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2017 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 778
Commending Ramoth Baptist Church.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 20, 2017
Agreed to by the Senate, January 26, 2017

 

WHEREAS, Ramoth Baptist Church of Stafford is a premier Southern Baptist congregation that, in 2016, celebrated 150 years of loving God, loving people, and changing the world; and

WHEREAS, Ramoth Baptist Church was founded on October 9, 1866, in the midst of very desperate times after the Civil War, by people who had seen the hardships of war and sought to minister to those who had lost so much in Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Ramoth Baptist Church was organized by Walter R. D. Moncure, a chaplain in the 30th Virginia Infantry Regiment and pastor of nearby Berea Baptist Church, and members of his family and the community; and

WHEREAS, the first meetings took place at the old Salem Schoolhouse on Mountain View Road and by 1869, Ramoth Baptist Church’s membership had grown to 44 and Sunday school enrollment was 135; and

WHEREAS, the original church building was constructed with oak timbers that were hand-hewn by James and Stanton Embrey and Thomas Wine trimmed out the cornerstones, all pieces that continue to support Ramoth Baptist Church’s chapel today; and

WHEREAS, as the membership of Ramoth Baptist Church continued to grow in the 20th century, more additions to the original structure were added in 1957, 1975, and in the mid-1990s, which was the largest addition to date; and

WHEREAS, known as “The Church with a Heart in the Heart of Stafford County,” Ramoth Baptist Church has served as a place of refuge for 150 years, and today a new generation of Jesus followers continues to worship and minister right where they have been planted; and

WHEREAS, many different pastors have served Ramoth Baptist Church over the past century and a half and the church is currently led by Senior Pastor D. Howell Scott II and Executive Pastor Dr. Richard Harrell, who assumed their leadership roles in 2016; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Ramoth Baptist Church on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of its founding in 2016; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to D. Howell Scott II, senior pastor, and Dr. Richard Harrell, executive pastor, as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for Ramoth Baptist Church’s long history of ministry and worship in Stafford County.