Rev. F. R. Kennedy, Pastor Galilee Baptist Church, Anniston, Ala.
ALABAMA MIDLAND ASSOCIATION.
Organized in 1889, is a small body operating chiefly in Montgomery county. They report six churches. Could not ascertain the membership.
Revs. B. Bible, B. Coles, W. Harrison and T. L. Lewis lead them. I submit the following as good supplementary matter to what has been said of the above Associations:
MONTGOMERY.
THE FIRST COLORED BAPTIST CHURCH
Was organized in the basement of the white Baptist Church (First Baptist Church) just after the close of the war. The corner stone of their present building on Columbus street was laid in 1867. Their first pastor was the late Rev. Nathan Ashby, who, prior to the war, had preached to the colored membership on Sundays in the afternoon, in the basement of the white church. Mr. Ashby being stricken down by paralysis, closed his pastorate in 1870. Under his pastorate this church issued the call for the first session of the State Convention in 1868; hence this church is the source—the mother—of our Convention.
For a few months the Rev. J. W. Stevens supplied the pulpit.
In 1871 the late Rev. James H. Foster was called to the pastoral office, which he served for the space of twenty years, leaving it only to answer the summons of his Master to appear in purer and higher spheres. Under his administration the church increased its membership from a few hundred to several thousand. He expended some $10,000 or $12,000 on the present edifice. Under his pastorate the Foreign Mission Convention was organized in 1880.
After Mr. Foster’s death, December 1, 1891, Rev. A. J, Stokes, then pastor at Fernandina, Fla., was called to their pulpit, and now serves with great success, having added within the last two months about 500 by baptism. So far, his success is a wonder to the people of Montgomery. The special item under his administration is the organization of the young people for training and work.