By By Chuck Bodiford, Publisher
Sunday, March 21, the Greater Mount Triumph Missionary Baptist Church will celebrate is 117th birthday. The church located on Carver Avenue, has a history that dates back actually before the city of Atmore was established. The church was founded in 1887 when a band of worshippers, who had been meeting in different homes, decided to build a church on what is now North Main Street in the town of William Station, Al. The church was known as Log Hut Missionary Baptist Church. Two years later the congregation changed the name to First Missionary Baptist Church. The church would change its name twice more, the first of these changes in 1903 when it was named Mount Triumph Missionary Baptist Church and then again in 1936 when it was changed to Greater Mount Triumph Baptist Church.
During these 117 years the church has been served by 15 pastors with the Reverend Willie Hawthorne as the current pastor. Reverend Hawthorne was installed as pastor on June 1, 2003. All of the church's pastors in their special way, made great contributions to the community, but none were more memorable than Reverend W. A. Jones who served for 39 years and Dr. A.L. Durant who served for 34 years according to material submitted by the church. Reverend Hawthorne said, "Being a pastor for 34 years, I found it an honor and privilege to serve under Dr. Durant. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience working under him as Youth Minister."
As the church approaches this milestone two questions come to mind, how did the church sustain its longevity and what is in the future for Greater Mount Triumph Missionary Baptist Church? "Our faith in God, our congregation and pastors that cared for the church and had a vision for wanting to see the church grow and continue are only a few things that brought to where we are today," said Reverend Hawthorne. Reverend Hawthorne addressed the future of the church sharing two projects that the church would like to accomplish. "Our church has always been a church that reaches out to help the people in our community. Two of our future goals are to add an assisted living center and to establish a day care center. Our members believe that these two centers will be a great help to people in our city and our community. These centers will allow us to provide services for families with pre-school age children and for families with senior citizens who need health related services. While the centers are providing services for the children and senior citizens; other family members will be able to continue working while their loved ones are being properly cared for."
The church asks that you come and help celebrate their anniversary on Wednesday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. and on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Each night will feature a different pastor speaking. On Wednesday night the Reverend A.T. Days, pastor of Gaines Chapel AME will speak. Thursday night's speaker will be the Rev Alphonso Williams, pastor of Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church. Rev Harold Askew, pastor of New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church will speak on Friday night. The church is happy to announce that former pastor Dr. A.L. Durant of Greater Mt Triumph and present pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist church in Pensacola will speak Sunday afternoon at 3 P.M
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