Historical Highlights

of the

Trinity Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta

While our history has a short existence as a church of Jesus Christ, it is filled with the blessings and presence of the Lord. The Trinity Baptist Church officially came into being as a vision the Holy Spirit gave to our Senior Pastor, the Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Jr. He prepared his former congregation for his departure to start a new work for the Lord well in advance of our founding. Most of the membership of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church did not want to see him leave, but after he shared with them that this was something the Holy Spirit had laid on him in an unquestionable fashion, they reluctantly bid him farewell and released him to do as God called him.

According to Pastor Smith, the Lord worked on him in a manner similar to the inescapable call to preach, citing Isaiah 6:8 as one of the main insistent and yet liberating passages the Holy Spirit used to confirm the planting of our new congregation. We officially organized on Monday evening June 30, 2003 in the sanctuary of the Word of Faith Family Church (the place we are able, for a season, to call home). Once organized, we met at set intervals to complete the processes necessary to begin worshipping as a congregation of baptized believers in Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the night of organization, after hearing the Word of the Lord, thirty people under the leadership of Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Jr., joined him in forming the Trinity Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta. We began our worship experience on Sunday, September 7, 2003 with our Senior Pastor and his ordained assistants ready for our opening. We were blessed to start with a robed choir (the Celebration Choir), uniformed ushers, and a host of volunteers on call for whatever needed to be done. Pastor Smith began preparing us for the journey of faith by preaching through the book of Joshua, beginning with our first worship and continuing through June 2004.

Throughout the month of September 2003 several Atlanta area pastors brought their congregations and preached to us in our Pre-installation/Church Recognition services. They were as follows: Dr. J. Sherman Pelt and the Liberty Baptist Church; Rev. Orlando K. Winters and the Mt. Moriah Baptist Church; Dr. Joseph L. Roberts and the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Dr. Hopie L. Strickland and the Victory Tabernacle Baptist Church.

On Sunday, September 28, 2003 in the afternoon, Baptist leaders came from across the city and country, to recognize us as a New Testament Church of the Baptist faith. Ceremony participants were as follows: Dr. J. Sherman Pelt, Moderator and Dr. Douglas E. Stowers, Second Vice Moderator of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association. Rev. A. A. W. Motley and Dr. Cleopatrick Lacy representing the New Era Missionary Baptist State Convention of Georgia as President and First Vice President, respectively. Dr. Michael N. Harris, First Vice President of the PNBC Southern Region. Dr. Henry Wise Jones, Pastor of Mt. Zion Second Baptist Church and Dr. William Perkins, the Dean of Morehouse School of Religion (ITC) took part. Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc. Second Vice President Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore and former Southern Region President, Dr. H. B. Williams of Baton Rouge, Louisiana were among our distinguished participants, along with Deacon John F. Wyatt, Jr, Deacon Ministry Chair speaking encouraging words on behalf of the West Hunter Street Baptist Church. Other pastors, government, and civic leaders brought greetings. Dr. M. L. Jemison, President of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. preached a stirring and encouraging sermon from Acts 6: 7-8. Like Samuel, we raise our voices in praise and shout “Ebenezer…Hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12).

We will forever be grateful to God and remember the role various pastors and their churches played in our beginning. Bishop Dale C. Bronner, Senior Pastor of the Word of Faith Family Church (now the WOF Family Cathedral) consenting to lease their building to us with classroom and office space for worship, administration, and education. We are indebted to the following pastors for their kindness and generosity. They are: Dr. William E. Flippin, Sr., Senior Pastor of the Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church (Atlanta), who also loaned us his son, Rev. Richard C. Flippin to assist us; the late Rev. Dr. Richard Watkins, Mt. Nebo Baptist Church (New York, NY); Dr. Henry J. Payden, Sr., Pastor of the Holy Trinity Baptist Church (Cleveland, OH); Rev. Craig L. Oliver and the Elizabeth Baptist Church (Atlanta), and the Rev. Otis B. Moss, III and the Tabernacle Baptist Church (Augusta, GA).

God continually amazes us as He adds individuals to our fellowship of faith, and increases the flock. We have spent the past year studying Why We Must Be The Church. We must know why we exist and what God requires of us as His people so that we can do ministry locally and globally to His glory. We want worship, Christian education, fellowship, and outreach to be vibrant tools for making us a spiritually relevant church, ministering for our God and His Christ in culture. We are now looking to the Lord to grow and develop and do ministry to the glory of God.

The LORD has granted us His favor in establishing us. As the King David has proclaimed in the Psalm 68:19 so we proclaim, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.“  We agree and say with the Apostle Paul as he affirms our God’s goodness in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” We thank God that our growth and future are in His hands.