THE HISTORY OF MOUNT PILGRIM MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH

"Let the Church be the Church; Let the people rejoice. For we settled the question, end we've made our choice. Let the anthems ring out, songs of victory swell. For the Church triumphant is alive and well"

Yes, the Church that John and Alice Pounce along with their children founded, and Bro. and Sis. Moses Watkins, Bro. E. Garrett and Bro. Eddie Bush established in November of 1925 is "alive and well." This is the Chronicle of Mt. Pilgrim's Pastors. Rev. S. H. Saul, 1925-1926; Rev. A. J. Inman, 1926-1929; Rev, J.E. Jenkins, 1929-1946; Rev. H.D. Cummings, 1946-1952; Rev. Travis E. Spiller, 1952-1968; Rev. Abraham Campbell, 1968- 1971; Rev. Melvin Wade, 1971-1975 and the Rev. George T. Curry, Sr., whose tenure from 1976 to the present. "Just see how the Lord has Blessed Us." Pastors Saul and Inman's congregations worshipped under the "brush arbor", but Pastor Jenkins built the first 111 two wooden structures. Pastor Jenkins was also the second Moderator of the IMGBA of Texas. The Church Parsonage, now the residence of Pastor and Sister Curry, and relocated at the Rogers Street address, was built under the direction of Pastor H.D. Cummings. Pastor Travis E. Spiller saw the vision for a brick facility, and our present Worship Center came into being in 1954. He along with his wife, Sister Sarah L. Spiller organized the Youth Department, as we now know it and the Youth Sponsors Council, which still serves as a model for Houston City Wide and the State Congress of Christian Workers. We purchased our "first organ" with the late Dorothy Lofton, musician under Pastor Spiller's leadership. Properties purchased under Pastors Campbell and Wade led to the purchase of land for our parking lots and remodeling of our present facilities. These Pastors brought Spiritual and numerical growth to our congregation. Our present Pastor, George T. Curry, Sr. is a visionary. Souls been added to Our Church through teaching, revivals, workshops and enrichment programs for children and adults, we have seen tremendous growth in our Spirituality, Membership, Music and Usher Departments. Established programs for youth, adults and our senior members and the structure of our Multi-purpose building under the direction of the late Richard W. Watkins, Rossie L. Allen and Willie Brew, Jr. was built This facility is used for classrooms, social functions, 111 etc. We thank God for all the programs presently in progress--the Scholarship Program, Men in Action and United Women's Ministries, our departmental Sunday School, our Music Department There is a well-rounded Scouting Program headed by Calvin G. Dunn and James Thompson who serves as Cub Scout Leader, James V. Webster, now deceased acquired the first charter during the early 1960's. Felicia Curry Lott organized our 111 first "Girl Scout Troop and Tresa Beverly Prince still serves as Resource Chairman for government assistance programs for our Church since its establishment in 2001. In October 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 the United Women's Ministry hosted their Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Annual Women's Conference here at the Church. The "Men In Action" served as Culinary and Security for this event. Through the leadership of our Pastor and the Church Officers, we now see an educational building completed in 2003 that serves the membership's many activities with large classrooms; new office and restroom facilities; an elevator to the second floor that houses a spacious area for our Children's Worship. Through the far-sight of our Trustees, Pastor Curry's office has been renovated to "A State of the Arts Facility." The Mt. Pilgrim family has been blessed to have two members of our congregation who celebrated their 100th 111 birthdays this year; Sis. Alberta Simmons and Sis. Lessie Gibbs. Under the leadership of Scoutmaster Calvin G. Dunn, 12 young men have received their Eagle Scout: 2005—James Fransaw and Jaron Johnson; 2006—Michael James; 2007—Melvin Clarence Jr., George T. Curry III, Marcus J. James, and Bakari A. Maxwell; 2008—C. G. Dunn and Kelvin Hanks, and 2009—Gordon Berry, Desmond Franklin and Ross Denson IV. We mourn the passing of our Members who have gone home to be with the Lord. We pray God's continuing blessings upon our Congregation.