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2011 SESSION
11103610DWHEREAS, Winn’s Baptist Church, located in Hanover County, Virginia, was founded on July 4, 1776, the same day and year as the founding day of our nation; and
WHEREAS, Winn’s Baptist Church was founded on July 4, 1776, and is believed to be the first Baptist Church in Hanover County, Virginia; the original wooden building was one of the oldest frame churches in continuous use in Virginia until its destruction in 1910; and
WHEREAS, John Winn, of the County of Hanover, did in his lifetime, lay off a certain parcel of land wherein a “meeting house” was built, originally known as Winn’s Meetinghouse; and
WHEREAS, known as Winn’s Meetinghouse and also as Chickahominy Meetinghouse, Winn’s Baptist Church has, like our nation, which has had 44 presidents, had 44 pastors in the past 235 years since its founding; and
WHEREAS, John Clay, the father of the famed statesman Henry Clay, was one of the first pastors of Winn’s Baptist Church; and
WHEREAS, the Reverends Reuben Ford, John Waller, and James Reid were the original founders of the Chickahominy Meetinghouse (Winn’s Baptist Church); and
WHEREAS, these men, and their fellow clergymen, suffered under Virginia’s laws prohibiting Christian preachers outside of “The Established Church”; they suffered fines, public beatings, and imprisonment for preaching the Gospel; thus, Christian churches in that day were established as “meetinghouses” rather than as “churches”; and
WHEREAS, Patrick Henry, one of our nation’s Founding Fathers and Virginia’s first Governor, was the lawyer who represented one of the founding pastors of Winn’s Baptist Church in trials against charges by the state; Patrick Henry went on to fight against state-sponsored churches and to champion the religious freedoms that have made this nation a “shining city upon a hill”; and
WHEREAS, like our nation, Winn’s Baptist Church was founded on conservative, Biblical beliefs, and almost without exception, has had in its pulpit strong ministers of conservative faith; Winn’s Baptist Church is still to this day a conservative, Bible-believing church that holds forth the inerrancy of the Word of God; and
WHEREAS, Winn’s Baptist Church has, from its beginnings, welcomed all members of the Hanover Community into its fellowship, and early records show that for over 130 years of its history, the membership was consistently one-third white and two-thirds black; membership recordkeeping by race and gender ended after the War Between the States; Winn’s Baptist Church is a church with its doors always open to serve the community at large; and
WHEREAS, Winn’s Baptist Church, with its current Senior Pastor, Jeff D. Brauer, remains a vital part of the Hanover County community and remains faithful to the Biblical foundations laid down on July 4, 1776, by the founding pastors and members of the Chickahominy Meetinghouse; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commend the pastors and congregation of Winn’s Baptist Church on the occasion of the Church’s 235th anniversary for their role in helping Hanover County be one of the nation’s finest counties in which to live and raise a family; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Jeff D. Brauer, senior pastor of Winn’s Baptist Church, as an expression of the General Assembly’s congratulations and best wishes.