Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Jan. 4, 1990, edition 1 / Page 15
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Construction underwayron new St. Stephen Baptist building By ROBIN BARKSDALE Chronide Staff Writer St. Stephen Baptist Church is beginning decade with an eye toward moving into a new church facility. \ ' s ?a grnnnrl-hr^aking ceremo ny Dcc. 16 at the new site on the corfter of Noble and Pressman streets. The church's pastor said that the con- , struction of the new building is the result of years of planning and hard work on the part of his congrega tion.? He said also that he con siders it a milestone in the church's history. L.C. Rucker 'This is a tremen dous thing/' said_ the Rev. 7.R. Samuels. "It's the second church we're ^lan ~~ning to build, God has blessed us with this. It's a mira cle and I am just so happy about the whole thing." St. Stephen Baptist Church began in 1935 as a x^^urch group that first held worship services in a six ' iwd, frame house on the comer of Tenth and Hickory streets. J.W. Dunlap and A.H. Howard contacted offi-^5 cers of the Pastor's Aid and requested money to rent the building for services. A call meeting resulted in the . enrollment of 16 members who later accepted the name of St. Stephen Baptist Church, which was proposed by the Rev. L. Hines, who pastored until his death in 1947. ? The first one and a half years of his pastorate was with-., out pay. \ In 1937, the chufch moved to a new location on 11th and Hickory streets and membership grew tb more than 300 people. ? " After Rev. Hines' death, the Rev. E.G. Williams of South Boston, VaTTwas called to pastor the church. Under his pastorate, anbther site was purchased on Ogburn Str^eLin 1949 and the rpembership grew to 500. ' < In 1956, the Rev. C. M Freeman was called to pas tor St. Stephen and he served until 1958. The church's current pastor, Rev. Salnuels, came to the church in 1958. The church was built on its current site on Bowen Boulevard five years after Rev. Samuel: arrived. Its mortgage was burned in 1972 and the church received, its chaner from the state of North Carbfipa in 1975. Rev. Samuels praised the efforts of the members of: his church in making St. Stephen's next move possible. "This new building represents the creativity, vision, hard work and faith of the people in the church," he said. "It's such an outstanding thing and really, I'm just carried away with it." k The new St. Stephen Baptist Church facility will be - located on an eight and one^Mf acre site just a mile and -a half from- its present location. Lawr^noe C. Rttcker, chair of the church's Trustee Board<^aid that construc tion on the new chunclvfacility-is 'expected to be com pleted by February 1991. He said also that the ground breaking ceremonies heldl&st month represent the final . step toward realizing a dream that ihecdffgregation has had for many years. . ' "This has been in progress for the last 10 years," Mr. Rucker said. "We were going to hold on to MKher^ we arc now and just boild on to it. But we couldn't get a parking facility, and the land we thought we could get across the street, we finally found out we wouldn't be able to get. So we decidcd to go on and build a whole new building.'*" He said that the congregation was fortunate that it already owned the land on Noble and Pressman, which eliminated one of tKe obstacles it could have faced in - beginning the construction project. * "It wasn't hard for us because we already had land purchased over on Noble. The hardest part came with ys making up out minds to go ahead and doit^he said. u y ?^ \ s CHURCH CALENDAR SATURDAY, JAN. 13 ? St Peter's World Outreach Center will give away clothes and food to the needy from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The church is located at 1031 N. Highland Ave. For more information call 722-2285. Elder J.C. Hash is host pastor. . ( _ . ' ? ? SUNDAY, JAN. 14 ? The Gospel Emotions will be in concert at Mount Glory Baptist Church, 214 N. Dunleith Ave., at 4 pjrn,, The^Mount Glory Young Adult Choir and the Disciples of Faith Gospel Singers also will perform. The Rev. J.B. Morrison is host pastor. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS ? St Peter's World Outreach Center, 1031 N. Highland Ave., will hold > its prayer and healing school, meeting the needs of the whole man, spir it, soul and body, Tuesdays and Thursdayscbeginning with intercessory prayer from noon to 12:30 p.m. Healing school services begin at 12:30 p.m. Services also will be held every second Sunday at 6 p.m. v S ? St Peter's World Outreach Center will present the "Single Lights." a program designed specifically to address issues confronting single peo ple and single parents. The "Single Lights" meets each second and third Sunday at 6 p.m. There also will be monthly or bimonthly fellowship activities. The program is an extension of St Peter's World Outreach Center, located at 1031 N. Highland Ave. Elder J.C. Hash is host jjastor. For more information call 722-2285. * ? Pitts Memorial Missionary Baptist Church will hold weekly prayer services every Tuesday night at 7 and Bible study classes every Thurs day night at 7. The teacher for the Bible study classes is the Rev. Henry Massey of Morning Star Baptist Church. Dr. B.H. Bonham Sr. is host pastor. For mone information call 784-5737. ? The Saints HomeDay Care Center is now accepting applications for children, ages 2 to 5. The day care center is stat6*licensed and certified. Hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p?m. For more information call Mary Bitting at721-1969. V "V ? The St Phillips Day Care Center is now accepting applications for the ages 2 to 5. The day care center is state-licensed and certified. Hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information call Linda Wright 723-5270. / * ? iTicrC wttt~be a free medteaf elmis-operatcd by doctore-from Bowr man Oray and nurses from the Publtc Health Pepartment held at First Baptist Chutch at Fiftfi and Spruce streets dn the first Tuesday of eagh month. Private physicians also operate a free clinic held at Trinity _... PIbbsb see page &6 ^ Mb gS9K?9EB5BE3SSHS9Bfl9HBHHHH Grand Groundbreaking > * ?? - ? ?***" Above, deacons George Sims, George Jenkins and Oscar < Robinson, join St. Stephen's^ pastor, the Rev. J.R. Samuels, for groundbreaking cere monies at the future site of their ne^ church facility. At left, members of the congrega tion brave the chilly tempera tures to participate In the activities. "li project for long time. It's been on and oft?fl?f the last?six years. We would decide to build k and then we'd decide not to. But now, everybody TovesTfie Idea, -We needed more educaHonal facilities and more parkfng facilities and we'll have that with this new building; We .had JusT about Outgrown we have now." Photos by L.C. Rucker itcfing" Mr. Rucker said the new.building w?U ?*eat more than 1,000 people. - Police stand guard at NAACP New Year's Day services - By MARC>RICE Associated Prest Writer ATLANTA -- With police stand-. ing gu&cdoutside, about 200 people attending an NAATTP church pro gram Monday offered prayer, song and humor in the face of threats issued on the heels of a recent series of mail bombs. The New Year's Day program at a southwest Atlanta churck.began after a search by agents from the FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investiga tion and Atlanta police, including bomb-sniffing dogs. No explosives were found. The annual NAACP program commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation was one of several r held across the nation, but attracted spccial attention because Atlanta is the center of an investigation of bombings that last month killed a federal judge and an attorney. The FBI refused Monday to com ment on the progress of the investi gation. A letter to an Atlanta televi sion^station, disclosed last Thurs day, claimed responsibility for the bombs and threatened to kill two NAACP members. Narvis Grier, the former longtime executive secretary of the Atlanta NAACP, said threats of violence always have been a part of the orga nization's history. , - "The NAACP is the oldest, the largest, the most hated and the most respected civil rights organization," she told the gathering at Hoosier United Methodist Church. The Rev. Richard Wynn, pastor of Hoosier, said some people who might normally attend "Emancipa tion Day" events called him Mon day morning to say they would not be coming this year bccause of the threats. Thexrowd in attendance, though wildly enthusiastic in their response to the program, did not fill the church. HIn light of what has happened, it & was an appropriate turnout," Wynn said after the program. Killed in last month's bombings were 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Vance and Robert Robinson of Savannah, a "The NAACP/is the oldest, the largest, the most hated and the most respected civil rights organization." ?^ ? Narvis Grier ?lack lawyer who worked with the NAACP. Two other bombs -one to a feder al courthouse in Atlanta and one to an NAACP office in Jacksonville, Fla. -- were intercepted before they could explode. The Atlanta police sent four patrol cars with officers to stand guard outside the church during the 3 1/2 hour service, which'included a ser 'Sv " mon, hymns by the Wheat Street Baptist Church Choir and speeches, most of which made reference to the bombings. Dr. Otis W. Smith, president of the Atlanta NAACF chapter^aid Monday morning's search was don# as a precaution -rather than in response to a specific threat. "They assured us everything was all right before we came in," Smith ? said. From the pulpit. Wynn asked for prayers for the "sick minds and twisted spirit'' responsible for the recent violence. He and other speakers vowed there would be no intimidation. Monday's program marked ihe anniversary of the date in 1863 ^when the Emancipation Proclama tion took effect. President Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation the previous year to fr^c slaves in states then at war with thcvJnion. Texas to investigate racial motive in fire at black church RED OAK, Texas (AP) - The state fire marshal and Ellis County law officers are investigating a sus picious fire and neo-Nazi graffiti at a small church with an all-black congregation in a Dallas suburb. The pastor of Cedar Grove Mis sionary Baptist Church in Red Oak, who found five swastikas drawn on church property after the Chtiititias Eve blaze, told The Dallas Morning News he thinks the damage was racially motivated. The Rev. S.E. Shead, whfc has been pastor for 17 years, also said the church has been badly damaged and the small congregation can't pay to have it fixed. "I'm begging for any help I could get to help repair the building," Shead said. *We can't afford to do it on our own." He said church members found -the swastikas Tuesday while sur veying the damage. The symbols were found on a portable sign in front of the building, on a propane tank near where the fire began and on the front steps. The symbols weren't thefe when church rhembers left Sunday after ttobtt after Christmas Eve services, Shead said. Four investigators with the Ellis County Sheriff's Department have studied the symbols and searched the church grounds and burned pews for clues to the fire. Authorities are trying to deter mine whether the fire and graffiti are connccied: Investigator Jeff Bryant said the symbols aren't correct depictions of the Nazi swastika. "They are not the " pattern ofari cducarctf ^co-Nazi," he said!'' The information gathered by the sheriff's department will be turned - over to the state fire marshal's office, Bryant said. Bryant said the fire started outside and seems to have been deliberately set. It burned about a quarter of the church's pews and caused about $15,000 in damage. "It appears to us to be arson. We are trying to determine what kind of accelerant was used/' he said. ?? Red Oak is in a sparsely populat ed aren near Waxahachie, which about 40 miles south ot Dallas-. Ellis County residents who live near the church* said they were sur prised to learn that someone might have set the fire and->tlTM ^^siikas^ were painted on th^ropert>^'*"*l-,"~" 'That's hornbrc, absolutely horri ble," said Julie Brown, who has lived near the church for 10 years. She said she hasn't heard of any racial incidents in the neighbor hood. 'A Different World' ?tar encourages youth to *, A avoid temptations of drug KANSAS CITY, Kan. (At>)-. Cdmcdiati and actof Sinbad told 100 underprivileged youths last week they could succeed thfough hard work, confidence and a good education despite the hegtitivt ihflu" ences of dfugs and crime Ihit *ur round them. ? MA lot of you may not know how much you have to offer, ho* Impor tant yoii ^tfe,-~the-a?*oi- who plays Waltef on the TV scncs "A Differ ent World" Slidr1'I'm here to tell yon, you tah do anything y?i want to. ftut hoi if you're dead or {n jail.^ Sinbad was ih town for a pcrfor . mancc at the Midland Theater, but he made a special appearance at the ?YMC A Youih-ExUnsionXcnicr. The actor said that speaking in black communities was a way for \ x^jT^to give back some of what he's learned to youngsters who arc in need of role models. "There's something happening in the community that is very tragic," he said. -Waviiavc. brothcr^ ktlling brothers, right lh our own neighbor hood, and over wh^t? Dope, drugs." Me also told the youths, "I don't, dnnk and I don't hide the faet that I don't."/ . .
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Jan. 4, 1990, edition 1
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