WS Chronicle

Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, led by the Rev. Dr. Dennis Leach Sr., held its 100th anniversary gala on Saturday, July 14 at the downtown Embassy Suites. 

The gala is a culmination of an anniversary celebration that also included a mortgage burning ceremony.  Eric and Twanda Montgomery, anniversary chairpeople, says it was a labor of love from all parties included to organize the event.

“I would say that it was not the work of us; we had a large committee with many subcommittees, so it was a collaborative effort of a lot of members of Morning Star who all took part in various areas,” said Eric Montgomery. 

“It took a lot of working together, meetings, planning and cooperation, and thankfully we had all of that,” he continued.

Everyone who attended was dressed to the nines with their best formal outfits and dresses.  The gala included singing, special presentations to the planning committee and pastor, a Christian comedian and a guest speaker.

The Montgomerys say it was an honor to have taken part of such a great occasion.  To see the fruits of all the labor from all included gave them a sigh of relief.

“I consider it a blessing and an honor to be given a task such as this,” said Twanda Montgomery.  “My husband and I don’t take any of this lightly.  For us to be given such an assignment, it has never been about us, it has always been about the church.

“We respect pastor for even giving us this opportunity, and we thank the committee and everybody involved.”

Leach, senior pastor of Morning Star, says the church wanted to “do something significant” to mark the 100 years.  He says the added bonus of being able to burn the mortgage early makes this event even more special.

“We had the added blessing of being able to burn the mortgage early, which contributed to being able to finance this event, so it is a tremendous blessing and a lot of hands and hearts went into it and we are grateful to celebrate,” said Leach.

The Rev. Charolette Leach, Morning Star’s first lady, said, “It was remarkable and amazing just to plan and to work toward the celebration.  We are focusing on God’s goodness, on how faithful God has been to Morning Star and to the community for over 100 years.  So we are grateful to celebrate and are in full celebration mode.”