Elm Street Baptist Church GIVES Us its Facilities

Elm Street Baptist Church in Petersburg Virginia, led by Interim Pastor Harvey Skinner, will officially hand over its keys to the Saint Paul’s Baptist Church on September 27,2009. With this historic act of generosity, the congregation of Elm Street will give Saint Paul’s its campus located at 29 Elm Street. This extraordinary gift from God through the people of Elm Street Baptist Church will allow Saint Paul’s to establish a presence and offer community-based ministry in Petersburg and the surrounding Gateway region.

Once a vibrant, mission-focused church, the membership of Elm Street has dwindled in recent years. According to Pastor Skinner, the remaining members desire to see their beloved church used in a way that would help the Petersburg community by engaging in vigorous and effective community outreach. “Our congregation is mostly retired and no longer able to regularly be in the community” said Pastor Skinner. “We heard about the great things that Saint Paul’s has done in Richmond since Weatherford Memorial Baptist Church donated its building, and we wanted to do the same.”

This is the second time in four years that a Virginia congregation has decided to give its facilities to Saint Paul’s Baptist Church. In 2005, members of Weatherford Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia turned down five offers to purchase their church, opting to make the extraordinary gesture of donating it to Saint Paul’s.

“We are incredibly thankful for the gift, and we look forward to being active members of the Petersburg community” said Dr. Lance Watson, Senior Pastor of the Saint Paul’s Baptist Church. He continued, “We want to be a light and inspiration to people of the Petersburg community. Our mission will remain the same, to find needs and meet them, to find hurts and heal them, and to find problems and solve them.”

Saint Paul’s is a young, progressive, forward looking congregation of “people on the grow.” The 100-year old church has been led by Dr. Lance D. Watson for 24 years. Under the dynamic teaching, preaching and leadership of Dr. Watson, the church has grown from 200 in attendance during Sunday services to more than 10,000 members. Currently, more that 300 families from the Petersburg community travel to Richmond to participate in the ministry of Saint Paul’s Baptist Church. For more information on the ministry of the Saint Paul’s Baptist Church, visit http://www.myspbc.org/.