By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com
A sign bearing the words of Isaiah remind the small congregation of Mt. Olive AME Church that God is about to do something new and it is happening “even now.”
It’s a promise they hang on to as the members of the 110-year-old church raise funds for a new sanctuary building.
Celebrating the 110th anniversary of the church’s founding, Rev. Mae Smith is leading her church forward with fundraising efforts to raise money for a new building.
Church member Vida Ray said, “We’re excited, over-excited. How do you put it in words? We’re even excited about building the new church even though we haven’t built anything. We know it’s going to come.”
The current one-story structure sits at the corner of S.E. 6th Street and S.E. 3rd Avenue, the same location where its members have gathered since its inception in 1898.
The exterior of the building shows signs of wear, with side boards pulling away from the walls and the roof in need of repair. Inside, the building shows its age with a bowing foundation and paneling pulling away from the walls.
Behind the pulpit, the words from Isaiah 43:18-19 are hanging on the wall. It reads, “Forget the things that happened in the past. Do not keep thinking about them. I am about to do something new. It is beginning to happen even now. Don’t you see it coming? I am going to make a way for you to go through the desert. I will make streams of water in the empty and dry land.”
“We had an anointing service before we tore the parsonage down … that we would be protected,” said Ray. A member for almost 50 years, Ray said she raised her children up at Mt. Olive AME Church.
“This is my church,” she said.
The dream of a new building is an old one, according to Shelia Jackson, but Smith “had a vision” and got their fundraising efforts under way. Jackson explained Smith approached the 10th District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and invited them to visit Mineral Wells.
The result of Smith’s contact with the 10th district’s Bishop Gregory Ingram and Rev. Jessica Kendall Ingram is the upcoming quarterly praise and worship service in August, an event that draws hundreds of women together four times per year for a time of fellowship. Jackson said the events have “pretty huge turnouts, typically. We’re expecting 500 people. We sent out letters to 200 churches and we’ve heard from six that they’re bringing buses.”
Jackson explained that the Aug. 10 morning service would focus on the church’s 110-year-anniversary while the evening service would be about the support the church is receiving from across the state.
“They’ve never had such a large program come to benefit this church before,” Jackson remarked. She is part of a committee of about 10 people from four different churches who volunteered to help Mt. Olive AME Church. “With Smith’s leadership, she has fostered the momentum to build a church. In 2006, she recognized the physical decay. … There’s a lot of need in that church.”
Part of their fundraising efforts have included a garage sale and two dinners. Their driving force, according to Jackson, is a souvenir booklet that has what history about the church they’ve been able to glean and a message from Smith. The sale of advertisement is going towards their building fund. Jackson anticipates having the anniversary souvenir booklets available in the first week of August.
The church’s fundraising goal is $50,000, of which they have raised almost $5,000 so far.
According to Jackson, the importance of building a new church isn’t so much the structure itself but what it represents. She pointed out the presence of several nearby churches in their area.
“It’s still something beautiful and strengthening to the mind to know His work will carry on,” she remarked. “As a community, we believe it’s important to leave some kind of legacy. It’s very important to all ethnic groups to leave a legacy and what better legacy can we leave than a church? They’ll know we were trying to spread the Good Word.”
Jackson said she hopes that building a new church might spark revitalization in the area.
“We need to do something about beautification and revitalization or it will all be lost,” she said. “The members of the community are still believing and trusting in the Lord and faith is what’s propelling this.”
