The Mount Gilead Church at Lukfata was organized July 26, 1885, by a committee of the Presbytery of Choctaw, consisting of Rev. John Edwards, superintendent of Wheelock Academy, and Elder Charley Morris, a Choctaw. The members enrolled on this date were:
Elijah Butler and Amanda Butler, his wife; Elisha Butler and Vina Butler, his wife; Easter Butler, Francis Butler, Jane Butler, Francis Burris, Daniel Burris, Kate Burris, Primas Richards, Rhoda Butler, Nelson Butler and Adaline Butler.-14.
Elijah Butler and Elisha Butler, his son, and Primas Richards were elected and ordained as the first elders. On Jan. 29, 1896, Matthew Richards was ordained an elder.
This Church was called “Mount Gilead,” the home of the prophet Elijah, in honor of Elijah Butler, one of the first elders, who, having served a few years as one of the first elders of Saint Paul Church, conducted the first religious meetings among the colored people, that led to the organization of this Presbyterian Church at Lukfata.
Parson Charles W. Stewart held occasional services in the neighborhood of Lukfata, two or three years before the Church was organized in 1885, and then continued to be its monthly supply during the next five years.
In 1890 it was grouped with St. Paul Church at Eagletown and supplied by Rev. William G. Ogburn from that place. From 1895 to 1899 it was supplied by Rev. John H. Sleeper, who then moved to Frogville. From 1901 to 1903 it was served by Rev. Samuel Gladman, who then took charge of Bethany near Wheelock.
Rev. Thompson K. Bridges, after serving and organizing Ebenezer Church at Lehigh the previous year, located at Lukfata in the fall of 1903, and has been the local teacher and regular supply of the Church, since that date, a period of eleven years.
