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2023 SESSION

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 774 Commending the First Baptist Church of Manassas.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 21, 2023 Agreed to by the Senate, February 23, 2023

 

WHEREAS, for 150 years, the First Baptist Church of Manassas has provided its congregation with joyful and uplifting spiritual guidance and abundant opportunities for community outreach; and

WHEREAS, the origins of the First Baptist Church of Manassas date to July 1872, when the American Baptist Home Mission Society sent the Reverend Marshall Downing Williams to Manassas to meet with a group of African Americans who were recently freed from slavery and who were looking to organize a community around their faith; and

WHEREAS, under the leadership of the Reverend Marshall Downing Williams, this group held the first service of the First Baptist Church of Manassas on October 13, 1872; Reverend Williams would then continue to lead the church well into the 20th century; and

WHEREAS, the first site of the First Baptist Church of Manassas was dedicated on July 27, 1879, and served the congregation until the dedication of the church’s second and present church site on July 29, 1905; both sites were secured through the beneficence of Isaac Baldwin; and

WHEREAS, the First Baptist Church of Manassas would continue to grow in numbers and to make improvements to the church’s facilities as needed under the wise leadership of several pastors, including the church’s 12th and present pastor, the Reverend Keith A. Savage, who joined the church on June 2, 2002; and

WHEREAS, the Reverend Keith A. Savage has inspired the congregation at the First Baptist Church of Manassas with his vision of “Moving the Kingdom Forward through Faith,” developing several ministries and outreach programs to serve the community locally, nationally, and internationally; and

WHEREAS, from its humble beginnings, the First Baptist Church of Manassas has blossomed into a thriving community of parishioners united by their faith, and it will continue to make a positive and profound impact on the world for many years to come; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the First Baptist Church of Manassas on the occasion of its 150th anniversary in 2022; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the First Baptist Church of Manassas as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for the church’s history and its contributions to the Commonwealth.