SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2017 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 880
Commending Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 10, 2017
Agreed to by the Senate, February 16, 2017

 

WHEREAS, in 2017, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church celebrates 150 years of ministry, spiritual education, and joyful worship in the Baptist tradition; and

WHEREAS, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church traces its deepest roots to the end of the Civil War, when freedmen migrated to the Alexandria area and formed the Mount Pleasant community on land donated by Charles H. Brown; and

WHEREAS, in 1867, Andrew Jackson, Fenton Somers, William Nutt, and John Curry accepted the deed to the land on which Mount Pleasant Baptist Church would be built to serve and minister to the residents of Mount Pleasant; and

WHEREAS, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church held its first services in a one-room log building, which was used for worship services on Sundays and as a schoolhouse during the week; the original building was replaced by a frame church in 1881 to better accommodate the growing community; and

WHEREAS, in 1931, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church expanded again, building what is now known as the Pinkett and Sheppard Memorial Chapel, and broadened its mission to provide community outreach and education, as well as opportunities for worship; and

WHEREAS, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church broke ground for its current sanctuary on July 17, 1976; the building has been renovated and modified over the years to include a nursery and other useful areas; and

WHEREAS, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church offers active ministries for children, young adults, men, women, singles, seniors, the grieving, and the deaf and hard-of-hearing; the church also helped establish a credit union to provide new opportunities for members of the congregation; and

WHEREAS, inspired by their faith, members of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church have gone on to become leaders in a variety of career fields and respected members of the community, always carrying with them the church’s divine teachings; now, therefore, be it

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

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Reverend Dr. Carl Johnson, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for the church’s unique place in the history of Alexandria.