My first adventure outside my home was to church on a Sunday morning. I was two weeks old. My parents were members of McCarty Baptist Church on Tunnel Boulevard.
I trusted Christ as my savior and was baptized at McCarty Baptist at age 9, beginning a life of following Christ.
McCarty was a typical Southern Baptist congregation. It was a community church. The members lived close together. They worked together. They raised their children together. They struggled together.
But they did not change together. Change for a church was hard then.
Churches continue to struggle with change, but as a pastor of a Southern Baptist church, I see the Hamilton County Baptist Association making some great strides.
The association consists of 95 autonomous churches and 10 mission churches. The churches include four Latino, one Korean, one Philippine, one Cambodian and seven African-American congregations. Brainerd, Red Bank, Spring Creek, Ridgeview, Woodland Park and Silverdale Baptist have opened the doors of their church buildings for the international fellowships to worship in their own languages.
The African-American churches are not just members of the association, they're leaders, setting examples in baptisms and ministry outreach.
Love Fellowship Baptist was sponsored by Morris Hill Baptist. Kevin Smith, the former pastor at Love Fellowship, is now the executive director of the Maryland-Delaware Southern Baptist State Convention. Love Fellowship is a strong church now led by Gerald O'Guinn.
Cynthia Brown, a member of Love Fellowship, is the Baptist Association's Women's Missionary Union director. Johnny Horne, pastor of Solid Anchor Baptist Church, is the moderator of our association.
Demographics have shifted and churches have responded by giving new congregations the space needed to reach new generations in their communities.
Faith United Baptist, pastored by Larry Jones, was meeting in a storefront. The congregation of Oak Grove Baptist on Mulberry Street realized they were not reaching the people living in the community around their building. So, with help from the Hamilton County Baptist Association, Oak Grove gave Faith United its building, and Faith Baptist is now a growing church that is reaching its community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Christ Community Church, led by Mark Garrett, was meeting in the recreation center in Avondale. Limited space meant limited outreach. Silverdale Baptist Church had acquired a church building on New York Avenue several years ago. Silverdale gave the building to an African-American congregation that, in turn, gave it to Christ Community, which is now reaching that community more effectively. I love how God works.
I mentioned McCarty Baptist earlier. New United Baptist, a member of the county Baptist Association, has a growing and vibrant church in the former McCarty Baptist facilities on Tunnel Boulevard.
In Galatians 3:28, the Apostle Paul said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This verse is now being worked out in the Chattanooga area: "There is neither Latino nor Korean; there is neither white nor black; there is neither Philippine nor Cambodian, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."
Someone may read and say, "But what about ?" There is always a "but what about?" I would rather focus on the present and the future, not the past. Jesus made a great statement concerning the past: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
May we remember the past while we move forward, together.
Bill Mason is senior pastor at Morris Hill Baptist Church.