A Moment in the Word . . .

"I will come to church when I get good enough."  Chances are that you have heard this before.  Maybe you have even said it yourself.  But there is good news, the Bible tells us in Ps 14:3, There is none who does good, No, not one.  That includes you and me. 
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Our History

On March 20, 1892, in a store front building on Fourth Avenue and Sherman Street, 61 people met and became charter members of Central Baptist Church.  H.M. Blackwelder was called as its first pastor.  Their strategic location between the First Baptist Church of Decatur and the First Baptist Church of New Decatur, now 16^th Avenue Baptist Church, led them to choose the name Central Baptist Church. 

The first building, which was completed in 1984, was 75’ X 38’ and cost $ 3,855.71 to build.  The total included $ 1,000.00 as the cost of the lot which was donated by the Decatur Land Company.

The membership in 1906 was 106 with 100 of those enrolled in Sunday School.  The Sunday School record of 1893 showed an average attendance of 49.  Three years later, 100 were enrolled with an average attendance of 75.  The church added 30 new members during a two week revival in October 1915.  The Rev. Hyman Appleman of Fort Worth, Texas led the church in a great revival in November 1938.  There were 151 additions to the church with 102 of those by baptism.  This brought the total additions to the church of 350 for the year, 229 of which being by profession of faith. 

An early budget shows figures of $60 a month with $10 a month set aside as the Pastor’s salary.  The Ladies’ Aid Society was in charge of collecting delinquent subscriptions, cleaning the church and distributing and collecting for the Alabama Baptist.

The need for educational space resulted in the construction of a new building in October 1926 and in 1928 the old church was demolished and plans were made for a new sanctuary and educational space.  On March 31, 1929, during the first service held in the new sanctuary, 44 candidates were baptized. 

The first pipe organ was erected and dedicated in the new sanctuary.  It had approximately 750 pipes and was named after Mary D. Simpson.  Our present organ with over 5,000 pipes, was purchased by Mrs. Nina Cline in 1993.

The first issue of “Baptist Beacon” was mimeographed on May 28, 1937 with the pastor Dr. John C. Cowell, serving as editor.

A high attendance record goal of 1,000 was set for Easter Sunday 1947.  All records to this date were broken with an attendance of 1,112.  This was especially remarkable considering enrollment was 1,338 at the time. 

The church library was opened in December 1946 with 447 volumes.  Today our library has over 15,000 volumes and includes videos, children’s literature and large print materials.

Modern facilities were installed in 1969 for the television ministry that now reaches the entire Tennessee Valley.  The church voted to begin two morning worship services in October 1983.