THE UNION CHAPEL M.B. CHURCH CELEBRATED ITS 87TH CHURCH ANNIVERSARY

By Wilbert Brown, Anniversary Chair

(LEFT-RIGHT) Pastor Wendell Davis of Union Chapel Missionary
Baptist Church, Huntsville AL, wife Dora and son.

The Union Chapel Missionary Baptist Church celebrated its 87th Church Anniversary during the month of August.  During its eighty-seven year history, the church has only had three pastors.  Bishop G. Calvin Boone, pastor of the New Life Christian Praise and Worship Center and grandson of the first pastor-O.D. Boone, kicked off the first Sunday by giving a tribute to his grandfather, who started the church in 1933 on Gardner Street.  Stephanie Lacy-Conley presented a tribute on the second Sunday to the second pastor, her father -L.F. Lacy, who relocated the church to 100 Orange Drive after he was named the pastor in 1958.   Timothy Davis climaxed the tributes on the third Sunday by speaking about the third pastor, his father-Dr. O. W. Davis, who became the current pastor in 1989 and later moved the congregation to its present campus at 315 Winchester Road in 2002.

Additional celebratory activities included distribution of food boxes and a grilled hamburger/hot dog luncheon to the less fortunate in the community, a virtual musical concert (musical selections from previous anniversary concerts), and the Word in Motion (Praise Dance) virtual presentation-which was taped in several locations throughout the city.  Pastor Davis preached inspirational messages each week around this year’s theme “The Church that Christ Built”.  Special recognition was given to the six members who were in the first church and are still active in the third church.  Those members are Deacon Frank Brandon, Mother Hattie Burton, Mr. Howard Gaines, Sister Maggie Reed, Mother Earnestine Sullivan, and Sister L. Chatman Turner.

To climax the three-week anniversary celebration, a drive-by parade was held on the campus so that Pastor and Mother Davis could see the members that they had not seen in approximately five months.  The overwhelming support indicated that the congregation was just as eager to see them.