The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-08
C0L0RED BAPTISTS'
CENTENNIAL
Second African Church CELEBRATING
Its 1O0dth Anniversary.

second African Church CeIebrating
Its 1OOdth Anniversary.
This month is a month of centen-
malls with the colored Baptists of Sa-
vannah. The Second African Baptist
Church is this week celebrating the
one-hundredth anniversary of its
organization. Next week or the
week after, the Bryan Baptist
and First African Baptist
churches will each celebrate their
one-hundred and fifteenth anniver-
saries. Each of the two churches
claims to be the original colored Bap-
fist church in Savannah.
The Second Church, on Greene
Square, was organized Dec. 26, 1902,
and has an unbroken existance. 1t
has maintained a house of worship on
the site which it now occupies ever
since its organization. The celebration
of ITS centennial began Monday night,
and will continue until next Sunday
night, concluding with Sunday school
and Baptist Young Peoples Union
rally. 80"
Rev. ]. j. Durham, pastor of the
church for eleven years, is the sixth
pastor since 1t was organized. Rev.
| Alexander Harris, pastor of the First
Bryan Baptist Church, on West Broad
street, and now so years old, prepared
a sketch of alllthe pastors of the Sec
ond Church, which was read Tuesday
night. Rev. Harris has known per-
sonally all of the pastors of the church
during the century of its existence. The
| centennial sermon was preached by
Rev. w. G. Johnson of Macon, presi-
dent of the Baptist State Missionary
and Educational Convention Exer-
cises are being held every night, and
will continue until Sunday, when they
will be held all day, beginning with a
o'clock prayer meeting and ending
with the night service.
Rev. j. M Simms, president of the
Baptist Minister'S Union, read, at the
centennial service, a sketch of the or
ganization and early history of the
church. All of the exercises have
some historical feature.
Tonight Rev. John d. Jordan, pas
tor of the Savannah Baptist Church.
will preach the sermon and the treas
urer will submit an historical report
showing the amounts of money that
have been raised by the church during
it's existence and how it has been
raised. Tomorrow. night Deacon Alex
ander McHardy, the oldest deacon and
member of the church, will talk to the
congregation.
At the Sunday school rally on Sum-
day the growth of the Sunday school
in the colored church during 100 years
will be discussed.
Sunday afternoon the administra-
ton of the Lords Supper at $3.50
o'clock will be conducted by Rev. j.
w. Carr, assisted by Revs. G. w. Grit
fin, William Gray, w. L. P. Weston,
Alexander Harris, J. NJ. Simms, r. H.
Thomas, N. H. Whitmire, H. L. Hay
wood, r. Kemp, L. NJ. Williamson, W.
A. Doughty, II. Maxwell, A. Hudson,
M. j. Maddox, w. G. Clark, SimLS1s
and the pastor. The mem
bers of all the Baptist
churches in the city will be invited to
take part in the service. The White
Bluff and Daufuskie churches, both or
ganized from the Second Church, will
be represented.
The Second Church has a member
ship of 2,100, and, next to the First
African Baptist Church, on Franklin
Square, is the largest church in Sa-
vannah and one of the largest in the
South. 1t was organized by a few
members of the Bryan Baptist Church
and the colored members of the Sa-
vannah Baptist Church, and has al
ways been recognized factor among
the colored Baptists of Georgia.