About Us
Church History
1961 -
The Lord is Blessing Me, Right Now...
Rev. James W. Smith was led of God to organize a church in 1961. The charter members were First Lady Mary A. Smith, John and Madeline Sanders, Bertha Wilson, Ella Jackson, and Janie Smith. The church, named Little Antioch Baptist Church was first located at 1400 W. North Avenue. Because of the number of churches with the same name, the name was changed to Second Antioch Baptist Church.
As the church grew, the church moved to Federal and Barclay Streets. Later the church moved to 1607 Carswell Street. In 1978, the church was blessed to purchase a church building at 3123 Barclay Street. God blessed us tremendously at that location. More adults were added to the church and its’ ministries began to multiply. Under the leadership of the founding Pastor, Second Antioch organized to serve the needs of the House of the Lord through the following ministries:
- Deacon Ministry
- Missionary Ministry
- Trustee
- Deaconess Ministry
- Music Ministry
- Ushers
- Men’s’ Ministry
- Outreach
- Women’s
- Youth
In November 1999, Second Antioch was blessed to move to our current location, 2001 E. Baltimore Street. Then in 2004, our organizing Pastor retired to care for his wife who needed continuous care. Prior to Rev. Smith’s retirement, Rev. Michael A. Morrison came to serve as Co-Pastor. In 2005, we were blessed of the Lord to install Rev. Morrison as our second Pastor. Under the leadership of Pastor Morrison, the Deacon and Deaconess Ministries were combined into the Diaconate Ministry. The Discipleship, Hospitality, and Dance Ministries were also organized. The ministries and membership continue to grow.
God is continuing to shower bountiful blessings upon Second Antioch. Though others doubted that we would be able to pay the mortgage on the building that God gave us, we celebrated the completion of a half a million dollar mortgage on November 30, 2014. This did not take us 20 or 30 years! With the grace of God, prayer and faith our small congregation was able to do it in 15 years. We say, “To God be the Glory! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!”
We know that God is not finished with us yet. He has given a broader vision for the ministry of Second Antioch Baptist Church to our Pastor and provided a rich field for ministry. Please join with us as we pray for God’s guidance and seek to follow where he leads. We see the faithfulness of God at work and are striving to be faithful to God in worship, service, praise, and fellowship as we “Honor our Past”, “Celebrate our Present”, and “Embrace our Future.”
