Immediately after returning to his home he immersed his wife, her sister and her husband. These “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers,” meeting every Lord’s Day in the house of Mr. Dasher. The little church grew and prospered, being occasionally visited by Mr. Dunning, who assisted in building it up by his teaching and exhortations. Some time after this, Mr. Dasher, accompanied by a number of the members of the church, moved into Lowndes County, and located where the city of Valdosta now stands. In this new field he continued the work of preaching the word and built up a congregation which met in his own residence. This was the beginning of the work in Valdosta and the region around about. It was many years after the baptism of Mr. Dasher before he knew that there were any others in any place contending for the “truth as is in Jesus,” as he and those associated with him were doing. CHAPTER IX. THE CHRISTIANS AND REFORMERS UNITE A new period has now dawned in the movement for the union of all Christians by the restoration of primitive Christianity. The Baptists had thrust from their fellowship those who had embraced it and they were forced into a separate existence. Every preacher among them was filled with a zeal to plant churches after the primitive order wherever they could get a large enough company together. The work spread principally from two centers, Ohio and Kentucky. From Ohio it was carried into New York and Pennsylvania; and westward into Michigan, northern Ohio, and Indiana, and Wisconsin. From Kentucky it was carried eastward and southward into Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Alabama; and westward into Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. The movement spread chiefly in a westward direction from Kentucky and Tennessee along the lines of emigration. Very often a sufficient number of emigrants to establish themselves into a congregation after the primitive order found themselves together in the same neighborhood and began at once to meet together for mutual edification and the spread of the truth.