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Macedonia Missionary Baptist Centennial
10/04/09 - 05:51 PM
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A group of churchgoers are shouting “Hallelujah!” this month.  The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church on Martin Luther King is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  They kicked off their celebration by worshipping this morning on the very spot the church was founded, and then marching and singing all the way down 7th Street to spread the Gospel.

The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church watches the sun rise on a new day in its history, a day that marks 100 years serving Panama City.  More than 50 church members gather on the very spot of Macedonia birth and they’re praising the Lord for the past 100 years.  Pastor Darryl Stanley inspires the congregation: “We’re here today to lift our heads and our voices to the God of our salvation!  We want our forefathers here to be excited today, to be excited today! And they’re looking down upon us and what god has accomplished at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.”

Members young and old gather to celebrate the past 100 years and look to the future of the church. Shirley Robinson grew up less than a block away and attended Macedonia Missionary Baptist for all her life and has fond memories of the old church:  “...flip flops and hot pavement and roads, and summertime softball games…”

For members like Robinson, a church is much more than a place to worship.  It stands for faith and family tradition: “From the beginning of Macedonia from my grandmother, my mother attended and now I am in the midst of that and my son, when he’s in town he attends as well as my grandson…so it is a family tradition.”...a tradition that the church members will celebrate for a month long beginning today.  Members march down 7th Street from the founding spot to the current location at 7th and MLK.

Member Shirley Robinson says that Macedonia is home and a place where she will continue to teach her grandson about the Lord:  “This is a homecoming, a home-bounty and it gives me a foundation so I can teach him about God and he can teach his children about God.”