Mt. Zion celebrating 124th anniversary
Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 950 File St., is celebrating its 124th Anniversary during the month of May.
A number of guest speakers will help the church mark the anniversary, beginning with Dr. Howard Parker, chairman of the NC State Baptist Convention and pastor of Greenville’s Sycamore Hill Missionary Baptist Church, on Sunday, May 5.
Mt. Zion’s pastor, Dr. Serenus Churn, will speak on Sunday, May 12. On May 19 (Missionary Sunday), Minister Velma McCloud, chairman of the Forsyth County Sunday School Association and an associate pastor at Piney Grove Baptist Church, will address congregants. Dr. Allen Paul Weaver, pastor of New Rochelle, N.Y.’s Bethesda Baptist Church, will speak May 26. All services begin at 11 a.m.
Mount Zion Baptist Church was organized in 1889 by a group of vocalists from Virginia, under the leadership of Reverend G. W. Holland. Rev. George W. Johnson became the church’s first pastor. Mt. Zion has had only four other leaders: Rev. Richard L. File, Dr. Kelly Oliver Perry Goodwin, Rev. Gilbert G. Campbell Jr. and its current pastor, Dr. Churn, who has led the flock at Mt. Zion since 1984.
