NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Keeping the door open to any establishment for 150 years is worth acknowledging. For members of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, they are celebrating the grace they say God has given them.
“God has led us to not only just be you in the community, but also be a light in the community," said Pastor Victor Moore.
On any given Sunday you can hear the beat of the drums, voices singing high, and praise being lifted at the corner of Mt. Olive and Atkinson Rhodes Street in North Little Rock.
Moore has been the church's head pastor for 34 years and has seen how the community has changed the lives of many.
“Our motto is we're the church that reaches out, that Jesus might be lifted up. So, when we come to the church, we come excited about Jesus Christ, and what he has done for us," Moore said. “People are hurting, people are going through some tough times right now, and this is a time when we need churches. So, I'm really glad that we've been here 150 years, and hope we'll be here in 150 more."
Mt. Olive is a place many call home, including the current pastor of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Reverend Maurice Watson.
“This is the church where I accepted Jesus Christ over 50 years ago, and the church where I started preaching this year would be 48 years," Watson said.
With his mother’s home still sitting across the tracks from the church where he preached his first sermon, Rev. Watson said he has never forgotten his roots.
“I was nervous, of course, 16 years old, had never preached before. But I know I knew I had to call it on my life. And I preached a sermon, entitled, 'You better get ready, because you're living on borrowed time,'” he described.
The church said that right now is the time to rejoice, remember, and recognize how far they’ve come and how far they will go.
“We are in the hope business. We're in the people business. So that's why Mt. Olive and so many other churches that were started in the late 19th century are still here today," Watson said.