Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

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FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH: HISTORY AND HERITAGE The roots of the Southern Baptist denomination go back much further than the 1845 organization of the Southern Baptist Convention at the First Baptist Church of Augusta. First Baptist’s congregation grew out of Appling’s Kiokee Baptist Church – the oldest Baptist church in Georgia and one of the oldest churches in the South, having been established in 1772. The spin-off congregation, known during its early years as the Augusta Baptists and the Baptist Praying Society, worshiped in several places around Augusta, including members’ homes, the Richmond County Courthouse and the Academy of Richmond County’s chapel. In the early 1800s the congregation purchased a plot of land at 802 Greene St. to construct the building that would become known as First Baptist Church of Augusta. By the middle of the century, a schism in the national Baptist organization – founded in Philadelphia in 1708 – was forming over the issue of slavery. Churches in the agrarian South dissented against the Northern churches, which were advocating for abolition. The Southern churches also rebelled against the national organization’s centralized, “top-down” style of leadership – which drew comparisons to the Catholic church – and petitioned for a “bottom-up” approach in which its fellowship of congregations would provide direction. The South’s boycott of the national Baptist meetings in 1842 and 1843 set the stage for the establishment of the first Southern Baptist Convention at First Baptist Church in 1845, a meeting that was attended by 166 delegates from more than 4,100 Southern churches representing 350,000 members. The slavery issue was eventually resolved by the South’s defeat in the Civil War, which prompted many African-Americans to form their own churches during the Reconstruction period. Today, Southern Baptist members are 85% white, but the denomination is more racially diverse than mainline Lutheran and Methodist churches, which are 90% white. As the First Baptist Church’s Augusta congregation grew, so did the need for a larger church. In 1899, members voted to build a larger building on the Greene Street property and employed noted Southern architect William F. Denny, whose design was reportedly inspired by the La Madeleine Catholic church in Paris, which is known for its extensive use of Corinthian columns. The new church was completed between 1902 and 1903 and served the congregation until 1975, when its leaders made the somewhat controversial decision – it sparked a lawsuit – to relocate to its present site in west Augusta off Walton Way Extension. 28 | <strong>1736</strong>magazine.com
The original First Baptist Church of Augusta, seen here, was replaced by the current building in 1902. [SPECIAL/HISTORIC AUGUSTA] A state historical marker celebrates the Greene Street location as the founding site of the Southern Baptist Convention on May 8-12, 1845. And the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. A number of small congregations and a Bible seminary occupied the vacated Greene Street building from the 1970s to the early 2000s. The first occupant, Landmark Baptist Church, acquired the property for $750,000, with the late State Sen. Gene Holley offering $250,000 for a down payment. Holley’s subsequent bankruptcy left the church unable to service the debt, and it moved to a new location after the bank sold the property in 1984. The building changed hands several times during the next two decades as a number of small churches and educational institutions used the space, but all lacked the resources to properly maintain the 16,200-square-foot space. The poor condition of the historically and architecturally significant structure earned a spot on Historic Augusta’s annual “Endangered Properties” list in 2013. The property lost its tax exempt status in 2017 when Southern Bible Church and School Inc. sold it to a limited liability company associated with Hephzibah-based J.C. Rowe, a demolition and grading contractor. SH Investment Group 1 LLC, an entity affiliated with Sherman & Hemstreet Real Estate executives Joe Edge and Connie Wilson, acquired the property in late August and have planned a full-scale renovation. Today, the Southern Baptist Convention that was birthed at the site remains an important denomination in religious life throughout the South, and it is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Sources: Augusta Chronicle archives, Historic Augusta, National Parks Service, Pew Research Center The morning sun shines through ornate stained-glass windows at the dilapidated First Baptist Church of Augusta building. <strong>1736</strong>magazine.com | 29
Page 1 and 2: FALL 2020 WATERWAYS EDITION Facing
Page 3 and 4: A PRODUCT OF PRESIDENT TONY BERNADO
Page 5 and 6: A temporary walkway for constructio
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Page 9 and 10: The vacant three-story building at
Page 11 and 12: At University Health Care System, p
Page 13 and 14: Jordan Johnson’s journey to the A
Page 15 and 16: with tracts occupied by everything
Page 17 and 18: issues are the same: You don't want
Page 19 and 20: The Augusta Commission District 1 e
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Page 27: Sunday, November 15, 2020 T27
Page 31 and 32: Richmond County Sheriff’s Deputy
Page 33 and 34: Margaret Woodard, executive directo
Page 35 and 36: Graffiti and overgrown weeds mark t
Page 38 and 39: Pedestrians make their way along Ei
Page 40 and 41: MYTHS HARD TO DISPEL Officials can'
Page 42 and 43: THE ALCOHOL EFFECT Patrons congrega
Page 44 and 45: Good first impressions are importan
Page 46 and 47: Richmond County Community Safety Of
Page 48 and 49: Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
Page 50 and 51: URBAN CORE CRIME Below is a year-to
Page 52 and 53: By the 2010s, most of downtown’s
Page 54 and 55: COMPARE... Building: Former Cobern
Page 56: Artist renderings depict the front
Page 59 and 60: The asymmetric roof lines of the pr
Page 61 and 62: Brendan Thompson, executive directo
Page 63 and 64: An artist rendering shows the front
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Page 68 and 69: BRIEFING By DAMON CLINE HITS & MISS
Page 70 and 71: FINAL WORDS The biggest danger in d

Fall 2020 - 1736 Magazine

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