church history
St. john Missionary (Baptist Church was organized in 1944 under the leadership of the Tate Rev. S.M. Cleveland. It was organized on South 3d Street at the C.M.E Methodist Church. The officers and Deacons were Deacon A. Lee, Deacon Smith, Deacon Eddie Bradshaw, Deacon Powell, and Deacon J. Brown. Later that year the members and Rev. Cleveland rented a tent and placed it on Forest Street. Rev. Cleveland had Sunday services there for a short period of time before he and the Deacons decided to purchase a vacant house on the corner of 4Æ and Walnut. Rev. Cleveland remodeled the house into a church. However, there was one SMALL problem! The church didn’t 't have a name, so all the members were asked to put a name in box; and the name that was chosen was St. John -Missionary Baptist Church. The woman responsible for the naming of the church was the rate Sis. Elvira Ewing who served in the capacity as the church musician for over 40 years. In 1946 the members began having church services at St. John Missionary Baptist Church.
A weeklong revival was held to cerebrate. Under the leadership of Rev. Cleveland, Rev. H. Ross and his family joined St. John, and he became assistant pastor to Rev. Cleveland After many years of faithful service spiritually and financially Rev. Cleveland resigned in 1946 and, Rev. Ross became pastor of St. John. Under Rev. Ross's leadership in 1961 the members purchased a church building at 301 Tyler Street. There were several ministers that served under Rev. Ross as assistant or associate pastors. The following are the ones that served: Rev. Tubbs, Rev. Roundtree, Rev. Green, Rev. Satchell, Rev. Gayle, Rev. Casteel, Rev. Watson, Rev. R: Jones, and Rev. Nathaniel McCoy. There were also several deacons that served under Rev. Ross in the 1950's, 60's, and 70's. The following are the ones that served: Deacon Gilbert Greenwood, Deacon Ulysses Cook, Deacon Jimmy Halliburton, Deacon Leroy Matthews, and Deacon L. Ross. Rev. H. K. Ross served as pastor of St. John Missionary Baptist Church for 34 years. On January 3rd, 1980 Pastor Ross resigned his position as pastor of St. John.
In 1980 Rev. Nathaniel McCoy became Pastor of St. John and stayed until 1988, while residing over St. John, God gave Rev. McCoy a vision to build a new Church, but it did not come to pass. Rev. James Boyce became pastor of St. John in 1988, and after four years he resigned in 1992. Rev. John Hillard became pastor of St. John in 1993, and after two years he resigned in 1995. Rev. Nathaniel McCoy returned to St. John in 1995 as Pastor. Soon after Rev. McCoy return to St. John, the vision that God had given him to build a new church began to happen. The ground was turned over on October 5, 1995 to build that vision.
On Easter Sunday April 7, 1996 under the Leadership of Rev. Nathaniel McCoy, St. John moved into their beautiful new church, which we are still presently in today. Not only are we still in the building, but it was paid off in April of 2007 and a note burning was performed on Sunday November 4, 2007. Due to an untimely death to the St. John family on Sunday May 1st, 2005, Rev. Nathaniel McCoy was called to be with his Lord and Savior. Though Rev. McCoy was absent from our presence he continued to be a Light onto our path and a blessing to the St. John Family. Upon on his death, he left the Church $50,000, in which $40,000 went to the paying off the church. St. John was without a Shepard for 8 months. finally on December 28th, 2005 the St. John family called the Reverend Derrick Bledsoe, Sr. as our Pastor. On Sunday January 15th, 2006.
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