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Our History
In
1951, South Dalton Baptist Church discovered an
unused chapel on Eleventh Avenue, and on August
15th, voted to start a mission, and chose to call it
Eleventh Avenue Chapel. Rev. Floyd Woods was the
first pastor of the mission, and Rev. Ed Rodgers was
the second pastor.
In May 1952, the first revival was held with Rev.
J.B. Waters as the evangelist.
December 12, 1953, the mission was organized into a
church, and the name was changed to Eleventh Avenue
Baptist Church. Rev. Edward Babb was elected as
pastor.
March 1954, with a down payment of $500, the
building in which the church was meeting was
purchased. On June 6, 1954, the church held its
first homecoming, and the first Vacation Bible
School was held the week of June 14, 1954.
Rev. Jim Hayes was elected pastor in May 1955.
In 1958, Rev. J.B. Waters was called to be the
pastor. He accepted on June 1st and became the first
full-time pastor. The following year, members
decided to build a block church and add a
baptistery. The new auditorium would seat 350
people. In 1961, nine Sunday School rooms were
added. In 1966, the church was brick - veneered, and
in 1968, air conditioning was added.
The church continued to grow, and in 1970, a second
story was added to the Sunday School Department. In
1973, the parking lot was paved, and in 1974, a
fellowship hall was built. In 1980, padding was
added to the pews, and the Sunday School rooms were
air conditioned.
After almost 24 years as pastor, Reverend Waters
decided to retire. During the same conference that
he resigned as pastor, Rev. Lloyd Guffey was elected
as the new pastor. The church was without a pastor
only for about five minutes. Reverend Guffey
accepted the church on March 7, 1982.
In 1984, property was purchased on the north side of
the church for additional parking. In 1985, an
expansion program began to increase the size of the
auditorium an additional 42 feet including two
restrooms and an audio control room.
Record high attendance of 630 in Sunday School was
achieved on Pastor's Appreciation Day, March 01,
1992.
A building project began in September 1992 to build
a homecoming shed; it was to be 120 feet long, 24
feet wide, with 90 feet of table space down the
middle.
November 01, 1992, Eleventh Avenue Baptist Church
received its youngest pastor ever, 27 year-old, Rev.
Ronald Guffey.
May 10, 1995, the church voted to relocate.
March 09, 1997, the church voted to purchase land on
the South Dalton By-Pass. By June 04, 1997, the land
deal was complete.
January 02, 2000, the church had its first service
in the new building. January 3rd thru 7th was the
week of the church's first revival. January 30th, a
dedication service was held for the church, and the
first baptism service . On April 2nd, the church
voted to start a Kids for Christ program. August
16th, the program was voted in. June 19th thru 23rd,
was the first Vacation Bible School held at the new
building.
June 03, 2001, we had
our 50th Anniversary and Homecoming. 263 people were
present for Sunday School, and 453 people were
present for morning worship.
Our first Christmas
drama, "Past, Present, Future", written and directed
by Vernon Guffey, was on December 16th and 17th,
2001.
On May 05, 2002, we
started our first groups with Masterlife
Discipleship classes; and we are still continuing
them with many eager new pupils.
In July 2004, G.L.
and Maxine Albertson donated land to Eleventh Avenue
Baptist Church for a Multi-Purpose Building.
On January 06, 2006,
we added five more deacons and started the Deacon of
the Week Program. Then, in the January 2006
conference, we started the process to get Awana
Classes.
On February 26, 2006,
there was an ordination service for Eric Jenkins,
who became our Youth Pastor.
On September 06,
2006, we officially started the Awana Program.
In 2007, Lloyd Guffey
became Pastor Emeritus; and on October 07, 2007,
Robert Beavers was elected as our associate pastor.
**History information was provided by Debra Cox, and
taken from the Eleventh Avenue Baptist Church
Directory of 2008. |
