Our church began in August of 1912 as a Missionary Baptist Church, in cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention, following a revival meeting held by Rev. J.H. Passons. Rev. Passons, along with Rev. R.B. Neel and Dr. A.A. Duncan, organized the South Greenville Baptist Church. Rev. R.B. Neel was called as Pastor. The church purchased the old Grace Presbyterian Church building in 1913, during the pastorate of Rev. W.J. Humphrey, and moved it to the corner of Gee and Division Streets. In 1915, the church called Rev. G.J. Raney as Pastor, who served for 3 years. Rev. G.A. Dale became the next Pastor in 1918, but only stayed about 1 year. Rev. J.A. Caraway became Pastor in 1919 and increased the membership.
In 1922, the church called Rev W.R. Earp as Pastor, and together they purchased a lot on the corner of Park and Bois d' Arc Streets in 1924, which is the present location of the church. This was the greatest move the church had made - it was a better location with a larger target area.
In April of 1927, the church called Rev. Joseph Pearce as Pastor. Under his leadership, the church name was changed from South Greenville Baptist Church to Park Street Baptist Church, the Sunday School was departmentalized, the B.Y.P.U. (Baptist Young People's Union) graded, the W.M.U. (Women's Missionary Union) divided into circles, a tithing plan adopted, the Brotherhood was organized and 569 new members were added. The sanctuary and educational buildings were constructed in 1936 under the pastoral leadership of Rev. C.A. Voyles. The educational building was composed of a basement and two stories. A ground breaking ceremony was held on April 30, 1940. Mrs. Valla Ayers was selected to shovel the first spadeful of dirt, because her group brought in the most money. Two years later, the first parsonage was purchased at 1109 Cornelia Street, under the pastoral care of Rev. John B. Davidson. In 1946, the educational building annex was built debt free with Rev. J.T. Bolding as Pastor. Three years later, Rev. C.H. Jones took over as Pastor. In 1951, while Rev. C.H. Hyatt was Pastor, a new parsonage was built at 3906 Johnson Street. A new sanctuary was built in 1955 under the Pastoral direction of Rev. Gwin T. Turner. Rev. Turner resigned in 1956 to serve a term with the Foreign Mission Board in Argentina.
During the 16 year tenure of Rev. B.J. Bell, whom our current library is named after, the church membership rapidly increased. New educational space was added, more property was purchased and a new parsonage was built at 2004 Park Street. The old sanctuary, which was being used for educational space, was consumed by fire in 1969. In 1970, the church purchased half a city block for future expansion. There were two homes on the property - the Harvey house, on the corner of Park and Gordon Streets, was used for the High School groups; the Ben Vaughn house was torn down. The Fry house at 2315 Park Street was privately owned, and was loaned to the church for the use of College and Career classes.
Many Pastors came along after Rev. B.J. Bell: Rev. David Kuykendall in 1973, Dr. Ernest C. Hinze, Jr. in 1976, Dr. Marvin Mosley in 1981, Rev. Dewey Davidson in 1986, Rev. Michael Wyatt in 1994, Rev. Tommy Weems in 1998 and our current Pastor, Rev. Johnny Hailes in 2002. Since the 1970's, the church has created an outreach ministry, a tape ministry, a new children's ministry, built a new sanctuary, choir room, sound room furnished with equipment, a prayer chapel, an office complex, added educational space and renovated the church nursery and Activities Building with other areas to be updated in the near future.
|
|
