PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Sunday was a day of celebration for the historic Elm Grove Baptist Church in Pine Bluff as they celebrated 180 years of being a second home to many— a pillar of the community, and a refuge in a time of need.
"This is a huge thing for us. This church has existed through Jim Crow, through civil rights through discrimination, and is still here," Senior Pastor Jesse C. Turner explained.
Enslaved Africans first built the historic Elm Grove Baptist Church in 1843 on the Robert Johnson Plantation in the Richland Township Noble Lake, and this one milestone has been affecting generation after generation.
"It has held the legacy within it. The things and the people who created all of this from their grandparents and grandfather, great-grandfather so the history still goes on here in this church," Pastor Turner said.
It is a church filled with unmovable people with unwavering faith that has been keeping history alive led by Senior Pastor Jesse C. Turner who has been pastor since 1994.
"This day is a huge day, not only for us and the church congregation, but for Pine Bluff, and for Arkansas, knowing that there was a church formed in this state, to be the first Baptist church that was formed in Arkansas and that was 180 years ago," Pastor Turner said.
Elm Grove holds sentimental value to everyone's heart but especially Marie Franklin who has lived to see the age of 103 years old and has grown up in the church.
"I used to belong to this church. I was an usher and I was secretary of Sunday school and I'm glad to be home," Marie Franklin said.
Miss Franklin is the last survivor of the original Elm Grove Church, back when it was once a school and church in one before being destroyed in a tornado on April 1, 1939.
Pastor Turner explained how her perseverance and her strength are what embody the church and are how the historic Elm Grove Baptist church made it to see its 180th year anniversary.
"That's what we're doing we're really keeping the legacy alive so that our young kids will know from whence they came," Pastor Turner added.