Unity Baptist Church

On September 7, 1952, Unity Baptist Church was constituted. Sixty-eight people became charter members on that day. Fifty-three of those had letters, eight were under the watch care of the church until their letters could be obtained, and the remainder were candidates for baptism. Rev. Marcus Drake was our first pastor. The church had been meeting i... n a tent since banding together 4 or 5 weeks earlier. The tent was set up in what is now the parking lot in front of the present fellowship hall. The road was unpaved, the area was all wooded, and the hospital was still located in town. Trees were cleared in order to erect the tent and shavings were put on the ground so we would not have to walk in dirt. At the organizational meeting of the church, someone asked one of the charter members why on earth they were locating a church in the wilderness. The member simply replied, "Because the Lord sent us here. At that time, little did we know that the medical community would come to us along with homes and apartments, but we knew God put us here. The song "Dwelling in Beulah Land" expressed our knowledge of God's hand in the establishment of this church and has been sung every Homecoming thereafter. The week following our organizational meeting, we sent our Pastor Marcus Drake, Mr. R. R. Burleyson, and Mrs. Agnes Bonner as messengers to the North Georgia Baptist Association to ask for membership in the association for our church. As a church we have been very active in the activities of this association. Most of the charter members were tithers and that infant church raised $15,614.000 the first year, which was a substantial amount of money in 1952. Once the church was organized, we selected a building committee and immediately began building a permanent structure. During these early days, Sunday School classes were held under trees, and in bad weather the classes were moved into automobiles in the parking lot. The first building was built as a future pastorium, leaving out the interior walls so that it could be used for ...Read More