Monday, March 14, 2022


FBC Pontotoc Good Shepherd Window

FBC Pontotoc. Photo by Terry Wood


FBC Pontotoc Risen Christ Window

 Unexpected Finds

In the hallway of our Church Offices is a collection of photos some of which are rather old. I pass by them at least once per week, and I admit to not having paid a great deal of attention to each and every one. An exception might be the one of the Adult Choir back in the seventies, one in which if I look closely, I can see my smiling face.
There are also a few photos of GAs (Girls Auxiliary) at a coronation service, too. I’m not pictured in those. Yet the one that recently captured my imagination is a fading image of what at first glance appears to be an architectural drawing of our present sanctuary building.
It even states in big letters “Proposed New House of Worship, Baptist Church, Pontotoc, Mississippi.” It also clearly shows the name J. E. Greene, Archt. Birmingham. Equally clear is the name Avondale Bapt. Church.
The overall design is quite similar to that of our building with the four Grecian styled columns, the steps leading to the porch of our east entry, the domed roof, the brick masonry work around the stained-glass windows, the overall shape of our large stained-glass windows, all give one the impression he or she is looking at a drawing of our church. But, it’s not a drawing of our church.
I remember thinking, “I wonder what the Avondale Church looks like today. Does it still exist?”
I’ve read much of our church history complied into book form a number of years ago by our history committee. The book, “A Walk of Faith,” is a collection of photos and writings brought together by various committees and assembled under the able guidance of the late Callie B. Young. It is an impressive work that shares many of the important events in our church’s first 150 years. In the book we are told that the sanctuary building of FBC Pontotoc is similar in design to others in Mississippi.
Among those churches mentioned in our history book, I am familiar with the church building in Indianola, Mississippi. I would clarify my usage of familiar here to mean I have driven by the church several times. I have never been inside it.
First Baptist Church, Ripley, Mississippi also had a similar design, but it was demolished around 1956. My wife remembers being one of a group of three who were the last to be baptized before the the structure was removed. You don’t suppose those three are responsible for “bringing the house down” do you?
In Tippah County, there’s one not mentioned that still stands in Chalybeate, Mississippi, though it is less stately in height and lacks a balcony.
It is my opinion that though the designs are similar with respect to building interior and exterior, what sets our church apart from its “sister” churches by the same architect are our windows. So, with a few clues from our very own history book and those provided by the architectural drawing, I began to search the Internet for photos of Baptist churches of similar design.
I did not find much on J. E. Greene, architect except a couple of floor plans and that Greene is credited with 16 churches in Mississippi including First United Methodist Church in Batesville.
Our history book lists Jacoby Art Glass as the company that produced our stained-glass windows, but I didn’t find our windows in my searches. However, I did find that the building in the photograph that aroused my curiosity is still standing in Alabama.
Avondale Baptist Church in Birmingham has a history that to some extent parallels our own. Avondale was founded in the late 1880s. FBC Pontotoc began about forty years earlier. Avondale soon grew to need a larger building and chose to build the one pictured in our hallway. They began construction in 1914 and their building was completed in 1916. Similarly, FBC Pontotoc opted to build a new facility in 1914 and completed construction in 1915.
Interestingly, both Avondale Baptist and Pontotoc First Baptist built new parsonages adjacent to their respective churches.
As one might imagine, Avondale Baptist Church grew and soon expanded (as did our church) in order to gain more educational and office space. They would also celebrate, in grand style, their 50th Anniversary in 1937. But sadly, Avondale Baptist Church would close its doors in 1974, well before its 100th Anniversary. In fact, due to declining membership, Avondale’s fellowship of believers merged with Irondale Baptist Church and sold their property to a Black congregation, breathing new life into the aging structure.
Still later the building would remain vacant for a number of years before a vibrant new congregation, Redeemer Community Church, begun in 2008 in the heart of Birmingham, purchased the former Avondale Church property in 2014, and following a few renovations now enjoys the merger of old things and new things in meeting their present needs. At last report, they have four morning worship services.
May God continue to bless his people everywhere.
FBC Pontotoc office hallway

Redeemer Community Church founders Rev. Joel Brooks and wife Lauren

Avondale under construction 

FBC Ripley, MS. Photo courtesy Jimmy Covington

Interior of Redeemer Community Church

Avondale several years ago

Photo that initiated my research

 Chalybeate Baptist Church, Chalybeate MS

Interior of Redeemer Community Church


Interior of Redeemer Community Church

FBC Indianola 

First United Methodist Church Batesville, MS. Photo credit: Susan C Allen


No comments: