A BRIEF HISTORY OF OBERLIN BAPTIST CHURCHOberlin Baptist church has historically and spiritually been a source of hope and strength in the Oberlin Community, Wake County and North Carolina for over 126 years. Oberlin Baptist continues to play a pivotal role in the faith community in Raleigh. The history of Oberlin Baptist can best be described as a testimony of faith and a manifestation of personal sacrifice by church ancestors.
According to church historians and "The News and Observer," in the late 1870's, after emancipation, there were two churches, seventy-five homes, one school, and over one thousand residents living in Oberlin Village. In 1869, when ancestors began buying land for homes, they began organizing make shift prayer meetings in individual homes. This led to a desire to build a church where they could hold regular "preaching services" in their community. Thus, with a vigor that defines the traditional faith, residents built a small, crude, wood frame church and named it Halls Chapel, after one of its strongest supporters, Rev. Plummer T. Hall. Church historians describe stories of how the men built the church at night after working all day, board by board, to the glory of God, until it was completed. There was a story of how the women played a role by holding lanterns to provide the night-time light, for there was no electricity in Oberlin Village at that time. Located in the 2000 block of Wade Avenue, at the north junction of Old Hillsborough Road, (present Oberlin Road), Halls Chapel flourished until around 1900, when its membership declined due to inadequate space. Meanwhile, in 1880, at the south end of Old Hillsboro Road (present Oberlin Road) residents of Oberlin Village erected another church, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, to meet the spiritual needs of the community. The cornerstone from Mt. Moriah Baptist Church is located in the basement of Oberlin Baptist. Pastors for both Halls Chapel and Mt. Moriah Baptist Church were for the most part itinerant. They visited on a regular schedule. These included Rev. P. T. Hall, Rev. Nicholas F. Roberts, Rev John T. Haywood, and others. At the turn of the century, under the guidance of community religious leaders such as Rev. Roberts, Rev. Hall, and others, both congregations were advised of the feasibility of uniting and forming one Baptist church body. Community religious leaders believed that the Oberlin Village populace could not continue to financially support two churches. According to Wake County Deeds, on April 24, 1912, Edward Smith and Henry Andrews, Trustees of Halls Chapel Church and July 6, 1912, Louis T. Smith, the soul surviving Trustee of Mt. Moriah Baptist church agreed to dissolve their church bodies and merge the two churches into the new church to be called Oberlin Baptist Church. Both churches agreed to convey all property they owned to the newly named Trustees (Andrew Grant, Robert Hunter , Henry Andrews, and John Sears) of the newly formed Oberlin Baptist Church. The decision to merge as one church body proved to be a landmark decision for Christian unity. Oberlin Baptist has been a launching pad for Black clerical leadership, and spiritual, economical, and political influence in the community. However, fifty years later, on a Sunday afternoon, in January , 1955, the frame, wood edifice, Oberlin Baptist Church, which was built in 1913, was destroyed by fire. Fire destroyed the wooden structure and valuable church records and memories, but not the spirit of its membership. Services were held at Oberlin School until a new church could be rebuilt. Led by the pastor, Rev. Grady Davis, Joseph I. Stredwick, Mrs. Mamie Shepherd (Haywood), Mrs. Leana Ingram, and Edward Curtis, Church members solicited funds (city-wide donations) for the construction of a new church. In late August 1955, less than a year after the fire, the congregation held their first worship service in the new brick church. It was completed at a cost of $37, 000. In October 1955, the church held a week of services dedicating the church, our present Oberlin Baptist Church.Over the years, Oberlin Baptist has been blessed with pastors and clerical leadership who have distinguished themselves, not only in the immediate community but also, in the State Baptist Convention. Ministers who have served from its origin are: Rev. Plummer Hall, Rev. Fullwilder, Rev. N. L. Horton, Rev. J. F. Mason, Rev. B. K. Mason, Rev. S. H. Witherspoon, Rev. H. C. Jones, Rev. A. A. Morrisey, Rev. K. P. Battle, Dr. John L. Tillery, Rev. U. S. Brown, Rev. C. R. McCreary, Rev. Grady Davis, Rev. Joseph P. Dempsey, Rev. Henry B. Pickett, Jr., Rev. Joseph Ratliff, Rev. Clarence Nathan, Rev. James Isaac III, Dr. Michael T. Williams and the present, Dr. Robert L. Jones, Jr.