It was on October 11, 1959 that Mount Vernon Baptist Church was born.
A small group of Christians actually hatched plans for the church in March of 1956. They sought the help of Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, they reached out to other Christians in the area of Mount Vernon Highway and Powers Ferry Road, and they prayed . In July of 1956 they purchased 21 acres of land, but it would be years before they built a meeting place.
In the meantime, they gathered as Mount Vernon Chapel at James L. Riley Elementary School--58 yeas ago today. Dr. Monroe Swilley, the pastor of Second Ponce preached the first service, and 32 people signed up to join what they called a mission (we would call it a church plant).
For a few months the mission was served by various men: James L. Baggott of the Atlanta Association, Frank Hopper, and J. B. Lawrence, previously of the Home Mission Board (now the North American Mission Board). But in November of 1957 the members of this small church plant called Forrest Garrard, Jr. to lead them.
Garrard labored and preached and the mission grew. In October of 1957 Mount Vernon Chapel had 83 members, but when they were ready to constitute as a church two years later, that small group had swelled to 232.
If you were at the James L. Riley Elementary School that Sunday in 1959 when the chapel became a church you would have listened to Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." Then you would have stood up and sung Fanny Crosby's "To God Be the Glory." After prayer and preaching you would have sung one final hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers," by Sabine Baring-Gould. The famous anthem concludes with these words:
Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng,
Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song;
Glory, laud, and honor unto Christ the King;
This through countless ages men and angels sing.
55 years later, we are still a happy throng, and we are still singing. By the grace of God, Mount Vernon has held tightly to the gospel of God's great grace. We exist for his infinite glory. We long to see our neighbors reached for Christ. We humbly expect God to do amazing things in us and through us. Until the Lord comes again, we will do what we have always done: we will preach, we will pray, we will pursue lives of holiness, and we will wait for Christ's return.
Happy Birthday, MVBC.
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