Lost Voices

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• Community Shaping
  Women

• Ancella Bickley

• Memphis T. Garrison

• Jan Smith

• Maudella Taylor

SIXTEENTH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH

Sixteenth Street Baptist was very much a part of our lives in those days, extending beyond a religious message. There was a sort of feeling of community that was engendered by being part of the church at that time. Part of that is that we all lived within probably a ten block radius of one another and you walked back and forth to school and church. . . Ancella Bickley

The long history of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church touched the lives of Ancella Bickley, Maudella Taylor, and Memphis T. Garrison, each of whom were affiliated at one time with Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Jan Faye Smith lived two doors down from the church during the years her children were growing up. One cannot gauge the impact of the church on the lives of these women, but their contributions to their fellow man speaks of the values upheld by Christianity.Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was organized in August 1905, after petitioning for dismissal from First Baptist Church to organize a second Baptist church in Huntington, WV. Since 1905, a distinguished list of ministers have served the congregation:

Reverend James D. Coleman (1905-1906)
Reverend S. A. Thurston (1906-1915)
Reverend A. D. Lewis (1915-1927)
Reverend Miles Fisher (1928-1933)
Reverend Dr. J. C. Mitchell (1933-1970)
Reverends Robert Jackson and Everett D. Knight (interim)
Reverend T.L. Stewart (1974-1975)
Reverend Issac Stewart Steward (1975-1978)
Reverend Lavin Williams (1979-1985)
Reverend Dr. A. K. Surrett, Sr. (1986-)

The church offers a ministry to its members which includes a bus ministry for senior citizens, an adult and youth usher board, several choirs, annual prayer breakfasts, and an active ongoing youth ministry. In 1915 the church sponsored Reverend and Mrs. John Spencer as African missionaries. Women who have had major roles in the church include:

Mae V. Brown ----- Virginia Moore
Mary W. Tribble ----- Oressa Brown

And in 1985, Maxine Hale and Katherine Stevens were elected the first women trustees. Sixteenth Baptist Church celebrated its 91st anniversary in August 1996.