Two churches being led by God found themselves coming together to form a close knit fellowship of Christian believers. Venable Baptist Church and West Hill Baptist Church joined in October of 1977 to form Mechanicsville Baptist Church. One of the first orders of business for the new church was to call Rev. Donald Stewart as pastor, Rev. Charles Morrison as Associate pastor, Mrs. Brenda as Minister of Music, Mrs. Peggy Hildreth as Associate Minister of Music, Mrs. Cary Wade as Secretary, and Mrs. Ann Coleman as part-time secretary. Thus, two staffs were merged.
Things went so well and we were growing so well that the church saw a need to expand our space and ministry. It was voted to build a multi-purpose building. So in 1979 a Building Committee was elected and chaired Mr. Ward Hildreth. The ground breaking for this building was on Jude 4, 1981 and completed and dedicated in 1982.
In 1979, a 25 bell set of Malmarck Hand bells was purchased. Several more were given as memorials, and by 1987, we had four complete octaves of bells. The number has grown even beyond this by now. We have a full music ministry under the leadership of Mrs. Brenda Brown.
On January 12, 1978, we began our Keenage club for seniors with 22 seniors and two pastors present. This is open to all seniors, not just our church members.
In order to expand our ministry and to meet a growing need, in September, 1986, our Day Care Ministry began. This ministry has grown tremendously and is certainly meeting a need in our community. Our Day Care is one of the very few that accepts bed babies. Miss Jackie Broaddus is our current Child Care Director.
In 1989, our church approved the renovation of the Alpha House to be used as a home for furloughing missionaries. This was completed and dedicated on August 6, 1989. We have a committee who diligently works to keep this house in good condition in order to provide for our families there. This is the first kind in Hanover County, and has brought many blessings to our church.
Our church is a very mission minded church, and its people are constantly involved in carrying our the Lord's work in our church and throughout the world. Our people have been and are currently involved in Habitat for Humanity in both building new houses and renovating existing houses. We have a Disaster Relief Team here in our church that works through the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. They are called out at a moments notice to take our Disaster unit wherever the need arises to feed people in disaster areas. There are many other mission efforts by our church.
In March, 1997, a new much needed sound system was installed in our church. This was done through gifts from church members. This system has served us well over the course of many years.
We are very proud of the youth of our church. They are constantly involved in the life of our church. They, at times, lead us in our worship services and serve in many ministries in our church and throughout our community.
As Don Stewart, our former pastor stated on December 1, 1980, and this statement is still true today, "The potential of our church is more than we ever dared to dream."
Our church has a wonderful past history, and with God's help and the people of our church, we will have an even greater future as we march under His guidance. And as is recorded in Phil. 3:12-16, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
