A church family finds a new home
Published 10:09 am Saturday, September 7, 2019
Dawn Burleigh/The Orange Leader Associate Pastors John Hinson Sr, center, and Franklin Gans, left of Hinson, stand with church members Elzora Anderson, Agnes Thomas, Mickey Arnett, Lillie Roberts, Ann Tutt, Mary Knox, Kenneth Augustine, and JoAnn Henson as Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church’s new sign is installed on Thursday.
By Dawn Burleigh
The Orange Leader
Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church has found a new place to call home. The church purchased the building and started holding services at its new location on MLK in Pinehurst on July 6. On Thursday, Triangle Blueprint installed new signs for the church as members of the congregation gathered to witness the historic event.
“This building looks so much like the one built in 1963 on 16th Street,” Elzora Anderson said.
Just one of the signs, the building, and the church family were meant to be together.
Deacon James Woodrow was unable to attend Thursday morning as the sign was installed but as he returned to town, he told his wife he wanted to see it.
“It was the first thing we wanted to see,” Woodrow said. “It is beautiful. They did a great job.”
According to Associate Pastor John Hinson Sr, Woodrow was instrumental in acquiring the building.
“He [Woodrow] has the ability to seek and find,” Hinson said. “He found the building, and everything fell into place. He helped with the lawyers, the bank, the financial people. He did all the groundwork and reported everything back to us.”
Many of those in the congregation have attended the church since their parents brought them to the church.
“The people who sold us the church, God worked through them,” Hinson said. “They left us plenty of prizes.”
The church, well-loved by its previous church – 40th Street Church of Christ- will continue to be appreciated by the new church.
“I like to tell people we are a megachurch,” James Woodrow said. “We are a mega-church by faith. Our members are very faithful. We worked together as a family and bought a home.”
The building, when Woodrow first inquired about it, was not on the market yet. In fact, he had to search to find the owners.
“I would see this beautiful church and told my wife, I never see any cars there,” Woodrow said.
He reached out to realtors trying to find the owner.
“I called the Tax Collector Assessors Office and they had one name,” Woodrow said. “I called the person and he had left the church five or six years earlier. But, he knew a Deacon.”
While its fate was being decided by the previous owners, one thing 40th Street Church of Christ knew was they wanted the building to go to another church. So, before it was listed on the market, it was sold to Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church.
“We did not know if we were going to raise enough at the time,” John Hinson Sr said. “We have faithful tithers and we raised the money for the down payment.”
“This is our new location,” Associate Pastor Franklin Gans said. “We have members who have not returned as yet. Now they can know where we are.”
Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church is a teaching ministry church.
Early worship is at 7:45 a.m. followed by Sunday School at 9: 30 a.m. and Worship at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Other members of the church who helped make this dream a reality, but not able to be present on Thursday as the sign was installed are Daniel Lazenby, Emma Augustine, and Casey Florence.
