Memory Lane
Today is Fathers Day, and I went to church with my dad for the first time in a long time. It was bittersweet as the past meets the present and future. I grew up in Mt.Zion Baptist church, my dad serves as a deacon there, my grandfather and grandmother were very active there, as well as me and Sharon and my mom. Mt.Zion began in its present location in 1968.According to the church history
Rev. Nelson Staples Jr. and Mrs. Staples and Deacon Billy and Susie Lewis were standing on that land when the power of the Holy Ghost few on them. This at one time was a place where drunks hung out. It was called the "Crow Pole". Rev. Nelson Staples Jr. began to be impressed of the Lord to build a church on this location. After checking into some things, the property was owned by a Methodist Church, ( I found this out later) That people had to be tracked down to sign the deed for the property, and my grandfather Joe Thornton was one of the people who signed over the property to Rev. Staples so that they could start construction on the church. There was a basement there, but it had fallen into disrepair. This was the late 1960's and there wasn't a whole lot of money to be had. Most people worked either in the coal mines or as janitors, cooks domestics and there were some teachers, but not a whole lot that would take a chance on a church that would be there for all kinds of people. Not just well educated people, but for those who were trapped by life hardships and circumstances..
Mt. Zion opened its doors on November 28, 1968. That morning 50 people joined the church. It was an exciting time back then. We kept hearing about a new church. My mom had decided that she wanted to start going back to church. On Sunday January 26, 1969, we stared attending Mt.Zion. I recently found my baptismal certificate in some of my moms things. It was interesting. It was similar to the church that me and Sharon went to. We were going to the neighborhood church, called "The Friendly Chapel, Church of God in Christ. The cornerstone of the church is still there. The church fell in during the 1998 heavy snows. Anyway it was a Pentecostal church and our grandparents had a fit that we went to a Pentecostal Church. So my mom decided to take use to the new Baptist church. Anyway, the choir that I sang in at the little church close to our house sang the same songs, I felt at home. When it came time to join the church, my mom went up front. She had made the decision to get back in church. Then Rev. Staples came back and asked us if we wanted to be baptized. I actually did. We had talked about being Christians at the other church, so I knew what it was about. My grandmother also had mentioned being a Christian. I remember telling her I wanted to be a missionary. I wasn't really sure what that was, except for telling others about Jesus, but I wanted to be one. Sharon was only six and she just followed me to the front. We were baptized on that Sunday afternoon at the Shady Grove Baptist Church ion Eccles. That was another church that fell victim to the heavy snows of 1998. I remember a lot of people being baptized then. When we got dressed I heard someone praising the Lord in the water, which sounded funny as a kid and some women said that we should have been praising God as well. I wasn't sure what that was yet. I had seen people dance in the spirit before, but as a kid, anything like that seems funny. You find yourself laughing, until someone taps you on the shoulder and tells you to stop giggling. don't play with God, or something to that effect. Mt. Zion was the kind of church where people from all kinds of situations joined. Some found Jesus in a whole new way, they were healed and set free from their addictions. They were many who were called to the ministry and some are still working in church today. I was young and I saw how God worked in the lives of people there.
We went back that night and took Holy Communion. Which is another thing I didn't really take seriously until I was older. I just thought it was something that you did as part of being baptized. That almost eleven year old girl, grew up in church there. I saw many things including my grandparents join the church and many other things. My grandmother Marion Staples was at the A&P on South Oakwood Avenue shopping close to Christmas in 1969, when a RC bottle exploded, sending fragments of glass into her leg. For the longest time she had trouble walking and that winter she was really sick. We were all excited about going to church and we were trying to get her to come. Sharon had suggested using the Lysol spray so she could come to church. Funny when you are a kid, things seem so simple. So they came the Easter Sunday night. They came to our house for Easter dinner and we went to church. Due to a mix-up about an Easter program, I didn't get to say my speech. ( Speeches were the recitations given to kids to say during Christmas and Easter) I usually had a longer one. I was good at memorization and I always got the longer parts ect. Anyway my grandparents joined the church that night along with Deacon Joseph and Frances Neal. They were friends with the Staples family. My grandparents JL and Marion Staples and some other people joined that night. The church was growing. My grandmother and grandfather went to work immediately at the church. Weekends were spent cleaning that lot off and having hot dogs sales and different things. My mom was excited about church as well. She helped with VBS that year, she had the girls my age. She was teaching us how to sew. We made a bell bottom pants set. It was an easy pattern. We basted it and she did all of the sewing.
I went through a period of rebellion at age 13. I guess it happens. I started cussing and smarting off to teachers. I guess it was because someone treated me like I was stupid and didn't fit in. I got myself suspended from school, but went anyway hiding out in the bathroom. School was almost over when I got caught. I was on punishment the whole summer of 1971. I mention this because the only place I was allowed to go was church. One choir practice I remember well was the one where the power of the Lord swept through the practice. I had my first spiritual experience. From then on, I read the Bible and tried to be what I thought a good Christian was. I failed miserably. I was a kind of a smart mouth. I began to grow restless with Mt.Zion as I got older, I am not really sure why. I guess it was just my age. God had given me a gift, to memorize scriptures and I would have dreams and visions. I didn't tell anybody. At 19 I started working and I had to work Sundays most of the time. I didn't get to church that much and I started to drift. I almost ended up in a cult. I really want to go to church somewhere else, but my parents wanted me to stay at Mt. Zion. After God delivered me from that mess, I promised Him that I would serve Him completely. That is one promise I have stuck with, because I know what almost happened to me. I started teaching Sunday School and doing a lot of things in the church.
In the mid 1980's I felt the call to the ministry. I didn't tell anyone. I knew that I would have to leave the church, because they didn't allow women minister's. .I wasn't ready. Sometimes you may get a call, but you have to wait on Gods timing. I did. In 1992, I left Mt. Zion. I realized while I knew how to do a lot of things around the church, I couldn't do the most important thing. That was lead a soul to the Lord. I had to go somewhere for further instruction and training. Growing up in that church was an experience. Some good and some bad. I remember the day that they dedicated the upstairs, the choir was lined up "Marching up the Zion" was what we marched in on. It was exciting. I first heard someone speck in lounges there and my grandmother was healed there. I mentioned earlier that an RC bottle had exploded sending glass fragments in her leg, one of the services she was healed, she was walking with a limp, as the power of God hit she never again had any trouble with her leg.
When I went back , I saw many things that reminded me of my time there. I used to teach Sunday School, do the church announcements, I trained the young people to do youth Sundays, even worked a little in the kitchen. That was more Sharon's territory than mine. I began to think about all of the pole that helped build the church. I thought about Grandma, Mrs. Emma Mc Million frying chicken, Mrs. Ollie Powell and Deacon Andrew Powell, Deacon Warren Staples, Pauline is still living, Deacon Joseph Neal and Frances Neal she is still living and Deacon Billy Lewis and Susie Lewis, I see them in TT, Beth and Mona. Rev Nelson Staples Jr. Mrs. Virgie is still living. A lot of memories there were others like Sis. Ella Thomas and all of the NBS Choir members who helped Sharon as a baby in Christ. Mrs. Mary Saunders was the last one of them I think. Mrs. Shirley Williams. There were so many people that inspired me and helped me become the person I am today. God Bless them all.
Rev. Nelson Staples Jr. and Mrs. Staples and Deacon Billy and Susie Lewis were standing on that land when the power of the Holy Ghost few on them. This at one time was a place where drunks hung out. It was called the "Crow Pole". Rev. Nelson Staples Jr. began to be impressed of the Lord to build a church on this location. After checking into some things, the property was owned by a Methodist Church, ( I found this out later) That people had to be tracked down to sign the deed for the property, and my grandfather Joe Thornton was one of the people who signed over the property to Rev. Staples so that they could start construction on the church. There was a basement there, but it had fallen into disrepair. This was the late 1960's and there wasn't a whole lot of money to be had. Most people worked either in the coal mines or as janitors, cooks domestics and there were some teachers, but not a whole lot that would take a chance on a church that would be there for all kinds of people. Not just well educated people, but for those who were trapped by life hardships and circumstances..
Mt. Zion opened its doors on November 28, 1968. That morning 50 people joined the church. It was an exciting time back then. We kept hearing about a new church. My mom had decided that she wanted to start going back to church. On Sunday January 26, 1969, we stared attending Mt.Zion. I recently found my baptismal certificate in some of my moms things. It was interesting. It was similar to the church that me and Sharon went to. We were going to the neighborhood church, called "The Friendly Chapel, Church of God in Christ. The cornerstone of the church is still there. The church fell in during the 1998 heavy snows. Anyway it was a Pentecostal church and our grandparents had a fit that we went to a Pentecostal Church. So my mom decided to take use to the new Baptist church. Anyway, the choir that I sang in at the little church close to our house sang the same songs, I felt at home. When it came time to join the church, my mom went up front. She had made the decision to get back in church. Then Rev. Staples came back and asked us if we wanted to be baptized. I actually did. We had talked about being Christians at the other church, so I knew what it was about. My grandmother also had mentioned being a Christian. I remember telling her I wanted to be a missionary. I wasn't really sure what that was, except for telling others about Jesus, but I wanted to be one. Sharon was only six and she just followed me to the front. We were baptized on that Sunday afternoon at the Shady Grove Baptist Church ion Eccles. That was another church that fell victim to the heavy snows of 1998. I remember a lot of people being baptized then. When we got dressed I heard someone praising the Lord in the water, which sounded funny as a kid and some women said that we should have been praising God as well. I wasn't sure what that was yet. I had seen people dance in the spirit before, but as a kid, anything like that seems funny. You find yourself laughing, until someone taps you on the shoulder and tells you to stop giggling. don't play with God, or something to that effect. Mt. Zion was the kind of church where people from all kinds of situations joined. Some found Jesus in a whole new way, they were healed and set free from their addictions. They were many who were called to the ministry and some are still working in church today. I was young and I saw how God worked in the lives of people there.
We went back that night and took Holy Communion. Which is another thing I didn't really take seriously until I was older. I just thought it was something that you did as part of being baptized. That almost eleven year old girl, grew up in church there. I saw many things including my grandparents join the church and many other things. My grandmother Marion Staples was at the A&P on South Oakwood Avenue shopping close to Christmas in 1969, when a RC bottle exploded, sending fragments of glass into her leg. For the longest time she had trouble walking and that winter she was really sick. We were all excited about going to church and we were trying to get her to come. Sharon had suggested using the Lysol spray so she could come to church. Funny when you are a kid, things seem so simple. So they came the Easter Sunday night. They came to our house for Easter dinner and we went to church. Due to a mix-up about an Easter program, I didn't get to say my speech. ( Speeches were the recitations given to kids to say during Christmas and Easter) I usually had a longer one. I was good at memorization and I always got the longer parts ect. Anyway my grandparents joined the church that night along with Deacon Joseph and Frances Neal. They were friends with the Staples family. My grandparents JL and Marion Staples and some other people joined that night. The church was growing. My grandmother and grandfather went to work immediately at the church. Weekends were spent cleaning that lot off and having hot dogs sales and different things. My mom was excited about church as well. She helped with VBS that year, she had the girls my age. She was teaching us how to sew. We made a bell bottom pants set. It was an easy pattern. We basted it and she did all of the sewing.
I went through a period of rebellion at age 13. I guess it happens. I started cussing and smarting off to teachers. I guess it was because someone treated me like I was stupid and didn't fit in. I got myself suspended from school, but went anyway hiding out in the bathroom. School was almost over when I got caught. I was on punishment the whole summer of 1971. I mention this because the only place I was allowed to go was church. One choir practice I remember well was the one where the power of the Lord swept through the practice. I had my first spiritual experience. From then on, I read the Bible and tried to be what I thought a good Christian was. I failed miserably. I was a kind of a smart mouth. I began to grow restless with Mt.Zion as I got older, I am not really sure why. I guess it was just my age. God had given me a gift, to memorize scriptures and I would have dreams and visions. I didn't tell anybody. At 19 I started working and I had to work Sundays most of the time. I didn't get to church that much and I started to drift. I almost ended up in a cult. I really want to go to church somewhere else, but my parents wanted me to stay at Mt. Zion. After God delivered me from that mess, I promised Him that I would serve Him completely. That is one promise I have stuck with, because I know what almost happened to me. I started teaching Sunday School and doing a lot of things in the church.
In the mid 1980's I felt the call to the ministry. I didn't tell anyone. I knew that I would have to leave the church, because they didn't allow women minister's. .I wasn't ready. Sometimes you may get a call, but you have to wait on Gods timing. I did. In 1992, I left Mt. Zion. I realized while I knew how to do a lot of things around the church, I couldn't do the most important thing. That was lead a soul to the Lord. I had to go somewhere for further instruction and training. Growing up in that church was an experience. Some good and some bad. I remember the day that they dedicated the upstairs, the choir was lined up "Marching up the Zion" was what we marched in on. It was exciting. I first heard someone speck in lounges there and my grandmother was healed there. I mentioned earlier that an RC bottle had exploded sending glass fragments in her leg, one of the services she was healed, she was walking with a limp, as the power of God hit she never again had any trouble with her leg.
When I went back , I saw many things that reminded me of my time there. I used to teach Sunday School, do the church announcements, I trained the young people to do youth Sundays, even worked a little in the kitchen. That was more Sharon's territory than mine. I began to think about all of the pole that helped build the church. I thought about Grandma, Mrs. Emma Mc Million frying chicken, Mrs. Ollie Powell and Deacon Andrew Powell, Deacon Warren Staples, Pauline is still living, Deacon Joseph Neal and Frances Neal she is still living and Deacon Billy Lewis and Susie Lewis, I see them in TT, Beth and Mona. Rev Nelson Staples Jr. Mrs. Virgie is still living. A lot of memories there were others like Sis. Ella Thomas and all of the NBS Choir members who helped Sharon as a baby in Christ. Mrs. Mary Saunders was the last one of them I think. Mrs. Shirley Williams. There were so many people that inspired me and helped me become the person I am today. God Bless them all.
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