First Missionary Baptist Church

From the time of its inception in 1882, First Missionary Baptist Church, which was originally known as Rising Mount Zion, has always been a spiritual magnet for faith driven good works. For 100 plus years our fellowship has been a way station for the preached word, discipleship teaching and training, continuous praise and worship, community outreach and dedication to The Great Commission that mandated that we “go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

It is thought that approximately in the early 1900’s our fellowship marched from the original Broad Street Location to our present Chestnut Drive/Tournament Street campus. The under shepherds who answered the call to pastor our fellowship included the Reverends J.E. Nelson, H.H. Hawkins, Vernon Worthy, G. K. Moss, Marvin T. Clowney (interim) C.L. Phelps, Lawrence Carvana (interim), Paxton G. Hughes, Paul Miller (interim) and in March of 2008 Reverend Herb Rhedrick was called to our ministry and he was installed on Aug 17, 2008. Currently serving as associates are the Rev. Eugene Anderson, Rev. Reginald Blackmon, Minister Lester Mark, Minster Joyce Tobin-Perry, and Minster David Roundtree.

The former pastors all left a steppingstone for each subsequent pastor to build upon. Thousands have accepted Christ through our fellowship and ministries have grown through the dedication of our disciples who have embraced service through stewardship. It is within this framework that we continue to serve. All of our accomplishments are too numerous to name, but they do include the renovation of our sanctuary, the establishment of our outreach center, our junior worship program and the acquisition of properties surrounding our present location.