History of First Baptist Church

Presented at the"Vision to Victory" Banquet

May 5, 2002

   The history of First Baptist Church, Summit, is rich.  Seeing God's vision for this community, eleven persons united to form Summit Baptist Church on January 19, 1862.  The church was re-named "First Baptist" in 1944.  Originally located at its present site, Judge James B. Quin deeded the land for its construction.  Quin was a native of South Carolina who came with his parents in 1818 at the age of eight, to Pike County, settling south of McComb.  He not only deeded the lot but also made a substantial cash contribution toward the building of the first church.  His son, Dr. Quin, became pastor of this church in 1933.  Meeting days were the first and third Sundays.   

   The first church records we have in our possession, other than the membership roll, are dated January 4, 1874.  On that date five cases were before the church for disciplinary action.  Members were charged with unchristian conduct, indifference to church relationship, profanity, lack of parental respect, intoxication, dancing, etc.  These were typical of the cases that came before the infant church.  At one time, 27 cases were before the church simultaneously.

   During its history, First Baptist Church has grown physically.  Its first building was erected in 1862.  Plans for building a brick house of worship, costing "not less than $5,000," began in September 1905.    In November 1906, the building committee estimated the building cost to be $9,400.  The following year the committee removed church furniture and used the Presbyterian church during the erection of the new church.  Construction of the second building, the brick building, began on February 15, 1907; the building was completed in December of that same year, with a contract price of $9,125.   After discovering that the church had never been dedicated, the congregation voted to dedicate the church on June 14, 1936, twenty-nine years after its completion.  In August 1940, initial plans began toward building a Sunday school annex with a building committee named in 1944 for the educational addition.  With its educational facility annexed in '46, the church voted to begin building a new sanctuary in 1950.  The new building was dedicated on December 16, 1951.  Since 1951, the church has added the John I. Hurst Christian Life Center, Clara Jones Adult Education Building, and various other properties surrounding its present facilities.  First Baptist Church has remained faithful in maintaining a house worthy of worshipping our Lord and Savior through several renovations and purchases during its history to meet its growing needs.  A fire in January 1984 damaged part of Ellis Hall and the sanctuary, which forced one renovation.  Worshippers met for worship in the Christian Life Center during the renovation process.

   Since its 1862 birth, the church has grown statistically.  Beginning with a membership of 11, church membership grew to 97 within two years.  In 1876, less than fifteen years after its birth, church membership had grown to 219.  Each year, the numbers continued to grow as God continued to bless this church.  In fact, dramatic changes have occurred within the past eighteen years.  Since 1984, Sunday school attendance has increased over 97%.  This church has seen a 25% increase in worship attendance since 1999.  Yearly additions to our church fellowship have increased from 41 in 1984 to 78 in 2001 and 48 so far this year.  The church budget has experienced a 146% increase since 1992, and the April 14^th Chimes reported a surplus of over $33 hundred for this year's budget.  The history of our church records 38 pastors, including Bro. Jerry.  Our Wednesday night prayer sheet currently lists 14 ministers from our church whom we pray for weekly.  Thus, this church's statistics are impressive.

Throughout its history, this church has created an interesting past:

§ The first reference to organization of women in the church was noted August1899, when they were requested to organize with their first work to be the building of a baptistry.

§ In November 1925, the church voted to hold a Thanksgiving service and invite other denominations to join in worship.  It is believed that this initiated the annual custom of interdenominational services at Thanksgiving, a practice that continues today.

§ Church services, initially held only twice a month, started weekly in 1944.  Now, we have two worship services each Sunday morning alone.

§ First Baptist Church once operated a self-sustaining kindergarten, closing it at the end of the 1981 school year.

   God has truly blessed First Baptist Church, Summit.  Although dates, facts, and statistics are vital to any organization, I knew that the history of this church was much deeper than what pencil and paper could record.  Not satisfied that I had adequately portrayed this church's history, I grabbed my dictionary, looked up the word history, and found that it had eight definitions.  Of these eight definitions, dates, facts, and statistics "fit" Definition #6--"an account of what has happened."   Definition #1, however, stated that history is "a story of information of important events that happened to a person or nation, usually with an explanation of causes and effects."  With this definition in mind, "a story of information that happened to a person," I reflected on my personal experiences and observations since coming here eighteen years ago.  This reflection created the history I know about First Baptist Church that is not recorded in pen and ink.  Through reflection, I discovered four historical truths about this church.

Historically, this church has created an atmosphere that encourages personal growth. 

I'm living proof.  My history with First Baptist began in June, 1983.   Coming from a Methodist church where I was very active as a child, youth, and young adult, I came to this church seeking this same environment for my children.  The young that once filled my home church had married and moved away, leaving the church with little new growth.  Quite frankly, I had no intentions of joining.  I didn't need to.  I was a Christian and God didn't care whether I was a Methodist or Baptist, or so I thought.  After eight years of faithful attendance, I joined because God wanted me to serve.  I didn't join to "belong," because this church had always made me feel as if I belonged.  That's part of its history.  I joined to serve.

§ So, I began working with preschoolers on Sunday nights, and through this experience, God showed me what He wanted me to do as a profession—teach. 

§ In January 1990, I enrolled at Southwest as a freshman with only 6 hours credit towards my major and I graduated from USM in August of 1994 with a Master's degree.  During these four years, this church supported and encouraged me.

§ Then, God placed me with 1^st graders in Sunday school—first, with Doug Moak and then with Debbie Spence.  Each Sunday, we learned from first graders.  Unless you have taught small children, you cannot fully appreciate how refreshing it is to watch as their small, young fingers flip through the pages of God's words locating the scripture so that they can read His Word for themselves.  And through preparing for the lessons, I read the same stories I heard so many times as a young child.  As I searched for the biblical truth in each story, I made new discoveries of my own.  For example, the little boy never shared his lunch.  As a small child and even as an adult teaching small children, I saw pictures of Jesus with the small boy and his lunch.  The titles or captions of the pictures said, "Boy Shares Lunch."  But, no where in John's gospel does it say that the boy gave part of his lunch to the disciples.  Instead, he gave it all.  And he gave it willingly, and he gave it believing that Jesus could take his small offering, bless it and multiply it, and he gave it trusting that Jesus would meet his every need.

§ And when my days of teaching ended, I became a student once again, where weekly lessons joined with worship services and personal quiet time have encouraged my personal growth and have taught me that victory is more than defeating an enemy or triumph in any effort.  You see, this has been my year for professional victories.  My yearbook publisher has recognized my staff and me with an honor that less than in 1 in 10 staffs receive, my peers voted me Outstanding Instructor, and a former student named me to Who’s Who Among Teachers in American Junior College.  As honored as I am, I know that these are earthy victories and that the only true victory is when I see my God face to face and He says “You done good.”  Although I teach English and I preach third person, consistent logical tense, and active voice, I won’t care if God uses second person, passive voice, wrong verbs, wrong adjectives, or wrong adverbs.  This church encourages personal growth.

Historically, this church encourages missions, service, and spiritual renewal.

§ I saw a church transform its facilities into a center for hurricane victims and send mission teams locally and to Colorado, World Changers, inner city Atlanta, and other places across America.

§ I saw this church provide opportunities for spiritual renewal through Centrifuge, Promise Keepers, and Women of Faith.

Historically, this church has been a house of prayer filled with members that show love, concern, and compassion for others.

§ In 1996, I saw a church body pray for a 21 year old that underwent three brain surgeries in five months.  Church members called or send cards to express their concern. 

§ And I saw a member of the deacon body drive to Panama City, Florida, because, and I quote, "I had to see for myself that she was okay.  Now that I've seen her smile, I can go home." 

§ And I saw a Sunday school class consisting of members older than this 21 year old welcome and embrace her as she healed physically and mentally.          

§ And I saw God use this young lady's experience to encourage others and to demonstrate His power, His glory, and His majesty.

I know because this young lady was my older daughter.

Last but not least, this church has historically been a house of worship and praise. 

Throughout its history, it has had excellent pastors, excellent preachers and teachers of His word, and excellent shepherds of His flock.  But, that was nothing new for me.  Even Methodist churches have good pastors.  It's the music.  Unless you grew up in a small, country church, you cannot begin to appreciate the music ministry at First Baptist Church.  Risen, Tuneful Tuesday, children and youth musicals, the preludes, offertories, praise choruses, special music, Bro. Charles, Bro Doug, the time Bro. Bradley spends selecting "just the right" blend of praise choruses and old favorites for worship, all the pianists and organists in the past…and now Jennifer and Cecelia.  I think about the endless hours Jennifer and Cecelia spend each week practicing just to play a total of 20 minutes or less and I liken it to the time spent in preparing Christmas dinner or the Thanksgiving feast only to have the family members devour each in less than 15 minutes. 

   Dates, facts, statistics—are they the history of First Baptist Church, Summit?  I don't think so.  Although they have their place, although they are essential to any institution's history, they cannot totally reflect the history of this church.  They don't convey the history I've seen or experienced at First Baptist Church these past eighteen years.  I do not believe that history recorded the Arise and Build-Catch the Vision campaign as an effort of this church body to increase numbers or improve statistics.  Rather, I maintain that history recorded the Arise and Build-Catch the Vision campaign as a sincere effort by this church body to create a facility to grow people.

   Although we now have a beautiful facility where we can worship and we have those wonderful wall screens that allow old eyes to see well and all eyes to focus on worship rather than a hymnal, was that God’s total vision for First Baptist Church – a building?  Have we achieved victory merely by building a new sanctuary or by paying off a debt?  We may think so, but these are only secondary aspects. 

   God’s vision was not just to build a sanctuary.  God didn’t need that.  His vision, to me, was to build a facility where people would come to accept His son as their personal Lord and Savior, grow to know Jesus in a very personal way, and actively follow His leadership so that at journey’s end His followers too can hear the words, “You done good.”  His vision, His victory.