JEFFERSON STREET BAPTIST CHURCH
A Century of Enduring Faith
This week, as they have for the last 5200 plus Sundays, the congregation of Jefferson Street Baptist Church will gather together to reaffirm their enduring Faith in God and gratefully acknowledge their many blessings.
It all started in the months after World War I. The Bible believing Baptist residents of the northeast quadrant of the city began to look around to locate a more convenient church to worship in. The only church in Dublin east of center of town was Henry Memorial Presbyterian and the First Christian Church, some two blocks north of the center of town.
When it became apparent that the Presbyterians were looking a new, non-wooden church to worship in, preferably on Bellevue Avenue, talks began to be had about buying the 20-year-old church on the western corner of North Jefferson Street and East Columbia Street from the Presbyterians. A deal was signed, sealed, and delivered.
The second, and most critical step, would come in the financial and moral support of the members of the city’s only Baptist Church, the First Baptist Church. That endorsement of support heartily came.
Seventy five members of First Baptist Church resigned their memberships and to join the new church. Those new members chose as Clerk, J.D. Hobbs and as Treasurer, J.R. Cherry, both of whom joined W.T.Dupree and R.M. Duggan. There was one major vacancy, a minister. The board was charged with the demanding task of finding a pastor who would be strong enough the lead a new church.
The first service was held on October 12, 1919 with 53 charter members.
Turns out that the deacons made a quick and wise choice. The Rev. R.W. Eubanks was given the pulpit as of January 1, 1920. For the next 22 years, Eubanks stewarded his flock to a highly successful level. During the war years, the Rev. C.F. Graves, retired minister of the First Baptist Church, served as interim pastor, until the Rev. Earle F. Stirewalt came to the church. It was during the war, when the membership felt the time had come to expand and remodel the nearly 50-year-old building.
Perhaps the biggest day in the 100-year history of the church came with the cornerstone-laying ceremony on October 7, 1949 in conjunction with the church’s 30th anniversary. W.R. Cullens and Brooks Bryan laid the stone, which is still embedded in the building today. Built inside the original cornerstone was a copper lined time capsule to be opened in 1999.
The Rev. Frank Singleton led the dedication program. Dr. Louie Newton, the most prominent Georgia Baptist leader of the mid 20th Century gave the dedicatory address.
The main feature of the new brick building was the large new auditorium and forty-one Sunday school class rooms for as many as 550 students. The $135,000.00 structure included six meeting rooms and an adequate compliment of the normal rooms of a large church.
During the 1950s, the Reverend Frank Singleton and Marshall Nelms became the pastors of the church, whose sanctuary was adorned by memorial gifts of pews, an organ, and the pulpit by the Farrell Chapman and W.O. Ogburn families.
The Baptists of the southwestern quadrant of Dublin began to seek a church to accommodate the large numbers of families moving into the area during the post-war years. Jefferson Street , as it was helped by First Baptist, set the wheels in motion to created Saxon Heights Baptist Church in 1953.
During the late 1960s during the tenures of George J. White and Jimmy R. Smith, and on through the early 1980s, the membership of Jefferson Street began to grow, almost exponentially. Bolstered by a strong interest in and by the youth of the church, total membership sky-rocketed to more than 1500, making the church, the largest church in Laurens County. The exclamation point of this period was the renovation of the chapel in October, 1983.
GROUNDBREAKING 1960
Among the pastors who have also served Jefferson Street Baptist Church over the last century are: J.J. Winburn, I.W. Bowen, III, Robert Jones, J.W. Wallis, Donald D. Harris, James D. Dwiggins, Roy W. Hinchey, James R. Sampley, Virlon H. Griner, Darren Talley, Sam Jones, Fred Pitts, Jay Moore, Darren Talley, and Kyle Giddens, the current pastor. (Please note: Additional names are needed. Please email them to scottbthompsonsr@yahoo.com.
Perhaps the most highly heralded annual highlight for decades has been the distribution of Christmas baskets from the church facilities. There are way too many more to mention.+
As we all know, the history of this church, any church, is simply more than the names of the ministers who have served, the names of the deacons who have governed, or a simple chronology of the church buildings. However, the members of the church, led by Charles R. Drew, Edith Garnto, Ira Garnto, Virginia Jones, Jane Perry, and Virginia Perry, did publish a comprehensive and impressive history book in 1996.
The history is found in the deeds and the acts of the church members. In this capacity, Jefferson Street Church has sent many dozen of its members into the ministry over the last century. More importantly, thousands and thousands of the church members have served their community in great-hearted and magnanimous ways.
So here’s to the members of Jefferson Street Baptist Church for another century of faithful service to the Lord and to keep building upon the church’s foundation a century ago.
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