100th Centennial Celebration Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church

Pastor Woodberry says it best when he says "Mount Olive has survived because she is a Bible-Believing church. The thing that sustains a church is not fads, fancy programming or novel ideas but the Word of God". From a frame building in "Rattlesnake Bottom" to a larger structure on fourth (4th) street to a newer more modern facility on Wisconsin to the place where I was born on twenty-seventh and Kelly to the present-day campus on forty-second and Kelly, God has been good to Mount Olive.

I had the honor of preaching at Mount Olive for the kick off of this great celebration. There always has to be a "sacrificial lamb" but I was glad to be back at my home church. Besides funerals or celebrating my Pastor's anniversary, I haven't been back since 2006 so it was a little overwhelming. (DANG THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE PACKED IN THAT CHURCH)

I was so proud of the Macedonia Church family who followed me to Oklahoma City. It did me well to look out in the sea of humanity and see my life-line in my church family. Mount Olive put on the big pot and the little pot. T-shirts, shopping, dinner and great church, it was a great learning lesson for our church.

I have always said one day I will make Pastor Woodberry and the Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church proud to be able to call me a son. I am proud of my pastor and church but I haven't always been a good son but thank God, He gives us another chance. The parable of the Fig tree lived in Mount Olive on Sunday.

To Pastor Woodberry and the Mount Olive Church, Thank you for letting me come back and to Macedonia, Thank you for letting me come back home to 1862 N. Olive Street.

By the way, the best part of Sunday, WAS BAPTIZING MY GIRLS RAVEN AND LABRAIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oWENS

84th Church Anniversary

The year was 1925 when a small band of God-loving disciples met in the home of Brother and Sister William Wolfe to begin a journey that many generations would benefit from. Because of this meeting, "The Gospel Light Mission" was born. In 1930 under the leadership of Pastor L. Lemon, the church moved to a larger building and became known as the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.

I am so honored to follow in the footsteps of great Pastors who laid the foundation that I stand on now, Pastors Young, Alexander, Lemon, Trotter & Johnson, Matthew, the legendary F. D. Johnson, C. Dewayne Williams and Anthony Pettus Sr.

We celebrated our 84th Church Anniversary beginning with a son of the church coming home Rev Dr. Erskine Jones and Sweet Home Ministries who encouraged us to "Praise the Lord", Psalms 113"1-3. Dr. Jones was sick and should be ashamed of himself for setting the bar that high, God be praised for great church.

We held a reunion musical Saturday where the voices of years past came together to make one big praise to the Glory of God. On Sunday another son, Rev Paxton Reed, Pastor of the Northlake Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina blessed us with a major word out of Judges 11 dealing with "Family Relationships". He killed everything in the house.

I praise God for all the chickens, pigs and cows who died that I might live as we ate up a storm after church. We praise God that the former Pastor, Rev Anthony Pettus and his current church, The Greater Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Ft Wayne, Indiana came to share with us. I am even more impressed that Pastor Pettus left his vacation just to share with us in this service. He blessed our hearts dealing with our anniversary theme, Romans 1:16-17, "Live By Faith". The Lord was certainly in the place.

Let me thank ALL of the workers, ministry leaders, volunteers, deacons, greeters, cooks, servers, inside, outside and alongside people who made this celebration what it was. I already am looking forward to what God will do for our 85th celebration.

Owens