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Mar 01

Atlanta Berean Church Celebrates 120 Years

lessie scurry

Carlton P. Byrd, D.Min., president for the Southwest Region Conference and former Berean pastor, preached for the worship service.

More than 2,500 members, past and current, along with guests and friends, celebrated the occasion.

Berean Church in Atlanta, Ga., celebrated the past, present, and future during its 120th anniversary observance and homecoming.

The theme, “Celebrating God’s Faithfulness,” permeated the day, featuring the return of past leadership, former members from throughout the decades, current members, and visitors, some of whom only had worshipped with Berean virtually.

About a thousand or so attendees continued across the street for an elegant lunch in the gym and hallways of Berean Christian Junior Academy and Greater Atlanta Adventist Academy, and were offered American or Caribbean menus.

More than 2,500 persons packed the sanctuary, balcony, fellowship hall, chapel, and other overthrow areas to be able to experience Sabbath School and worship service in person, while several thousand more watched on the church’s YouTube channel.

The speaker for the day was Carlton P. Byrd, D.Min., president for the Southwest Region Conference. Byrd served as the senior pastor of Berean from 2006 to 2012. Recording artist Jonathan Nelson was the featured singer, assisted by Berean’s mass choir.

Former pastors William L. Winston (2000-2006, 2018), South Atlantic Conference president emeritus; Richard Long Sr. (1993-1998); and Linwood Stone (associate from 2006 to 2011) also returned as program participants.

Serving as the current pastoral staff are Sherwin Jack, D.Min., senior pastor; and associate pastors Gregory Saunders, Marvin G. Clarke Sr., and James Lamb, Ph.D.

Berean was organized into a company in 1903 in the Georgia Conference territory, and met in homes. William Henry Sebastian became the first pastor in 1906, the same year G.E. Peters organized the first mission school for black students in Atlanta, which is now Berean Christian Junior Academy (the oldest African-American private school in Atlanta). The members and their visitors met in the pastor’s home until the first building was bought. Located on Greensferry Avenue, the building was dedicated on February 6, 1909, and named the Second Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was renamed Berean under the leadership of A.B. Storey, who pastored from 1934 to 1935. Other notable pastors of Berean are H.L. Cleveland, Dunbar Henri, Walter Pearson, and E.C. Ward.

Berean has been located on Greensferry Avenue (1909-1929), Ashby Street (1929-1961), Hightower Road (1962-2000), and Hamilton E. Holmes Drive (2001-present).

South Atlantic | March 2024

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