he has traveled extensively throughout Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Mississippi among the Primitive Baptists.